September 2023Vol. 24, No. 7Guidance for Developing Culturally Responsive Tribal Child Welfare Products
Those charged with producing child welfare products for indigenous communities require specific guidance and insights to accurately reflect tribal culture and values. To help support these efforts, the Center for Native Child and Family Resilience and the Children’s Bureau developed the Cultural Guide for the Development of Tribal Child Welfare Products.
The guide outlines the ways in which organizations and product developers can learn about and work with tribal communities to better support and represent them. It provides strategies for retrieving and incorporating cultural knowledge by highlighting questions and considerations across the following 12 domains:
- Respect for tribal sovereignty
- Historical trauma and historical strengths
- Respect for tribal values
- Language
- Leadership
- Indigenous ways of knowing and cultural protocols
- Relationship building
- Cultural appropriation
- Cultural applicability and cultural tailoring
- Reciprocity
- Spiritual protocol
- Targeted community service provider review of tools
The document was developed as part of a series to formalize, implement, and evaluate tribal child welfare prevention and intervention strategies. More information is available on the Center for Native Child and Family Resilience website.