Farewell to Juliette Knight Juliette Knight has decided to move back home to New Zealand to be closer to family. Anyone who has worked with Juliette will know what a loss this will be for DCYF. Juliette has accepted a position as the Barnardos Service Manager for Tranaki. Barnardos is one of the largest NGOs in Aotearoa/NZ, with contracts that include programs like Incredible Years, Intensive Wraparound Services, and Strengthening Families. Juliette worked in our Indian Child Welfare program for three years and developed close relationships with our tribes here in Washington and will be missed. We know you will do great work in New Zealand!

The Washington Youth Academy

WYA is an academic intervention for youth 15.5 to 18 who are behind in credit, dropped out of high school, or at-risk of dropping out. The goal of the program is to give youth a second chance at graduating with their class. Program graduates can recover up to 8.0 credits. The goal is to return to the home high school and graduate on-time with their peers. The 22-week residential program incorporates a highly-structured, quasi-military format, with an emphasis on youth discipline, personal responsibility, in a positive, safe, and secure learning environment. Program activities include academics, service to community, leadership, mentoring, and personal development. After completing the program, the youth will be connected with their WYA case manger and mentor for 52 weeks.

• Sign-up here for Zoom Information Sessions for Youth and Families
• Click here for the online application
• Click here for how to apply

Camp to Belong We are excited to announce that plans are underway for a safe, in-person camp in June to reunite separated siblings! An abbreviated application is now online at the link below. The dates of the camp are June 20-25 at Miracle Ranch in Port Orchard. Siblings 8-18 separated due to foster, kinship, or adoptive care are eligible to apply.  Because of the pandemic, programming will be determined in late April. The most likely option is a three-day overnight camp operating at half capacity for social distancing. We will be able to run two separate camps that week in order to bring in the maximum number of siblings possible. Our goal is 50 campers for each of the three-day camps. The deadline for this application is April 20. Please complete the application for each potential camper you are registering. You will be notified by email by the end of April with more details regarding camp.  Thank you for your patience as we are all navigating this process. We are looking forward to getting back to the work of reuniting siblings.  Click Here for the Camper Application

Does My Tribe Need a Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) Residential Agreement?

The purpose of a Residential Agreement is to provide residential custody services to youth sentenced by the Tribes’ Tribal Court. Both the Tribe and JR deem placement is appropriate for a youth to reside in a JR Residential Facility in accordance with Chapter 72.05 RCW – Children, Youth and Family Services. The Tribe and JR are in agreement that rehabilitation is one of the primary goals for all services provided under the agreement. If your Tribe would like to learn more about Residential Agreements and how to collaborate resources from DCYF, please contact Brandy Otto, Office of Tribal Resources at brandy.otto@dcyf.wa.gov or 360.688.8247. 

Northwest Justice Project’s Special Education Clinic

This clinic provides legal support to parents who are struggling to get or maintain special education services for their children. NJP education attorneys staff the virtual clinic twice a week on Tuesday and Thursdays to support students in need of special education services. The attorneys can help with:

• Qualifying for Special Education services
• Accessing the services your student needs
• Discipline of students with an IEP or 504 plan
• Failure to provide interpreters or translations
• Discrimination

The attorneys can provide advice, referrals, and in some instances, draft documents for clients. 

Learn More Here

Help Identify and Support Family Resource Centers Since there is a great deal of conversation and interest about the Family Resource Center work, I wanted you to know that the landscape study is up and running. This announcement and one pager is going out to audiences through GovDelivery. There are lots of opportunities to learn from this work how to build on the great community-based work underway in various agency initiatives. You can learn more about Family Resource Centers here. The one pager provides a timeline for this work, and we are encouraging as many folks as possible to share the info with partners and communities. If you have any questions on the internal support of this work, please reach out to me or the Strengthening Families Washington Team. Thank you to Laura Alfani, Erinn Havig, and Sara Winkelman for the leadership on this exciting Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) work. Download the Flyer

Funding Opportunities

• Strengthening Families Washington, in partnership with Perinatal Support Washington, is seeking applications for a Perinatal Mental Health Community Capacity Building project.  We are seeking proposals from organizations interested in increasing awareness of perinatal mental health and creating resources for families within their community. For more information please see the funding application. Application webinar: April 1, 1-2 p.m. Join here.
• CDC Preventing Violence Affecting Young Lives (PREVAYL) NOFO: Application Deadline: May 1, 2021. Information will be provided for eligible applicants on one conference call/webinar on Thursday, April 8, from 10:30 a.m. to Noon PST. Register here.
• The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) is pleased to invite applicants from tribal dependency court(s) to apply to participate as a Tribal Model Court as part of a larger grant-funded project. The NCJFCJ, with funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), has been partnering with tribal and state courts across the country since 1992 to improve outcomes for abused and neglected children and their families. The NCJFCJ will be selecting new tribal court sites to participate in this two-year project. There is no direct funding available to participating sites. However, the selected sites will receive training, technical assistance, and support from NCJFCJ and national experts in the field. The selected sites will join other tribal and state jurisdictions that are currently part of the project. The selected implementation sites will receive individualized assessments, training, and technical assistance as they seek to work toward improving practices and outcomes. NCJFCJ is committed to partnering with tribal courts and tribal governments to ensure the technical assistance is tailored to serve the community. Deadline: April 16. Click here to apply or download the application packet.
• Community Based Child Abuse Prevention Program FOA for Tribal and Migrant Communities: The primary purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to award grants to support community-based efforts in tribal and migrant communities that prevent child maltreatment and to strengthen and support families. Funded projects will develop new or enhance existing initiatives, programs, and activities to reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect and to enhance the well-being of migrant and/or Native American children and their families, including those in rural areas. While not an exhaustive list, some examples of programs that may be funded include voluntary home visiting, respite care, parenting education, family resource centers, and finance the start-up, maintenance, expansion, or redesign of mental health services, substance abuse service programs, and other family support services. It is anticipated that three grants will be funded under this announcement. The funding period will be for 5 years. Tribal and migrant health grant from the Administration for Children and Families. Deadline is April 20. Apply Today!

• Native Center for Alcohol Research and Education (NCARE) Pilot Project Program: This Call for Applications is aimed at promoting innovative research projects that focus on reducing the burden of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in American Indian and Alaska Native communities (AI/AN) and that will subsequently lead to future external funding. Letters of Intent are due May 28. In light of the current reality of COVID-19 bringing challenges and opportunities related to public health, interventions, and research, NCARE would like to invite potential applicants to consider research with AI/AN partners that might include: telemedicine/telehealth interventions, virtual data collection methods, secondary data analysis, COVID-19 and alcohol or alcohol associated harms, impact of negative economic consequences of COVID-19 on Native communities and alcohol use. If you have an idea that you would like to discuss please feel free to reach out to Dr. Michael McDonell: mmcdonell@wsu.edu. While preference will be given to junior investigators, mid-career and senior researchers who have not conducted alcohol intervention research in Native communities are eligible to apply. Please refer to the website for eligibility criteria, full application details, and application forms. To review current funded projects, visit: https://ireach.wsu.edu/ncare/awarded-pilot-projects/. Initial application materials must be submitted for first review by May 28, at 4:30 p.m. PST. If after submitting the Letter of Intent you are selected to move forward, we will ask you to submit a full application by July 30. Letters of Intent are to be submitted to: native.care@wsu.edu.

Submit a Nomination for the Tillie Black Bear Memorial Award   The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center honors the legacy of Wa Wokiya Win (Tillie Black Bear), Sicangu Lakota, through an award presented during its Women Are Sacred Conference (WAS) to recognize outstanding grassroots advocates and direct service providers that exemplify the teachings and dedication Tillie instilled in restoring safety for Native women. This year's award will be presented virtually during the WAS Conference, June 8-10. The much beloved Tillie, known as the Grandmother of the Movement to End Violence Against Women, played a major leadership role in the work to restore safety for Native women. She believed in the teaching White Buffalo Calf Woman had brought to the Lakota people that even in thought, women are to be respected. Tillie’s steadfast leadership was rooted in the clarity of her beliefs and dedication to Native peoples and women. Her work spanned almost four decades until her passing in 2014. Tillie’s understanding of social change, organizing, movement building, served her well as a leader, an inspiration, a teacher, and a sister-mother-friend-icon. “Native women have survived, Indian nations have survived, because of our beliefs and teachings.” –Tillie Black Bear For the Tillie Black Bear Memorial Award, please consider nominating someone that embodies the teachings of Women as Sacred, cultural and traditional values, integrity, making connections beyond shelter doors, and exemplary service. The nominee would embody advocacy in action, grassroots organizing, or leadership in the movement to restore safety for Native women. All nominations must be received by Friday, May 14. Submit a Nomination

Upcoming Meetings, Events, and Training Opportunities

• Register for 2021 Women Are Sacred Conference. June 8-10, 2021 | Virtual Event. Registration is now open for the 2021 Women Are Sacred (WAS) Conference! View a draft of the WAS agenda on the conference website. The theme for this year’s conference is "Carrying Our Medicine and Strengthening Our Vision to End the Violence." This virtual conference will take place across three days of activities, on a limited daily schedule, to accommodate participants from Hawaii and Alaska to the East Coast and everything in between. These live presentations will be recorded and available on the conference website for three months after the event. This is an outstanding opportunity to connect with survivors, advocates, grassroots organizers, tribal leaders, law enforcement, child welfare, social services, and tribal court personnel across Tribal Nations, Alaska Native villages, Indian, and Native Hawaiian communities to build capacity and enhance your advocacy and skills to strengthen the movement to end the violence. Register now! Virtual registration rate: $150. Youth registration rate (ages 16-24): Waived (space is limited).

• Professional Development Opportunity in Tribal Relations and Indian Law: This year the Professional Certificate in Tribal Relations, offered by the Institute of Tribal Government (ITG) in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, will be opening five of its sessions to the public as an professional development opportunity. These virtual Zoom sessions will welcome guest speakers from tribal, federal, state or local government agencies as well as nonprofit organizations to provide a wide range of perspectives on each session topic listed below. The upcoming session on April 9 has been approved for 4.0 Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credits by the Oregon State Bar, and remaining sessions are pending approval. Please feel free to contact us for any questions regarding MCLE credits. For anyone interested in registering for the session for professional development without MCLE credits, we are offering a discounted rate of $750. Sign up for any or all of the four remaining sessions listed below. Each session is scheduled from 10am to 3pm with a one-hour break. Learn more here. Detailed agenda will be available closer to each session: 

  • Friday, April 9: “Tribal Governments & Governance”
  • Friday, May 14: “Intertribal & Intergovernmental Relations”
  • Friday, July 9: “Non-Federally Recognized Tribes & Non-Reservation Tribal Communities”
  • Friday, August 6: “Trends in Tribal Capacity & Emerging Issues”

• The Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Council and the University of Oregon (UO) Center for Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT) are excited to announce a Statewide Virtual Conference on how to support “Childhood Brain Injury: Best Practices in Return to School.” The Virtual Conference is FREE to attendees. The TBI Conference will help to inform and build longitudinal foundational pieces as we support children returning to a school environment post-Concussion and TBI. Registration is OPEN for the 21 May 2021 Conference. Childhood Brain Injury: Best Practices in Return to School Virtual Conference. This TBI Conference event will be one of eight that are planned by the TBI Council and the UO over the next 15 months. The TBI Conference series will include future topics surrounding Self-Advocacy, Family Caregivers, Medical and Visual Support, Mindfulness, Transitions, Vocational Rehabilitation, Mental Health, Corrections – Juvenile Justice and many more. The entire Conference series will be FREE.

UW Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence April Workforce Webinars

Tribal Workers, please use this Registration Form to register for the Alliance courses.

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