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This is the last ESIT Weekly newsletter of 2024! There will be no issue of the ESIT Weekly sent out for the next two weeks: Fri., Dec. 27 and Fri., Jan 3, in observance of the holiday season, Christmas and New Years. The ESIT Weekly will resume its regular schedule on Fri., Jan. 10, 2025.
Thank you and may your holiday season be merry and bright!
Celebrating the day ‘the sun turns around’ in the Pacific Northwest
Each December, Native tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest mark the winter solstice with what’s known as “Indian New Year.”
The winter solstice — Dec. 21 — is the shortest daylight of the year. For some Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest, it's known as the day "the sun turns around," and is a time of celebration.
Listen to the full Soundside story by clicking play on the audio button at the top of the story (12-minute listen):
Read Anna King's full story for the Northwest News Network here.
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“I will tell you something about stories…They aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.”
-Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977)
Winter Solstice December 21
Each week, DCYF ESIT Tribal Program Consultant, Brian Frisina, provides a key topic to help us get to know our Tribal Nation Partners better.
This week’s term is:
Acknowledging the Winter Solstice is a Decolonial Act for Indigenous People
The winter solstice falls on December 21 this year.
Read full article by Sarah Sunshine Manning and explore 14 ways to spend the winter solstice in observance of a natural phenomena that comes only once a year:
Winter Solstice is Also ‘Indian New Year’ in the Northwest
This is the day “the sun turns around” – winter solstice, Dec. 21. But it’s also the so-called “Indian New Year” for many tribes across Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
At the longhouse in Mission, Oregon, on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, around 200 people gather to ring in goodwill and high hopes for a plentiful and happy new year, as they honor the tribes’ reciprocal relationship with sacred first foods.
Read full article by Anna King:
The Winter Solstice Begins a Season of Storytelling and Ceremony
In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 will be the year’s day of least sunlight, when the sun takes its lowest, shortest path across the sky. North of the Arctic Circle, it will be the midpoint of the period of darkness, when even twilight doesn’t reach the horizon. As we did before the solar eclipse in August, this December we asked our Native friends to share traditions they’ve heard about the winter solstice. Their answers highlight winter as a time for storytelling.
Read full article by Dennis W. Zotigh:
Lakota Winter Counts
Two Smithsonian experts describe the Lakota tradition of creating Winter Counts as a way of recording events (watch time 4:47):
For generations, Plains Indians drew pictographs to document their daily experiences. Read more about how winter counts were created and recorded: Lakota Winter Count.
Winter Count, Then and Now
In the time of my ancestors, Wanietu Iyawapi or Winter Count, was the way we recorded our history from “first snow winter to first snow winter.” To be chosen by the community to record the Winter Count was an honor, as it would survive for generations.
Families came together for the Winter Count to share food, stories, and remembrances of the past year. Everyone contributed. The previous year’s Winter Count was read as a way of remembering and passing down the history (watch time 2:14):
Sources
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Celebrating the day ‘the sun turns around’ in the Pacific Northwest, .by Libby Denkmann, Anna King and Alec Cowan, January 04, 2024, KUOW- Seattle’s NPR news station, © 2024 KUOW News and Information.
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Acknowledging the Winter Solstice is a Decolonial Act for Indigenous People, by Sarah Sunshine Manning, December 14, 2019, ndncollective.org, © 2024 NDN Collective.
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Winter solstice is also ‘Indian New Year’ in the Northwest, by Anna King, December 22, 2023, Northwest Public Broadcasting.
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The Winter Solstice Begins a Season of Storytelling and Ceremony, by Dennis W Zotigh, December 20, 2023, Native News Online, © 2023 Native News Online. This article first appeared on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s website in Dec. 2017. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
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Lakota Winter Counts, posted to YouTube by Smithsonian Education, Feb. 5, 2008.
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Lakota Winter Count: Aktá Lakota Museum & Cultural Center, ©2024 Aktá Lakota Museum, An Outreach of St. Joseph’s Indian School - All rights reserved.
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Winter Count, Then and Now, posted to YouTube by Native Hope, Feb. 19, 2021.
The ESIT Data Systems and Analysis Team will be pausing training until Jan. 14, 2025. DSAT will be sending out additional training dates and topics in the new year!
Questions?
If you have specific questions about ACORN development and support activities, please contact ESIT Data Systems and Analysis Manager, Kim Hopkins, at Kim.Hopkins@dcyf.wa.gov.
For technical assistance with accessing and/or navigating the ACORN training environment please contact ESIT.Help@dcyf.wa.gov.
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You are invited to ESIT's upcoming Special January SICC Annual Performance Report (APR) Meeting!
Wed., January 15, 2025
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Meeting link & Agenda TBA
Posted
The updated October SICC Meeting Materials packet has been posted to ESIT's SICC Meetings page for review. The draft October Meeting Minutes will be posted and ready for review soon.
SICC Direct List
If you would like your email added to the SICC direct email list to receive the agenda and meeting materials in advance of upcoming SICC meetings, email ESIT Interim Partnership & Collaboration Manager, Tammy McCauley, with the subject: Add me to SICC DL.
Upcoming 2025 SICC Meeting Dates
- Wed., Feb. 19 | Virtual
- Wed., April 16 | Virtual
- July 15 – 16| In person, Seattle area (location TBD)
- Tues., July 15 – PIE Graduation
- Wed., July 16 – SICC Meeting
- Wed., Oct. 15 | TBD
Questions?
Please contact DCYF ESIT Interim Partnership & Collaboration Manager, Tammy McCauley.
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The ESIT state leadership is highlighting individual providers and ESIT provider agencies that are demonstrating one or more of the Seven Key Principles in their work in a new section of the ESIT Weekly titled Key Principles in Action. This new section will help us recognize the high-quality agencies and efforts of individual providers across the ESIT statewide system. Nominators will remain anonymous (though we may contact you for more details about your nomination).
Principles
- Families are equal partners who bring to the team skills, experience and
knowledge about their child; and, are the final decision makers as to what
will work best for their family.
- Early intervention recognizes that family relationships are the central focus in the life of an infant or toddler.
- Infants and toddlers learn best through everyday experiences and interactions with familiar people in familiar settings.
- The early intervention process, from initial contact to transition, must be responsive, flexible and individualized to reflect the child’s and family’s priorities, learning styles and cultural beliefs.
- All families, with the necessary supports and resources, can enhance their children’s learning and development.
- The role of the service provider is to work in a team to support Individualized Family Service Plan functional outcomes, based on child and family needs and priorities.
- Early intervention practices must be based on the best available current evidence and research.
Read and download ESIT's Guiding Concepts.
Submit Your Nomination!
To make a nomination, please complete the form linked below:
As 2025 is quickly approaching, we are gearing up for our annual Unsung Hero campaign in honor of Parent Recognition month (February) and we are hoping you can help us spread the word far and wide.
Since 2011, with your help, we have honored 366 parents and caregivers in Washington for the roles they have taken with their families, schools and communities. They have been recognized because they have shown strength, courage and empathy in their communities. Parents and caregivers around Washington State are supporting their children, families, and communities in exceptional ways and we want to show our appreciation. Please help us in honoring 28 more in February 2025 by nominating a parent/primary caregiver/guardian/community members for the Unsung Hero award. The nomination form is available in three languages (English, Spanish and Somali). A parent panel will select an honoree for each day in February and then all honorees (including their family or supporters) and their nominators will be invited to an in-person celebratory dinner event in Olympia.
All nominations must be submitted by January 3, 2025. The nominations can be emailed to strengtheningfamilies@dcyf.wa.gov.
Save the Date
We hope that you will join us for the 2025 Infant and Early Childhood Conference (IECC), May 5-9, 2025 hosted completely virtual via Zoom.
Call for Presenters
IECC is currently seeking proposals for its 2025 conference. The IECC Conference is well known within the State of Washington for providing high quality, evidence based training for families and professionals working with young children (ages birth to eight) and their families.
- If you or someone you know may be interested in submitting a proposal - please submit proposals no later than Monday, January 13, 2025. To apply online, click here.
- IECC will be evaluating session proposals using a Rubric developed by DEC - we encourage presenters review our selection criteria before submitting their proposal.
IECC Partnership Opportunity
IECC is so thankful for its many community partners. Due to their support IECC has been able to shift its platform and offer the conference registration complimentary for all attendees the past few years. If your organization would be willing to partner with us please email the conference coordinator, Amanda Cardwell directly at amandacardwell@frontier.com.
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Olympia, WA – The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) has updated its Mandatory Reporter training to highlight the distinction between families in need of support versus signs of child abuse and neglect, and the importance of connecting those families to resources.
“When poverty or other family circumstances are mistaken for neglect, this creates disparities in reporting, impacting some individuals or groups more than others,” said DCYF Assistant Secretary of Partnership, Prevention, and Services Vickie Ybarra. “In Washington, Native American/Alaska Native families, and some communities of color are disproportionality impacted by poverty and the child welfare system.”
The updated training includes:
- Distinctions between poverty and neglect and available resources that mandatory reporters can use to help families
- Modules that address bias with the opportunity to learn how biases contribute to systemic racism
- Videos highlighting the impact of child abuse and neglect reports
- Knowledge checks that allow mandatory reporters to practice complex, real-life scenarios in a no-risk environment
“We hope this training increases the number of mandatory reporters that connect children and families with valuable community resources — preventing intake calls for issues that could be better addressed by ongoing community supports,” said DCYF Assistant Secretary of Child Welfare Natalie Green.
For the past two years, DCYF staff from across the agency collaborated with medical, public education, court, and law enforcement professionals, Tribal partners, parent representatives, lived experts, The Alliance for Professional Development, Training, and Caregiver Excellence, as well as many others to shape this eLearning and inform changes made to DCYF web content and publications that focus on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect.
In 2023, more than 129,000 calls were made to the DCYF Intake Line, nearly 74% of the calls were made by mandatory reporters. Of the total calls, more than 85,000 were screened out, meaning they did not meet the legal threshold needed for child welfare intervention. According to the new training, each of these screened out calls could be an opportunity to strengthen a family – connecting them with resources to meet basic needs and increase protective factors.
To learn more, visit the updated reporting abuse and neglect and mandatory reporting webpages or begin the eLearning today.
Contact
Nancy Gutierrez, Communications Administrator|360-742-6418 |nancy.gutierrez@dcyf.wa.gov.
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