Primary Reason(s) Applied for OCS' DV/CPS Collaboration Grant:  The reason the tribe applied for the DV/CPS collaboration grant was to initiate collaboration between the tribe and county social services agencies and to develop a cross-referral system between agencies and the tribe.

Grant Project Goals:  The goals and objectives of the grant project included providing training to county social service representatives and tribal staff and developing a memorandum of understanding with social service agencies in the 14-county area in order to increase referrals, define program responsibility, and assist in the collaboration across child welfare and domestic violence disciplines. In addition, an Advisory Council would develop policies directing joint efforts of designated disciplines (i.e., roles and responsibilities to improve the agency's response to children in homes with domestic violence). Another objective of the project was to gather information on the number of women and children involved in domestic violence (e.g., number of cases deferred, court determination, child abuse resulting from domestic violence incidents, percent of cases involving law enforcement, and number of women using shelters) and to prepare an informational handbook for each tribal member.

Implementation:  The application noted that one training session per quarter would be held with at least two representatives of participating counties and tribal social services staff. During the first quarter of the project period, tribal elections caused high turnover in the administration of tribal social services. The new administrators were not invested in the project and were focused on broader issues involving tribal child welfare services and the county social service systems. Thus, no training activities were implemented that included staff/administrators from county agencies. Actual implementation involved "community awareness" activities conducted each quarter of the project period by existing tribal domestic violence staff. No activity was completed with regard to developing memorandum of understanding between the tribe and the 14 county social service agencies. Again, the setback appeared to be due to the administrative turnover as well as the need to focus on broader tribal child welfare issues. Information was collected with regard to the number of women affected by domestic violence and the outcomes. However, no report was compiled to document this data collection.

Lessons Learned and Impact on DV/CPS Relationship:  This project had very little impact on the relationship between domestic violence and child welfare agencies in the 14-county area. The domestic violence awareness activities likely produced some positive effects within the tribal community. Unrelated to grant activities but beneficial to the child welfare system is the establishment of a tribal court and court monitor staff position. In addition, a Children's Code was developed. The primary responsibilities of the court monitor is to provide consultation to the 14 social service agencies on the tribe's Children's Code and the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Ongoing Activities/Future Plans:  The newly established tribal court and monitor position should initiate collaborative efforts between the tribe and the 14-county social service agencies. One result of the project is that there have been discussions about establishing a shelter on tribal lands for women and their children. Recently, the tribe received a Federal Victims of Crime Act grant under which a shelter arrangement may be funded.