Purpose of Grant and why is CIP involved
In September 2016, a partnership between the Child Welfare Services Division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (CWS), the Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association (OICWA), and the Court Improvement Program (CIP) was awarded a 5 year, 2.5 million dollar ICWA implementation grant from the Administration on Children and Families.
The purpose of the partnership is to encourage effective, replicable ways to meet or exceed requirements of ICWA, working together to create solutions for longstanding ICWA practice challenges, including improvements in relationships, communication, training and cultural humility, measurement of current child welfare and court practice related to ICWA, and system improvements through state, regional, and local collaboration and demonstration projects.
ICWA Partnership Grant
With 38 Federally recognized tribes, Oklahoma is an ideal location to benefit from the ICWA Partnership Grant, to improve outcomes for Native American Children.
For more information on the Partnership Grant check it out here: http://www.okdhs.org/services/cws/Pages/GrantSummary.aspx
Projects within the ICWA Partnership Grant include:
- Pottawatomie County Collaborative
- Tulsa County ICWA Court
- Pawnee Area Collaborative
- Case File Review
- Quality Data Project (Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kay and Noble Counties)
The ICWA partnership grant ended in 2023 but the joint work continues between the Tribes, OK Human Services and the Court Improvement Program.