SOCIAL SERVICES
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has recently acquired a Social Services
Program. This fiscal year 1987 will be the first Fall contract cycle of its implementation.
One of the varied functions of the program will be to execute the mandates of the
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-608) to summarize this, congress enacted
the Indian Child Welfare Act pursuant to finding that there is an alarmingly high percentage
of Indian families that have been broken-up. families have been broken-up by the removal
(often unwarrented) of their children in proceedings which fail to "recognize the essential
tribal relations of Indian people and prevailing cultural and social standards". Congress
declared it a national policy to:
protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the
stability and security of Indian tribes and families by the establishment
of minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children from their
families and the placement of such children in foster or adoptive homes
which will reflect the unique values of Indian culture, and by providing
for assistance to Indian tribes in the operation of child and family
service programs.
An informative brochure describing the Act is available from the Social Servces
Program and can be mailed to you upon request. The basic description in the brochure is
as follows.
The Indian Child Welfare Act requires that an Indian child be placed with
extended family who are relatives over eighteen if possible. These relatives
are grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, brother or sister-in-law,
niece or nephew, first or second cousins or step-parents or other persons
who are identified as extended family according to custom of the child's
tribe. The second priority is a foster home licensed or designated by the
child's tribe. Third, an Indian foster home lecensed or approved by a
nonindian licensing authority; or an institution for children approved by
an Indian tribe or operated by an Indian organization which meets the child's
needs. The same criteria and priorities are required for adoption.
If you want information on becoming a foster parent or an adoptive parent, please
contact the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Social Services Program.
The Social Services Program is currently gathering information in regard to available
social services in the six-sounty service area. An information manual will be prepared
detailing the type of social services available for tribal members.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Social Services Program
P.O. Box 38
Grand Ronde, OR 97347
Staff: Alan S. Ham, MPH, Social Worker
Don Hudson, Social Services Researcher
(503) 879-5253
A Day of Worry Is More
Exhausting Than A Week
of Work
Worry Pulls Tomorrow's
Cloud Over Today's
Sunshine.
Every Minute You Are
Angry, You Lose Sixty
Seconds of Happiness.
A Smile Is a Gently
Curved Line That Sets
A Lot of Things Straight.