ICWA Webinar: Mediating ICWA Child Protection Cases - Alaska’s Experience

Mediating in ICWA Child Protection Cases - Alaska’s Experience

Presented by Karen Largent, Terri Spigelmyer, & Diane Payne

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) applies when a state court is involved with a child custody proceeding involving Alaska Native/American Indian children who are members of, or eligible to be members of a federally recognized Tribe. Sometimes disagreements arise over practice issues involved with provisions in ICWA that are referred for child protection mediation. In this webinar, we will give a brief overview of the ICWA and discuss issues often addressed in mediation such as active efforts, ICWA placement preferences, preservation of a child’s connection to tribe, transfer of jurisdiction, etc.

This webinar acknowledges some of the challenges tribal representatives, or ICWA workers face as well as assets they bring to mediation. Also considered are some of the cultural contexts in which these mediations occur and the challenges they pose. This webinar is presented from the perspective of Alaska’s state court connected child protection mediation program in which half the mediations are in ICWA cases. Case scenarios from mediations will be provided.

Presenter Bios:

Karen Largent, LCSW, is a mediator, program developer, trainer, and consultant. As Mediation and Facilitation Services Manager for the Alaska Court System for the past 15 years she has spearheaded the development of Alaska’s statewide child protection mediation program and Family Group Conference program in addition to mediation programs in adult guardianship and child custody issues, and in which she also provides oversight and mentoring. Her professional experience over 30 years has focused on child welfare and other family issues. She has maintained a private mediation practice since 1998.

Terri Spigelmyer, J.D. has practiced in child protection law in Alaska for 26 years in various capacities, including Public Defender, Assistant Attorney General, parent’s attorney, child’s attorney, and Guardian ad litem. For over 10 years, Terri has been a mediator in the state’s child protection mediation program, and has recently been a co-trainer for Alaska’s 40 hour child protection mediation training. Terri is also a mentor for new practitioners in child protection mediation.

Diane Payne was the Children’s Justice Specialist for the national Indian-owned non-profit organization, the Tribal Law & Policy Institute and the director of the Alaska office in Anchorage from 2000 to 2009. In this role, she had primary responsibility under the Institute’s grant from OVC for the training and technical assistance provided to Tribes nationwide on child sexual abuse and serious child abuse issues funded under their Children’s Justice Act (CJA) grants. Diane has extensive experience as a trainer, community organizer and advocate for Native children and families. Before joining the Institute, Diane staffed the Children’s Justice Act (CJA) and STOP Violence Against Indian Women (VAWA) grants for seven Tribes in Alaska’s Chugach Region for several years and was involved in development of coordinated community response and multi-disciplinary teams to reduce trauma to child sexual abuse victims and to reduce violence against Native women. Diane is on the Native American Children’s Alliance Board and was a member of the National CASA Tribal Advisory Committee for several years. In Alaska, she chairs the Alaska State Court Improvement Project’s ICWA Subcommittee, sits on the State’s Children’s Justice Task Force, and is a member of the Alaska State Child and Infant Mortality Review Team. She chaired the Tribal Nations Work Group of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children for two years and continues to provide training to Tribes on methamphetamines and child abuse issues. She has served as a Tribal court prosecutor/presenting officer, has provided Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) training for Tribes for over 15 years and has assisted many Tribes in Washington and Alaska in both State and Tribal court on child abuse and ICWA cases. From the profound and heart-wrenching experience as a Tribal child victim advocate, Diane envisioned and led the development of the Pathway to Hope: Healing Child Sexual Abuse video and Community Facilitator Guidebook and co-trains Tribal community members in the effective use of these tools to end silence about child sexual abuse. She has authored numerous tribal training and skills development resources including an Indian Child Welfare Act Basic Manual, Child Abuse Protocol Guide and child-specific units of the National American Indian/Alaska Native Victim Assistance Training curriculum.

Consultant contact information: justice4nativechildren@yahoo.com phone 907-230-3936 or PO Box 670818, Chugiak, Alaska 99567

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Hanson on April 11, 2013 at 12:12pm

Thank you to Karen, Diane, and Terri for a wonderful and insightful webinar. Mediation seems like the most constructive method for approaching these Child Protection cases in regards to ICWA. I know we were left with minimal time for discussion, but want to encourage those with questions or comments to provide them in this forum. I actually have a couple of questions I hope Karen, Diane, or Terri can share their thoughts.

1) The definition of "parent," or even "extended family," being more broad in tribal communities seems to open up issues in terms of making custodial decisions that are mutually agreed upon. How do you determine when you have all of the necessary voices at the table, or when a voice may not be appropriate for the discussion?

2) In regards to the historical trauma that exists within this context, have you found it difficult to gain the necessary trust? What have you found helpful to build this trust?

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Hanson on April 11, 2013 at 12:36pm

The Archive from the April 10th webinar is now available for viewing. You may watch the webinar by simply clicking play on the video player above. Please do feel free to continue the discussion with further questions and comments within this forum. Thanks! Bryan

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Permalink Reply by Karen Largent on April 12, 2013 at 3:17pm

Great questions, Bryan!

The time we invest in preparation for the joint session helps our mediators learn who the key - or legal - parties believe are the necessary voices to have at the table, and to develop consensus around who should participate. Questions like these help to develop the list: Who has information needed for informed decisionmaking? Who has opinions about the issues to be mediated and a stake in the outcome? Who might be part of the solution? Who could provide support to another participant (such as for a youth or other family member)? Who is necessary for a durable agreement? The mediator contines to communicate with the parties about potential participants until consensus is reached about who will be there, during what portions of the mediation they will participate, and in what roles.

How do others make these decisions?

Preparation is also one way we work to build trust. The time mediators send with each person prior to the joint session is strategic. Trust is something we want to begin to develop with each participant prior to the session. We want those meetings to be in person whenever possible - and that is especially true with family members. We realize mediation is not a milieu with which most families are familiar and that they may feel very anxious, overwhelmed, angry, confused, and more.

We want to develop some rapport; help them feel more comfortbale - more prepared - so we explain the process, go over the agreement to mediate, answer questions, listen to their concerns, ask about their needs, fears, and goals. Through this conversation we hope to develop some level of trust that will help to engage them in the mediation process where we hope to foster additional opportunites to continue to build trust. There are times it's helpful to acknowledge the distrust and talk directly about how to build it. People sitting together, sharing some food together, and talking in an open and real way can help to bring down some of the barriers and stereotypes that hold distrust in place.

I don't mean to oversimplify this. But even seemingly small gestures and exchanges can begin to shift the dynamic in a way that makes trust possible.

What do others think?

Bryan Hanson said:

Thank you to Karen, Diane, and Terri for a wonderful and insightful webinar. Mediation seems like the most constructive method for approaching these Child Protection cases in regards to ICWA. I know we were left with minimal time for discussion, but want to encourage those with questions or comments to provide them in this forum. I actually have a couple of questions I hope Karen, Diane, or Terri can share their thoughts.

1) The definition of "parent," or even "extended family," being more broad in tribal communities seems to open up issues in terms of making custodial decisions that are mutually agreed upon. How do you determine when you have all of the necessary voices at the table, or when a voice may not be appropriate for the discussion?

2) In regards to the historical trauma that exists within this context, have you found it difficult to gain the necessary trust? What have you found helpful to build this trust?

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Hanson on April 13, 2013 at 11:36am

Thanks Karen, preparation is definitely the key for so many of the processes we engage in. I appreciatethe wonderful tips you provided to properly prepare and build the necessary trust. Thank you also for providing permission to post the slides. I attached them to this post.

Be well,

Bryan

Attachments:

Webinar Mediating in ICWA CPM edited.pdf, 3.5 MB

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Permalink Reply by Susan M. Storcel on April 15, 2013 at 4:17pm

I finally had an opportunity to listen to the archived webinar. Thank you Karen, Terri and Diane for valuable information. We do not often have ICWA issues where my CPM is located --- in Chicago. Still, when we have had tribal representatives at the table for ICWA cases we learned so much from the experiences. (In adition to the "homework" we did in preparation.) I noticed though that much of the information you offered, especially Terri through her scenarios, also translates to child protection mediations where ICWA is not a factor, eg. the resentment by family members when the attorneys or social work professionals imply by their comments and body language that they know everything that is "important " to know about the family for "their""purposes, and that they, in genera,l know better than the family what is in the child's and family's best interests. Also, in cases where classism, or even same-race racism are clearly apparent.

I viewed this after de-briefing a mediation just concluded by two of my mediators who were furious about how the agency supervisor effectively commandeered the process within the first few minutes to the extent of intimidating the parent from wanting to speak at all about her visits being suddenly limited by the agency from almost daily at the relative caregiver's home, to one hour weekly at the agency office following "a staffing we had at our office last week where we made this decision." Oh, no power imbalance there!!!! I have asked the mediators to view the webinar while we work on rescheduling the session --- sans the professionals----- to help the family have the conversation they seem to want to have but are afraid to have with the professionals who seem to have everything "worked out", thank you very much, and really don't need interference by those pesky family members! Thanks for a great webinar.