ICWA Education Days

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Indian Child Welfare Act Education Days are sponsored by and for Hennepin County Child Protection and American Indian community partners. The objective is to improve interactions among county staff, community services workers, and Indian families they serve by learning more about themselves and often unconscious values and biases they bring to their work. This is accomplished by using an approach that addresses the “mind, body, and spirit” in a mixed group setting. Outcomes have included increased knowledge of historical trauma, increased county collaboration with community partners that serve the same American Indian clients, and child protection staff reporting changes in their social work practice and feelings of increased job effectiveness.