Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
04/06/2021 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Overview: Tribal Child Welfare Compact | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 6, 2021
3:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Liz Snyder, Co-Chair
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky, Co-Chair
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Zack Fields
Representative Ken McCarty
Representative Mike Prax
Representative Christopher Kurka
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW: TRIBAL CHILD WELFARE COMPACT
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
NICOLE BORROMEO, Executive Vice President
Alaska Federation of Natives
Anchorage Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled
"Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact: 2021 Update."
VIVIAN KORTHUIS, CEO
Association of Village Council Presidents
Bethel, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Read a prepared statement about AVCP's role
in the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact.
BRITTANY MADROS, Tribal Government Services Director
Tanana Chiefs Conference
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed Tanana Chiefs Conference's role
in the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:03:29 PM
CO-CHAIR TIFFANY ZULKOSKY called the House Health and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:03 p.m.
Representatives Fields, McCarty, Prax, Snyder, and Zulkosky were
present at the call to order. Representatives Spohnholz and
Kurka arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^OVERVIEW: Tribal Child Welfare Compact
OVERVIEW: Tribal Child Welfare Compact
3:04:13 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the only order of business
would be an Overview, entitled "Tribal Child Welfare Compact."
3:05:04 PM
NICOLE BORROMEO, Executive Vice President, Alaska Federation of
Natives (AFN), gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Alaska
Tribal Child Welfare Compact: 2021 Update." She informed the
committee that she serves as the Compact Facilitator for the
Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact ("the Compact"). She
explained that she is charged in appearing in a neutral capacity
between the tribes and the state.
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 2, "Why the Work Began," which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
(1) Significant Disparities
? Alaska Native children make up 15% of the state's
general population; but represent 60% of the kids in
state custody. Disparities of this nature generally
indicate a system failure, and Alaska is no exception.
(2) Retention Difficulties
? Additionally, the state has a difficult time
recruiting and retaining a proficient workforce. The
Office of Children's Services (OCS) typically operates
at a 50% vacancy rate and requires its frontline
workforce to carry caseloads more than 3x the national
average.
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 3, "How the Work Began," which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Tribal State Collaboration Group
? What ? 25-year partnership between state and tribal
representatives (and invited stakeholders)
? Goals ? (1) strengthening Alaska's compliance with
the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA); (2) reducing the
disproportionality of 'Indian' kids in state custody;
and (3) building and strengthening working
relationships.
Tribal Title IV-E Agreements
? What ? provides federal resources ($) to states and
tribes for foster care, transitional independent
living programs, guardianship assistance, and adoption
assistance.
? Note ? Tribes receive a higher reimbursement rate
than states for covered services, resulting in
significant General Fund savings.
MS. BORROMEO explained that Title IV-E refers to a specific
section of the Social Security and Administration Act. She
stressed that these funds are beneficial in terms of how much
money can be brought into the state to free up resources.
3:09:50 PM
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 4, "Alaska Tribal Child Welfare
Compact Overview," which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
? What ? a intergovernmental agreement between the
state of Alaska and 18 federally recognized Alaska
Native tribes and tribal organizations to improve the
life outcomes of Alaska's children and families, by
transferring negotiated child welfare services and
supports along with their respective revenue streams
from OCS to the 'Tribal Co-Signers.'
? Goal ? provide higher quality services and supports
at a lower cost.
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 5, "Compact (Cont'd)," which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
? Precedence ? modeled after the compacts the federal
government routinely negotiates with tribes and tribal
organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA).
? Historical ? the Compact is the first ever
government-to-government agreement negotiated and
executed at the state level (history making!).
? Sovereignty ? recognizes the inherent authority of
federally recognized Alaska Native tribes to provide
child welfare services and supports to their members.
MS. BORROMEO noted that "tribes" can be an uncomfortable word.
She said AFN encouraged the state to think of tribes as local
governments. She pointed out that many villages in rural Alaska
don't have a strong local government because there are not
resources, but there is often a tribe in those communities. She
said AFN didn't want anyone in the room to be uncomfortable by
the terms "tribal immunity," "tribal sovereignty," or "tribal
authority" and explained that this was a way to say, "local
control."
3:12:49 PM
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 6, "18 Tribal Co-Signers
Representing 161 Tribes." She explained that it was a list of
all 18 co-signers who had signed on to the Compact. She
explained that the takeaway was that the 18 co-signors
represented 161 tribes.
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 7, "Implementation Timeline," which
read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Fiscal Year (FY) 2018
? Tribal Co-Signers developed/redesign their
programs, and built capacity and infrastructure. ?
State began sharing Protective Services Reports (PSRs
or 'screen ins' or 'screen outs'), and providing
training and technical support.
FY 2019
? Tribal Co-Signers began performing Initial Diligent
Relative Searches (IDRS). ? The Parties negotiated
four new Scopes of Work (SOW) for: (1) Ongoing
Relatives Searches (ORS); (2) Family Contact; (3)
Licensing Assists; and (4) Safety Evaluations, but
State declined to sign due to change in
Administration.
MS. BORROMEO shared that negotiations for the Compact began in
2017 with the goal of having a compact to sign at the annual AFN
Convention. She said that is the largest meeting in the state,
and AFN wanted the state to see what the Walker Administration
had negotiated with the Alaska Native community for improving
child welfare. She said that with the state allocation, tribes
either developed a child welfare program or redesigned existing
programs with the new authorities from the Compact. She said
the tribes hoped to work with the state to provide prevention
work, by reaching out with wraparound services before removing
children and having them placed in state custody. She commented
that Governor Dunleavy's administration put the Compact on hold,
so the new governor could reassess the work and reevaluate his
administration's commitment to the Compact.
3:17:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if the tribes were doing prevention
work legally on behalf of the state of Alaska, or if this was
comparable to a church's work.
MS. BORROMEO answered that in prevention work the tribes were
not legally representing the state. She said the tribes did not
operate as a non-governmental organization (NGO) or religious
organization. She explained that because the tribes are
sovereign entities, each has the authority to provide services
to its members. She shared that some tribes also use funds that
are not provided by the state to help families that have been
identified as "high priority" and in need of services to help
them become more stable. She clarified that the prevention work
is not paid for by the state of Alaska, because the state does
not receive money to do preventative services, rather, state
funds are for children who have been removed and are in foster
care.
3:19:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY asked about the shift in sharing the PSRs
referenced on slide 7.
MS. BORROMEO answered that the legal shift was brought about by
the Compact, which is the document that allows the sharing to
take place. She commented that there was a strong desire to
better partner and share information, but the legal framework
wasn't there [previously] for the state to be able to engage the
tribes at the desired level. She explained that there is a
series of different confidentiality agreements in place, and the
tribes have completed training to access different state
databases. She noted that [the PSRs] are all highly
confidential information, and that the goal was to keep the
family intact or reunite them if experiencing foster care.
3:21:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA asked whether individuals working under the
authority of the tribes are bound by same confidentiality as
state workers.
MS. BORROMEO answered that the same confidentiality requirements
apply whether or not the worker is a state or tribal worker.
She offered that any type of floor requirements in federal law
that exist for the state carry over to the Compact. She
explained that the Compact allows the different tribal co-
signers to tailor their own programs to each tribe's geographic,
regional, and tribal needs, which allows flexibility, although
there are a number of baseline factors that are the same for all
co-signers. She emphasized that this was not a way to "sneak
around requirements" imposed by the federal government or by the
state of Alaska.
3:23:29 PM
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 8, "Implementation (Cont'd)," which
read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
FY 2020
? Parties worked out differences and signed all five
pre-negotiated Scopes, including: (1) IDRS; (2) ORS;
(3) Family Contact; (4) Licensing Assists; and (5)
Safety Evaluations.
FY 2021
? . . . Coming in May 2021.
3:24:13 PM
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 9, "Public-Private Partnership,"
which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Casey Family Programs
? Applying the federal compact model to state child
welfare work caught the attention of Casey Family
Programs (CFP), the largest foster care and related
services foundation in the country.
? CFP was eager to partner on the endeavor, and
through a modest amount of seed money helped create
the first ever public-private partnership to transform
Alaska's child welfare system (history making AGAIN!).
3:25:21 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked for the difference between the
unsigned scopes of work that were drafted and negotiated in FY
19, and what was signed in FY 20.
MS. BORROMEO referenced slide 7 in response to the question and
pointed out the different scopes outlined. She said once an
Indian child is removed from his/her home and placed in state
custody, one of the first tasks that OCS does is locate
relatives, because under the ICWA there is a placement
preference. She said the preference is first that the child
stays in his/her immediate family, then to another Native
family, next to another tribal family, and finally to a non-
Native home. She circled back explaining that it is very
helpful if the state knows who the relatives of the child are
for the initial placement but noted that ongoing relative
searches are also important because sometimes a child is taken
from temporary custody and put in a more permanent foster home
situation.
MS. BORROMEO said the "child contact" scope of work had been a
difficult service for OCS to provide, especially out in the
Bush. She explained that this is when a child is placed for
visitation to have some contact with the parent. She said the
difficulty came from OCS not having buildings or staff in many
of the smaller villages, or even the hub communities. She
shared that "licensing assist" work was licensing a home for
foster care placement. She explained that if OCS didn't have a
worker in a village, it could call up [the partnered tribal
authority] for assistance surveying the home, and that the same
applied for safety evaluations.
3:29:04 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ reworded her question, stating that the
"state declined to sign" in FY 19, and then the scopes were re-
negotiated in F Y20. She asked if there were significant
changes between the FY 20 and the FY19 scopes, or if it was a
matter of bringing the new leadership in the administration up
to speed.
MS. BORROMEO replied that the scopes were substantially the
same, but what had changed was the new administration's
understanding of tribal sovereign immunity and the insurance
requirements that are in place. She said that when tribes began
performing this work on behalf of the state, they also incurred
the liability that comes with child welfare. She said that as
part of the Compact, the state and the tribes negotiated a
"waterfall system," wherein the tribes were not asked to execute
immediately a broad blanket of sovereign immunity waiver,
instead the tribes instead are covered by private insurance,
which all tribes have, or by Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)
insurance. She said, "Only then, if there is an act of harm
that goes beyond those different forms providing full recovery
for the child or the child's family ... will the state ask the
tribe to waive its sovereign immunity."
3:31:02 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY referenced the goal stated on slide 4 to
provide higher services at a lower cost. She asked Ms. Borromeo
to discuss what was funded by the state for the implementation
of the Compact in FY 18, in contrast to what was set aside in
subsequent fiscal years.
MS. BORROMEO responded that the state has consistently funded
the Compact at between $1.2-$1.6 million, landing consistently
at $1.5 million. She said this is the amount all the tribal co-
signers said it would cost to hire one full-time equivalent
employee to run the program. She said that even though the
amount has stayed the same financially since the Compact was
signed in FY 18, the tribes have routinely taken on more
responsibility at the annual negotiations, which means the
tribes are doing more "scopes of work," even though the state
has not committed more resources to the Compact.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked if the new scopes of work increased the
workload and required additional underwriting on the part of the
tribes.
MS. BORROMEO answered that there are many unfunded costs that
the tribes are bearing, which means they are taking from other
programs outside of child welfare. She said this is not
sustainable, but the state is aware of the issue. She also
mentioned that there have been implementation challenges, so not
as many cases have been transferred to the tribes as is desired.
She explained that there had not been enough capacity building
in the front end of the Compact, which was meant to be wrapped
up in one fiscal year; capacity and implementation has been an
ongoing challenge for both parties, she explained. She said
workforce retention has also been an issue because many tribal
employees have difficulty committing to a program that is
subject to annual funding.
3:35:34 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER asked why some tribes had not signed on.
MS. BORROMEO explained that the Kodiak Area Native Association
(KANA), along with a few other tribes, did not sign on because
they were unhappy with how the tribal sovereign immunity
provisions in the Compact were drafted.
3:36:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked if there had been any discussion
concerning multi-year fiscal compacting in order to create
fiscal certainty.
MS. BORROMEO replied that it had been discussed. She shared
that one model the tribes are looking at is the Millennium
Challenge Corporation model at the federal level, which is a
five-year compact to third world and developing countries. She
argued that this makes time to do the work instead of gearing up
for an annual negotiation. She said it was a good suggestion
and possible solution.
3:38:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA asked why two tribes on slide 6 have
asterisks by their names.
MS. BORROMEO answered that those two tribes signed the umbrella
agreement but have not signed the corresponding Service Support
Funding Agreement (SSFA), which is the power to perform the
scopes, because of tribal sovereign immunity challenges.
3:39:30 PM
MS. BORROMEO returned to slide 9. She said the CFP dedicated
two consultants to working on the Compact. She said one is
Francine Eddy Jones, who has previously worked with the Central
Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on its child
welfare program. The other is Kristie Swanson, a previous OCS
employee, who Ms. Borromeo opined is the leading expert on Title
IV programs in Alaska.
MS. BORROMEO presented slide 10, "Long Term Goals," which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
? Alaska children and families will be served locally,
as close to home as possible.
? Services will be provided in a more cost effective
and efficient manner.
? Children and families will be more receptive to
changing abusive or neglectful behavior(s), which will
decrease the number of children in state custody.
? Outcomes for Alaska children and families will be
improved, particularly Alaska Native children and
families.
3:42:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY requested a copy of the Compact.
MS. BOROMMEO offered to send a copy to Representative McCarty's
office.
3:42:15 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked Ms. Borromeo if there was a "percent
increase" in the work burden on tribes in the Compact related to
scopes of work that increased between FY 18 and FY 20.
MS. BORROMEO replied that not all cosigners are equal in work
output and while some cosigners have over 150 children in
custody, others have a small handful. She also said that some
have established child welfare programs, and others are just
setting up child welfare programs. She suggested that other
presenters could better answer the question.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked about the legal requirements in Alaska
in terms of ensuring equitable outcomes for children in the
foster care system, particularly Alaska Native children who are
disproportionately represented in the system.
MS. BORROMEO answered that the State of Alaska has a
responsibility to all children in the child welfare system, not
just Alaska Native children. She acknowledged that the data
shows there is a disproportionality issue and said the state has
big challenges in how it can overcome those hurdles. She
explained that when rural Alaska Native children are placed in
urban, often non-Native homes, it is difficult unifying the
family. She stated that heightened legal obligations for Alaska
Native children come from ICWA. The state has to go above and
beyond when trying to reunite an Indian family, and to show
steps of reunification that not all children in Alaska have, she
explained. She advised that ICWA should be "embraced as the
gold standard for all children, whether ... Native or non-
Native."
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked if the disproportionality of Alaska
Native children in custody increased the state's exposure to
potential liability.
MS. BORROMEO said she believed that question was answered when
looking at judgements that have resulted from the number of
Alaska Native children in state custody. She said the state
routinely settles OCS case for hundreds of thousands and
sometimes millions of dollars.
3:46:29 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked Ms. Borromeo how she measured the
success of the Compact, what data points to monitor in terms of
the success of any state spending, and if she could speak to any
any signals or data to highlight the impact of the Compact in
Alaska.
MS. BORROMEO replied that she measures the success by the co-
signer list at the annual negotiation. She said she is
protective of both the state and the tribes when it comes to
data points, because [the Compact] is on the cutting edge of law
and policy. She said trying to transform a system with this
much disparity is going to take time. She said there will have
to be an infusion of state resources for the Compact to grow.
3:49:03 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if the needed resources would be a
redirection of resources from what the state is doing now to
whatever the tribes would be doing.
MS. BORROMEO confirmed OCS does not ask for more money for the
Compact, rather it reallocates resources.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked about the disparity.
MS. BORROMEO answered that the disparity is due to poverty. She
explained that when families have trouble clothing and feeding
their children, this can lead to many stressors. She suggested
that until the state addresses poverty, it will pop up in a
number of situations, like how many children enter the state's
custody
MS. BORROMEO, in response to a question about sovereignty and
child custody, said the children are still in state custody and
that the tribes are not transferring custody to tribal welfare
programs. She pointed to the scopes of work as specific things
that OCS does, and said the tribes are not engaging in removal
efforts or placement.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX commented that it made sense to him that it
would help outcomes if those helping the children were
culturally close to the children. He said he did not understand
the custody and liability aspects in terms of sovereignty as
opposed to contracting with the state and asked if he would need
to read the Compact.
MS. BORROMEO agreed that he may need to read the Compact. She
suggested starting with the "American Indian Law in a Nutshell"
and offered to send additional reading material. She explained
that a sovereign [entity] cannot be sued unless it consents to
being sued. She noted that an Indian tribe that is federally
recognized does not have absolute sovereignty, as the federal
government withholds some immunities. She said that liability
was a separate issue because Alaska is a joint and several
liability state, meaning that if there are two actors involved
in one act, both may be brought to court if something goes wrong
because of the partnership. She said if the state wanted to
decrease its liability for what tribes do on its behalf, the
easiest way to do that would be to give the tribes more control.
3:55:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if a child with one Native and one
non-Native parent would fall under the jurisdiction of the
tribe.
MS. BORROMEO replied that the child must be eligible for
enrollment, which is first indicative of whether the child's
parent is enrolled. She commented that every tribe is
different.
3:56:34 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY said it seemed that Ms. Borromeo had
indicated that the disparity between Native and non-Native
children in the child welfare system was related to poverty, and
not OCS choosing Native children over non-Native children. He
asked if his understanding was accurate.
MS. BORROMEO offered her understanding that he was asking if OCS
had a bias of removing Native children over non-Native children
and replied that she didn't believe that was how OCS approached
the work. But, she said, when looking at the data one must
reconcile that there are some differences. She reiterated that
it stems from poverty, because a family not being able to get
enough basic essentials for its children would cause a mandatory
reporter to file a report with OCS. She said there are
sometimes cultural conflicts with OCS and offered an example of
multiple Native children sleeping in the same bed, which she
suggested could be by choice, rather than the family being in
crisis.
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY said he understood the modality of
different cultures. He asked to learn more about the data
collection, and whether there was a longitudinal study so to
avoid anecdotal data.
MS. BORROMEO replied that it was being done and accredited the
Dunleavy Administration with insisting on it. She said it was
important to make sure the Compact was working and that the
resources were spent in the most efficient manner possible. She
noted that there had been implementation challenges so not all
the scopes are functioning on "all six cylinders." She pointed
out that just as many of these scopes were implemented, the
world changed rapidly because of COVID-19.
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY asked for the timeline on the data
collection.
MS. BORROMEO replied that that was a good question, but better
answered by OCS. She said OCS tracks the number of children in
state custody and in all the co-signers' regions, along with how
many of the scopes of work referrals had been made in. She
commented that it was a two-part issue; the state needed to make
referrals to the tribes in all of the different areas, and in
turn once the tribes received the referrals from the state, the
tribes do the work. She said there has been difficulty with the
referrals going out, and with the tribes declining some
referrals.
4:02:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY asked if the Compact was also collecting
data once a child's case had been moved from OCS.
MS. BORROMEO said that when a child is serviced through the
Compact, OCS still maintains authority over the child and
family.
4:03:20 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ referred to slide 7 which listed the
scopes of work. She commented that children were not leaving
OCS custody when a tribe compacted the state of Alaska to do
that work. She recognized that there had been relevant
discussion on data collection and measurements against the
scopes of work, but then stated that "a brand-new Mercedes won't
go anywhere if you don't put fuel in the car." She asserted
that it was important to make certain that the Compact was
adequately resourced. She asked if one full time child welfare
coordinator for the state was enough, or if additional resources
were needed, and if Ms. Borromeo had any recommendations.
MS. BORROMEO responded that one full-time employee was not
enough to perform all these scopes, although there are some
exceptions. She said the vision is that the tribes could
shoulder some of this work for the state. In response to the
question about the Compact's needs going forward, she said more
funding was needed. She stated that even though every OCS
individual in a position of leadership contributes to the
Compact, there is only one dedicated employee who is supposed to
interface with all 18 co-signer tribes with child welfare
programs in varying stages of development. In response to the
second part of Representative Spohnholz's question she said more
resources need to be infused into the Compact, and it may take
time to turn data around, being on the cutting edge of law and
policy.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ commented that the time to implement is
very important. She opined that the legislature has unrealistic
expectations for change, wanting to see "massive results" in one
to two years, but argued that that is not how systemic change
works. She asserted that long-term restructuring takes time;
the first few years are "setting the floor," and from there the
results will grow.
4:08:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA noted that Ms. Borromeo had mentioned
tribal caseworkers as having a different way of evaluating
regarding cultural differences. He asked if the rules stayed
the same for removal of children from the home.
MS. BORROMEO answered that the baseline rules are the same under
the Compact as under the regular system. She emphasized that
the Compact was working towards prevention to keep the children
from the OCS system. She said tribes approach child welfare
differently from the state, with a more preventative and
holistic focus. She said tribes don't want to step in when a
child is being neglected and abused, rather the tribes want to
be involved as soon as there are stresses on the family.
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA referred to slide 2 and asked if Alaska
Native children make up 15 of the population of children in
Alaska, or of the entire population.
MS. BORROMEO responded that Alaska Native children make up 15
percent of the state's child population.
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA asked how Alaska's disparity ranked with
other states.
MS. BORROMEO said this was generally reflective of Indian
country. She said different states with high Native populations
such as Arizona and South Dakota, had similar trends. She
shared that CFP is working with tribes outside of Alaska and is
closely tracking the work done in Alaska so the Compact can be
introduced to other tribes to improve different child welfare
systems. She said there is a lot of attention being paid to the
Compact on the national level by subject matter experts. She
emphasized that everybody at the table has high expectations,
because these are children, not just data points and numbers.
4:16:11 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER commented that there are three different kinds
of evaluation in the public health context. The first is a
formative evaluation, which is at the start of a new program and
asks about the design, the stakeholders involved, and if there
was proper roll out, she explained, verses a process evaluation,
which looks at the implementation, delivery, and if funds were
properly applied, or an impact/outcome evaluation, which tracks
changes in the various metrics. She argued the metrics can
sometimes be difficult to capture when looking at long-term
implications. She commented that when thinking about
evaluations and OCS, these questions need to be asked about OCS
as a whole, not just how it relates to the Compact. She opined
that if the legislature is going to be asking those questions,
it should also be providing the resources that make [the desired
results] possible. She asked Ms. Borromeo if the Compact was in
the realm of a formative evaluation, which would be tracked
differently than what is being asked of OCS. She also asked if
Ms. Borromeo would amend or add to her earlier statements with
respect to necessary resources if it was desired to make
evaluation an integral and sustainable part of the effort.
MS. BORROMEO answered that formative evaluations needs to be
factored in when policy makers are thinking about the resources
for the Compact. She said evaluations are not something she has
seen any of the OCS leadership or the tribal co-signers shy away
from and noted that tribal co-signers pass federal audits on a
yearly basis and want to see "the dial turn." She opined that
there is some pent-up frustration on both sides that progress
isn't made fast enough, but she said that when on the cutting
edge of law and policy during a pandemic, sometimes expectations
must be tempered.
MS. BORROMEO emphasized that at the end of the day, Alaskans are
going to pay for this service. She said if it is not going to
be paid for in child welfare, it will be paid for [later] in
corrections. She further argued that that would be much more
expensive, with lower chances of rehabilitation. She reasoned
that intervening and putting resources towards children to make
them productive members of society would be in the best interest
of the entire state.
4:21:21 PM
VIVIAN KORTHUIS, CEO, Association of Village Council Presidents
(AVCP), shared that she is Yupik and a member of the Emmonak
Tribe and read a prepared statement. She informed the committee
members that AVCP is the largest tribal consortium in the nation
with 56 federally recognized tribes as members. She said AVCP
is located on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta, bordering the
Yukon River, the Kuskokwim River, and the Bering Sea Coast in
Western Alaska. She shared that when giving testimony to the
federal government, she described the region and rural Alaska as
"extremely rural America." She shared that the AVCP region is
about the same size as the state of Washington, and is off the
Alaska road system, so the only way to the region is by flying,
or during the summer, by barge. She said transportation within
the region in the summertime is by small plane or boat, or by
snowmachine in the winter. The region's population is
approximately 26,000 people with a median age of 25.
MS. KORTHUIS shared that the tribes' current top three
priorities are public safety, economic development, and
community wellness. Ms. Korthuis opined that community wellness
happens when families are safe and healthy. She stated that
children are the most valuable members of the family, so
protecting them and helping them thrive is the tribe's most
important work. She said AVCP made the initial $5,000
investment asked of all tribal caucus members to the Compact,
even though AVCP knew it would not be able to transform child
welfare for that cost. She stated that AVCP understood that it
would take hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as time,
energy, and commitment. She stated that AVCP chose to make this
investment because its leaders and elders know that there is no
future without their children. She shared that tribes have
compacted with the federal government to provide social services
for decades through the Borrough of Indian Affairs (BIA) and
health services through the Indian Health Service (IHS) and have
become experts in the compacting process, and she asserted that
AVCP has since been extremely successful in both these areas.
However, she observed that compacting is new to the State of
Alaska, which has always operated with grants or contracts for
services when dealing with tribes. She said the state and
tribal co-signers are creating a new process together with the
Compact.
4:27:14 PM
MS. KORTHUIS stated that compacting requires a shift in mindset;
the state is not paying an entity to perform a series of tasks,
such as one would pay an employee, instead the state is
providing resources and funding for the compacting entity to use
its own service delivery model to meet the needs of the
community. She said the state and the tribal co-signers are not
yet where they need to be to transform child welfare in Alaska,
but she is confident in the Compact's implementation with AVCP.
She said the tribal caucus has committed significant staff time
and resources to get the Compact off the ground.
MS. KORTHUIS said AVCP is currently performing four scopes of
work that would normally be performed by OCS. These are
diligent relative searches, ongoing relative searches, safety
walkthroughs, and foster parent licensing assistance, she
shared. She said there are approximately 475-500 tribal
children from the AVPC region in OCS custody. She said half of
the children are in homes or facilities outside of the Y-K
Delta. She stressed that this was a very large number for the
region, equating it to the size of a medium village. Ms.
Korthuis stated that being removed from the home and parents is
a traumatic event for every child, even when keeping a child
safe. She opined that removing the child from the comforts and
familiarity of his/her home and village to a new city and
culture compounds the trauma. She said AVCP wants children to
stay in their communities whenever possible and is partnering
with OCS because this can only happen when safe and willing
homes are identified and licensed. She noted that ICWA
recognized that it is even better if a child is placed in a
relative's home.
MS. KORTHUIS shared an anecdote where OCS and AVCP successfully
worked together to place a child from Anchorage in a relative's
home in a village. She said it was because of the Compact that
there was a process in place for OCS to make the referral, and
it also had the funding in place for AVCP to identify and
approve a home. She pointed out that working with tribes is
beneficial because the tribes can leverage additional resources.
She offered that AVCP works with foster families to provide
equipment needed to become licensed and provide childcare
resources.
4:32:56 PM
MS. KORTHUIS continued her testimony and shared that in the past
four years, AVCP had identified issues in transforming child
welfare through the Compact. She said the biggest challenge has
been implementation and explained that cross-training between
tribes and OCS takes time and work. She asserted that time,
resources, and funding needed to be dedicated in order to ensure
that the Compact is set-up for success. She said another
challenge is a loss of momentum and argued that the state and
tribes needed to add new scopes of work and expand services.
She said the last challenge was consultation and argued that it
was essential that tribes and the state remain on the same page
on what is necessary to transform child welfare. She said DHSS
has a tribal consultation policy that when followed strengthens
the partnerships between the state and tribes and leads to
better outcomes for children.
4:35:04 PM
MS. KORTHUIS concluded by reiterating that the tribal partners
were committed to Alaskan children. She said placing foster
children with family members in their Native villages is what
AVCP wants and why it is invested in the compacting process.
She said ACVP wants parents to have the tools and resources
needed to be safe, so their children are not removed in the
first place. She said AVCP's children are also Alaska's
children.
4:36:46 PM
BRITTANY MADROS, Tribal Government Services Director, Tanana
Chiefs Conference (TCC), shared that TCC is based in Fairbanks,
Alaska, is one of the 12 Alaska Native regional non-profit
corporations, and is organized as Dena' Nena' Henash, which
means "Our Land Speaks," in Athabascan. She said TCC provides
services while balancing traditional Athabascan and Alaska
Native values with modern demands and works towards meeting the
health and social service needs of roughly 16,000 Alaska Native
people, tribal members, and beneficiaries throughout the TCC
region, as well as serving non-Native community members in
larger hub communities with IHC hospitals and clinics. She said
TCC services all tribal members of the 37 federally recognized
tribes in the TCC region, and all eligible Alaska Native Indians
residing in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. She noted that
the region covers a geographic territory the size of Texas, and
is in the center of Alaska, with an area of 235,000 square
miles. She said 9 tribes are located on the road system,
ranging 1-8 hours from Fairbanks, and the other 28 tribes are
only accessible by bush plane when weather conditions are
viable. She said the 37 tribes are predominately Athabascan
Indian with populations of 75 to 1,500 community members, along
with a few villages that have 10 members or less. She said none
of the tribes within the region are located within a borough or
county and are in the unorganized borough, the last of such
status in the United States. She told the committee there are 5
Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO)s, although 2 posts vacant,
that work with 10 State Troopers to cover the region the region.
She explained that for the majority of Alaska villages the
closest officer is hundreds of miles away, and response time can
take up to a week. She noted that this included cases of child
sexual abuse and said it can take weeks for an OCS worker to
charter in a plane to have a forensic interview.
4:41:14 PM
MS. MADROS explained that access to state courts is limited,
because Alaska's centralized system places courthouses in larger
cities. She said TCC has assisted tribes in the region in
developing tribal courts since the early 1980s and is viewed in
the state as a model for tribal court development. She
explained that TCC supports the development through training,
technical assistance, and legal support when tribal courts are
working with the state of Alaska with either ICWA cases or cases
that may overlap with different jurisdictional issues. She
informed the committee that Alaska tribes are confirmed to have
clear civil jurisdiction, particularly in the area of domestic
relations regarding child matters.
MS. MADROS said TCC decided to become a co-signer with the
Compact on behalf of the 37 federally recognized tribes in its
region because it provides technical support to its tribal
governments and families within the region that are involved in
the tribal or state justice system. She said the level of
support TCC provides to different tribes and villages depends on
the local infrastructure, and the ability to provide services
locally. She shared that social workers, called Tribal Family
Youth Specialists (TFYS), are partly employed by TCC and partly
employed by the tribal governments, meaning they have "dual
supervision." She said TCC also provides support in tribal
court facilitation, tribal foster care licensing, and safety
evaluation services for tribally licensed foster homes, as well
as provides ICQA advocacy and representation for tribes on cases
that are in state court.
MS. MADROS explained that TCC has began implementing new data
tracking software so it could show measurable outcomes. She
shared that TCC has also hired a Family First Prevention
Specialist, a position specifically focused on preventative
services to at-risk families. She said that after the Family
First Prevention Act passed, TCC was excited to see the national
interest in prevention work to provide support to at-risk
families before there is a crisis. She shared that TCC is
reorganizing its Tribal Client Services department to promote
family preservation and healing and has been working with
partners to have child advocacy centers for rural communities
due to the lengthy investigations on child sexual abuse cases.
4:46:42 PM
MS. MADROS said the only scope under the contract that TCC is
operating on is initial diligent relative searches and ongoing
diligent relative searches. She explained that it is a heavy
workload for the staff member who is responsible. The
organization is preparing to take on the scope of safety
evaluations. She explained that it already performs these
services for Tribally licensed homes and hopes to expand into
the new capacity. The organization is also preparing to work on
the family visitation scope, she shared, but TCC is struggling
with spacing issues. She explained that there are not enough
buildings with safe spaces to provide family visitation and safe
exchanges, but TCC is looking for other solutions, such as
specialty trained caregivers. The organization also hopes to
begin work with the licensing assist scope, as TCC already does
its own tribal foster care licensing and would like to have more
homes dually licensed by both the tribe and the state, she
explained.
MS. MADROS said TCC has received staff feedback that there needs
to be a better process for taking on the new scopes, such as a
structure, outline, or checklist. She stated that TCC has an
innovative approach and only needs basic guidelines with a
minimum expectation to be met. She said the processes are long
to get TCC staff under the Compact with access to the state
programs that are needed to fulfill duties. She reiterated the
need for safe spaces in both rural and urban areas for
supervised family contact, and cited research that shows contact
with family helps a child and family's outcomes and possible
reunification. Regarding staff capacity to perform the scopes,
she again noted that the tribe's one staff person is completely
maximized by one single scope, but TCC is trying to find ways
for other staff to do these duties. She stressed that funding
is needed to take on additional scopes, even for tribes with
more resources. She argued that she didn't see the compacting
as replacing an OCS service, because the services TCC provides
are completely different. She shared anecdotally that there is
a difference when services are provided by a tribal organization
and commented that some tribal members have trauma from state
services. She opined that when looking at measurable outcomes,
youth are the state's future, and she argued that investing in
youth leads to a decrease in the state's court and prison
systems and increased education outcomes.
4:54:35 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked Ms. Korthuis and Ms. Madros what state
commitment to the Compact would look like.
MS. KORTHUIS answered that she is looking to the state to be a
partner in the Compact. This means not only defining the
framework to roll out the Compact, but also defining the roles
and responsibilities, she said. She also wanted to be sure that
both the tribes and the staff receive appropriate training,
along with appropriate policies and funding.
MS. MADROS answered [that state commitment looks like] coming to
the table and understanding that every Alaska Native child is
also an Alaska State citizen. She emphasized that the Compact
is just one more resource for the state to utilize for [Alaska
Native] families. She said being available, coming to the
table, and considering the need for funding [are what she asks
of the partnership with the state].
4:57:45 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 4:58 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| AK Tribal CW Compact - AFN.pdf |
HHSS 4/6/2021 3:00:00 PM |