Office Of Children's Services

Program Information

Disproportionality Combined Statewide Plan

PDF Updated May, 2007

 

The State of Alaska Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS), Office of Children's Services (OCS) strongly supports the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and continues to build federal ICWA mandates into all levels of OCS Child Welfare. Tribes and tribal organizations work with the OCS to increase family prevention services in order to reduce the disproportionate numbers of Alaska Native and American Indian Children needing child protection and/or entering into foster care.  We continue to develop positive collaborative and communicative partnerships with all Native organizations and Alaska Native Tribal organizations.

The OCS has various programs supporting these goals including tribes and tribal organizations having access to reimbursement for training and case management administration from the Title IV-E program, tribes and tribal organizations having other grants such as family preservation and supervised visitation.  Additionally, the OCS has had grants for over twenty years with three tribal organizations, totaling over a million dollars a year, to provide active efforts/services to prevent removal of children from their homes in the communities of Nome, Kotzebue, Juneau and their outlying communities and villages; for increasing the number of Native and rural foster homes and for assisting OCS to meet the ICWA compliance requirement for foster care and adoptive placements.

Please click on the following programs to learn more:

ICWA

Native Rural Recruitment for Foster Homes

Tribal/State Collaboration Group

Tribal Title IV-E Program