Fostering Tribal-County Collaboration: The Cahto-Mendocino Experience
This training was presented on
April 4, 2024
TRAINING MATERIALS & RESOURCES:
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TRAINING DETAILS:
This webinar will focus on the experience of the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria and Mendocino County to collaboratively develop their Comprehensive Prevention Plan. The presenters will discuss how they established the relationships necessary for this effort and provide concrete strategies to foster county-tribe collaboration. They will outline cultural considerations for community engagement and identify successful strategies for engaging families and providers. Finally, they will share lessons learned and next steps, and challenges and potential barriers to successful implementation of their Comprehensive Prevention Plan.
Learners will:
- Discuss aspects of county-tribe collaboration that worked well in the Comprehensive Prevention Planning process
- Identify concrete strategies used to build county-tribe relationships and foster collaboration
- Describe successful strategies for tribal community engagement, including specific steps for engaging families and providers
- Discuss challenges and opportunities for plan implementation
Who Should Attend: Administrators and service providers in family resource centers, Child Abuse Prevention Councils, community-based organizations, and other child and family systems who are seeking to provide outreach to and collaborate with Indigenous organizations.
Important Training Information:
- This is a webinar-style training. This means that you will not be on camera and will not be able to see other learners. This training will not include breakout rooms. Opportunities to interact with the presenter(s) and other participants will be included.
- This training will be recorded. The recording will be available to registered learners within 2 days of the training.
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MEET THE SPEAKERS
Jena Conner, MSW, is a Deputy Director with the Mendocino County Department of Social Services and oversees the Family and Children’s Services division. Mendocino County has ten federally recognized tribes which vary in size, resources, infrastructure, and location throughout the county. Ms. Conner first began working with Tribal Social Workers/ICWA Representatives in 2000 when she began working for the division as a social worker and has continued that work and relationship-building during her time as a Social Worker Supervisor from 2004 to 2013 and as Deputy Director since 2013. Ms. Conner currently co-chairs the County’s ICWA Roundtable with a Tribal representative, participates with the group in ongoing updates to the division’s ICWA protocol, and has been the lead for the division in developing an MOU with one Tribe and updating an existing MOU with another Tribe. Ms. Conner is a member of the County’s AB 2083 System of Care Interagency Leadership Team (ILT) and has been the lead for engaging with local tribes to develop tribal consultation policies per AB 153. In addition, Ms. Conner was the lead for the AB 2083 ILT in conducting tribal outreach and engagement to share the opportunities of the State’s Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) program to begin addressing the disproportionate representation of American Indian children in the County’s child welfare system. This resulted in an FFPS Comprehensive Prevention Plan developed in partnership with the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria.
JENA CONNER, MSW
Deputy Director, Mendocino County Dept. of Social Services, Family & Children’s Services
Alice Langton-Sloan began her employment with the Cahto Tribe in December 2019 as an ICWA Representative. She has resided on the Laytonville Rancheria with her husband for over 26 years. She is currently the Health and Human Services/ICWA Director for the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria.
Alice began her journey through child welfare as a foster child and, through work experience in the CETA program, gained experience in child welfare from the ground up. Alice left for a period of time to work in other departments in the county. Alice came back to child welfare in 1999 as a social worker, then as a juvenile deputy probation officer, and retired in 2013 from Child Welfare as a Social Worker Supervisor. Alice and her husband have provided kinship care as a relative placement home for multiple extended family members over the years.
Ms. Langton-Sloan serves on two Tribal Advisory Committees with CDSS/OTA and with the Administration for Children and Families as the representative of the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria and on the Center for Excellence Advisory Committee at UC Davis.
Alice has been working with the County of Mendocino on the revision of the ICWA protocol, development of the FFPS Comprehensive Prevention Plan, and the ILT consultation policy per AB 153. At one time the Cahto Tribe had 17 open child welfare cases, which was the 3rd highest in the county. That disproportionality led to the Tribe working with Child Welfare in Mendocino County to change child welfare as we know it.
