May is Foster Care Awareness Month, a time to celebrate the hard work and difficult decisions that come with fostering. Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s FireLodge Children & Family Services strives to place Native foster children in Native homes to kindle a connection to their heritage and culture.
Although AdoptUSKids looks for minority professionals or those working with minority populations, CPN member Kendra Lowden is the first in the program’s history to be both an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe and also an employee working for a tribal nation.
Being a foster parent is much more than loving children. Often, the day-to-day hardships and complexities of working with multiple agencies are the biggest challenges.
Tribal member and Oklahoma State University student Lauren Anderson took matters into her own hands to help children in OKDHS custody in worn out or ill-fitting shoes and started the nonprofit Foster Feet.
With help from loved ones and professionals, children can work through and overcome their experiences, while transitioning from victim to survivor.
During this episode, we’ll hear about services House of Hope offers to domestic violence victims, take a look at what’s growing in the community garden and get a history lesson about Tribal self-governance. CPN’s Language Department Director also teaches a social powwow dance song during this month’s “Learning Language.”
Although each and every situation is unique in child welfare, there is some basic information you can use to guide you through the process of deciding to open your home to children in need.
FireLodge Children & Family Services takes action to ensure Potawatomi children maintain connections with their families, tribe and communities while reducing the trauma they face in the child welfare system.
This episode is all about youth. The 2019 Potawatomi Leadership Class participants talk about their experience spending their summer at the Tribe, an employee from FireLodge Children and Family Services discusses Potawatomi children in foster care, and students from CPN’s Child Development Center share their own Red Ribbon Week slogans.
FireLodge Children & Family Services is committed to protecting children and ensuring they are connected to their family and heritage.