![]() ![]() One of these was the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. The pattern of AI/AN children being displaced from their tribes was the result of various policies directly impacting their tribal communities. DIFRC addresses the immediate needs of the children and families caught up in the public child welfare system or in danger of becoming so, as well as the root cause: a history of harmful policies targeting tribal communities. In order to propel these efforts, the organization uses a holistic approach. ![]() It’s not necessarily just for reunification with birth family, but with extended family - because that's how Native families are most successful,” she explained. “Our definition of family reunification is in keeping with tribal cultures. “I really felt like Cinderella,” Echohawk mused.Įchohawk says that in its “heyday,” the organization had a reunification rate in the 80-90 percentile. The Foundation was a founding partner in the establishment of DIFRC, providing funding for several years. The Denver Indian Family Resource Center (DIFRC) was founded in 2000 to address an ongoing pattern of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families losing their children to the public welfare system, combined with a lack of advocacy for these children to reunify with their families once it was safe to do so.ĭuring this time, Echohawk was working for Casey Family Programs, a private foundation with a focus on child welfare. She can help me.’ And we did,” Echohawk reminisced with a smile. “When I first met her, she looked up and I could see that still had bright eyes for all the bad things that had happened to her. She met her future daughter at the child crisis center at Children’s Hospital. She also became a single parent legal guardian to a Native American child who had spent five years in the public child welfare system in Denver. One hat is that of a guardian to a child of the public foster care system as well as to Denver’s Native community.Īfter several years working in the Indian child welfare field, Lucille co-founded the Denver Indian Family Resource Center in 2000. DENVER - Lucille Echohawk, citizen of the Pawnee Nation, has worn many hats in her 41 years in service to the greater Denver Native community. ![]()
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