Tribe: Native Village of Fort Yukon
SECTION 3.12.01
Counseling and Supportive Services
If the Tribe does not have the resources to provide general supportive family services
often requested by the parent, guardian, custodian, or referred by Order of the Court, such
as family counseling, the Social Worker will explain services provided by other Tribal
entities, state and federal agencies that are available and cost. Family supportive services
may include counseling, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, assistance to
address domestic violence, visitation with family members, parenting classes, temporary
child care services and transportation. The goal is to improve child safety, increase
permanency and permanency options for children, increase family connectedness and
increase family functions.
A. Release of Information
When the service is required in order to resolve a problem identified in the case plan,
feedback from the provider is required. The social worker must include provision for
release of information from the provider, in order to check attendance and progress
towards meeting the goals of the case plan.
B. Prioritize
To keep a case plan reasonably achievable, selection of 2 or 3 most pertinent service to
the identified problem should be considered and included in the case plan. Family
support services means the services and activities provided to children and their families
including those provided by the community, church or other service organizations, both
to prevent removal of the child from the family home, and to facilitate the child’s safe
return to the family.
C. In Home Service
In-home services also meet the requirement of reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate
the need for removal of the child from the home. Active efforts must be made to provide
remedial services and rehabilitation programs designed to prevent removal of the child
and maintain family unity.
D. Out of Home Service
When a child is placed out of home and the permanency plan is reunification, the social
worker will provide time limited family support to the child and family in order to offer
parents the opportunity to remedy parental conduct or conditions in the home that placed
the child at risk of harm, so the child may be returned home safely and permanently. E. Requirement of Counseling and Supportive Services.
The ICWA Social Worker or agency of the court may require a parent, guardian, or
custodian who has a child in tribal custody to attend counseling and other supportive
services.
F. Responsibility of Parents In Counseling
It is the responsibility of the parent, guardian, or custodian to enroll in, pay for, and
attend any counseling sessions that are required by their respective case plan. It is the
parents’, guardian, or custodian’s responsibility to keep the Social Worker informed of
their progress and attendance in counseling. If the Social Worker is not regularly
informed the parent, guardian or custodian will be assumed to be non-compliant.
G. Responsibility of the Social Worker For Counseling
The primary responsibility of the Social Worker is to determine if
where the supportive
service will take place. The Presiding Judge will determine if a parent needs mental
health counseling, alcohol-drug counseling, or other counseling, and require that
counseling take place as written in the case plan. The Social Worker will inform the
parent, guardian or custodian of the available counseling and supportive services.
H. Counseling Provided by the Tribe
The Tribe will make the effort to provide funding for counseling and treatment efforts.
These funds are provided on an as-needed basis, when available, and are to be used at the
recommendation of the ICWA Social Worker for parents on a secondary basis, and for
children on a primary basis.