May is National Foster Care Month
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Mary Huyser is Navaho or, more accurately, Diné of the salt clan and born for the sheer cliff people. She works for the Casey Family Programs as the supervisor of community services in Arizona. With a Master’s in Social Work, Huyser has worked both on and off the reservation in child welfare, and is herself a foster parent to Native American children.
Interview with Mary Huyser 

Mary Huyser, a Native American child welfare expert, discusses the overrepresentation of Native American children in foster care and the serious challenges that creates for these children. She also offers powerful insights for foster parents and social workers involved in caring for Native American children.

 

  • How serious a problem is disproportionality among Native American foster children and what measures can help address the issue (2:18):
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  • How do high levels of poverty and mental health problems in Native American communities contribute to the removal of native children from their families (1:46):
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  • Most Native American foster children are placed with non-Native foster families.  How does this affect the outcomes for those children (1:03):
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  • Does the removal of Native American children from their families present special challenges to the welfare of those children (4:15):
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  • Does kinship care have a role in overcoming disparate outcomes for Native American children (2:29)
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  • Can the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) play a bigger role to help reverse disproportionality and ensure more positive outcomes for foster children (3:15)
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You can view each segment in Windows Media Player or RealPlayer, optimized for broadband (300kbps) or dial-up (56kbps). You can download each player for free at: