FAMILY PRESERVATION PROGRAM GOAL IS FAMILY FIRST

By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor

At the core of the Mille Lacs Band Family Services Department is a simple but powerful belief: families belong together. Under the umbrella of Family Services is a new Family Pres ervation Program. Family Preservation is not just a program — it’s a commitment to honoring the strength, resilience, and traditions of Mille Lacs Band families. The goal is to provide support before a crisis happens, helping families stay together and thrive in a safe, nurturing environment.

Through culturally grounded services like parenting sup port, counseling, in-home visits, and connections to commu nity resources, they work alongside families, not above them. They know that healing, growth, and stability come more easily when families are surrounded by their own family members, culture, and community.

Every family has a story. Every child deserves to grow up connected to theirs. The Family Preservation Program is here to protect that connection.

“The most important thing for families to know is that we care about them,” said John Niederhaus, Family Preservation Program Manager. Niederhaus is pleased to discuss the goals and action plan for the new program, which is currently in the program development and capacity-building stage. “We recognize that every family is different, and every child is unique. When we work together, we can overcome any obstacle to keep families together.”

Working together is the key. The program is designed to keep families first. By initiating a multi-disciplinary team ap proach within Family Services and beyond, which includes social workers, case workers, therapists, if needed, and cultural advisors. The team will work with the families to set goals and write a prevention plan that they all agree to in an effort to prevent the incident from happening again.

“We all work together to do everything we can to keep families together,” Niederhaus said. “The primary goal of the Family Preservation Program at HHS is to prevent unnecessary separa tion of children from families and to work with families to keep them together. We know and understand that the families we serve face significant challenges that stem from unique circum stances. Our team works with the families before it becomes a CHIPS [Child in need of protection or services] case. There really isn’t anything that can’t be fixed — if something is broken, we can fix it,” Niederhaus said confidently.

Niederhaus provided a hypothetical example related to truancy. Family Preservation can assess the situation when an intake case is reported as a truancy issue. Suppose the parent or guardian mentions they have difficulty getting the child up in time for the bus and that their car is broken, preventing them from driving the child to school. Advocates can say, ‘Okay, let’s get your car fixed.’ They create a plan with the family and then monitor to ensure the child is getting to school on time. If not, what is really going on? “It is all in the perspective,” Niederhaus said. “They are not neglecting the child, they just had a broken car. But also, they look at why the child isn’t getting up on time in the first place. Are they staying up too late? Are they bored? Are they worried? Are they being bullied? There could be a multitude of reasons why the child isn’t getting up on time.

“We can sit down and figure out why and figure out a plan on how to fix it. Or if they aren’t going to school because they don’t have clean clothes to wear. We ask why they don’t have clean clothes? And we find out the washing machine is broken. Okay, are they in Band housing? Do they need the Housing De partment to fix the washing machine? We can collaborate with the Housing Department to get a work order placed to get the washer fixed or replaced.”

The advocates/social workers and case aides look at what the family’s needs are. Do they need fuel, do they need groceries, do they need laundry, do they need help finding day care, do they need help finding a job, a license, or whatever they need. Going through the assessment process the advocate/social worker has a checklist of different Band departments, whether it is therapy, Aanjibimaadizing, Victim Services, etc. “There is a lot of wiggle room for the Band social workers to help families. We assess the family’s needs, set up goals, and then help to reach those goals independently. We provide the tools to help them out, but they have to do the work themselves. And 99 percent of the time, the families are willing to do that,” Niederhaus said.

A Proven Path Forward

While Family Preservation Programs have supported Indigenous communities across the western United States for over a decade, they’re now gaining momentum in regions like Canada and the Midwest with promising results.

At the 2024 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) conference, the Red Lake Nation highlighted the success of their program, Niederhaus recalled. Just five years ago, before launching their Family Preservation efforts, they faced over 500 active CHIPS cases. Three years into the program, that number dropped to just over 100, according to Niederhaus.

Niederhaus believes similar outcomes are possible for the Mille Lacs Band. “We’re hopeful,” he said, “that this program will help us see real change.”

A key component of the program is cultural support. Each family will be paired with a cultural team member — someone who can listen, guide, and provide meaningful connections to culture and tradition. “It’s not the parents’ fault,” said Niederhaus. “Sometimes those cultural pieces are just missing. We have the tools to help them find what’s been lost.”

The Family Preservation Program meets families where they are and walks alongside them. “We’re here to help families stay together,” said Niederhaus. “Leaving everything in place — but giving it a tune-up.”

The goal of the Family Services Department is to have a full working crew and have the Family Preservation Program fully functional by FY2026.