Collection Equity Award - Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center

We acknowledge that ORPARC’s physical library sits on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands belonging to indigenous peoples since time immemorial, and that our library resources serve the entire state of Oregon, home to nine federally recognized Tribes and additional citizens from countless Tribes. ORPARC hopes to use an Award to grow and promote our Tribal-specific collection with the goal of giving foster, guardianship, kin and adoptive families parenting Tribal children – and their supporting community providers – ample, accessible Tribal-themed, Tribal-authored, culturally appropriate materials to bolster the health and wellbeing of Native children involved with Oregon’s child welfare system.

In Oregon child welfare, American Indian/Alaskan Native children are disproportionately represented at an approximate 4-to-1 ratio. All children interacting with child welfare systems are already at increased health vulnerability due to traumas such as significant poverty, abuse, neglect, violence, malnutrition, food insecurity or substance exposure. Tribal children have added epigenetic impacts of generational trauma and forced disconnection from cultural identity. While resilience is remarkably strong in Tribal peoples, preservation of culture is intrinsically tied to health.

Community providers and families caring for Tribal children within the child welfare system range from non-Natives to relatives and elders. To fully support health and wellbeing of Tribal children in care, this diverse group of adults needs awareness, education and resources around the unique health impacts of foster care trauma while simultaneously addressing Tribal-specific health and healing. Native children themselves need frequent exposure to stories and visual representations of their ancestors and cultures to cultivate physical, spiritual and emotional health.