National, State, and Tribal Collaborations and Resources
 

By Kendra Kuehn, MSW, APS TARC Subject Matter Expert

Michelle Gayette, North Dakota Vulnerable Adult Protective Services

Peggy Jo Archer, International Association for Indigenous Aging

June 2024

With 574 federally recognized Indian nations and hundreds more that are recognized at the state level, it is essential that APS programs build practices that recognize and support American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) older adults and people with disabilities. In the Census, over 5.2 million people identified as AIAN, either alone or in combination with another race. Almost 80% live outside American Indian areas (i.e., federal reservation, state reservation, or other designated area). As in the rest of the nation, the AIAN older adult population is growing, along with the recognition that tribal communities can address abuse, neglect, and exploitation in line with their values and practices.

Working with tribes and AIAN consumers can bring unique opportunities and challenges for state APS, tribal APS, and AIAN older adults and persons with disabilities. These can range from navigating jurisdictional challenges to understanding AIAN services such as Urban Indian Health Organizations. With new federal grant funding, the tribal, state, and local APS programs have had an increased opportunity to build collaborations and implement culturally sensitive practices to support clients. Two such examples are the growing partnership between North Dakota APS and the Spirit Lake Nation and the national efforts of the Native American Elder Justice Initiative. 

Spirit Lake Nation and North Dakota Collaborate to Enhance APS 

North Dakota has five federally recognized tribes and one Indian community located at least partially within the state. The Spirit Lake Nation is in east central North Dakota and has over 7,500 enrolled members with 4,000 people living on the Spirit Lake Reservation. North Dakota Adult Protective Services (ND APS) partnered with the Spirit Lake Nation to establish a sustainable APS program. In 2021, the Elder and Vulnerable Adult Protection Code was approved by the Tribal Council, creating the tribal APS program and the multidisciplinary Elder and Vulnerable Adult Protection Team. Through the tribal code, ND APS is a part of Spirit Lake’s multidisciplinary team (MDT) with a memorandum of understanding to support case consultation and resource sharing. The MDT has also allowed the programs to discuss possible issues between tribal court and state or local courts that may cause jurisdictional barriers in fully assisting elders. The state and tribal programs continue to partner when needed to provide resources and culturally competent services. 

Both the state and tribal programs have noted that the partnership has brought positive outcomes, from supporting individual cases to building larger system-wide supports. The partnership has potential promise to translate outside of tribal lands. As many American Indians and Alaska Natives live in non-tribal areas, partnerships with programs such as Spirit Lake APS can build understanding of jurisdictional issues and culturally appropriate resources. The partnership has also increased state staff’s cultural understanding. The two programs are continuing their partnership. ND APS and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa are developing a similar partnership.  

Culturally Supportive Resources: The Native American Elder Justice Initiative

Abuse can be perpetuated and perceived differently within Indigenous communities. It is important that professionals can access culturally relevant resources that aid their development of cultural competency in working with Indigenous older adults. Native American Elder Justice Initiative (NAEJI) supports those working with AIAN older adults to understand the various types of elder abuse and become more knowledgeable about elder abuse issues in Indigenous communities.  

NAEJI was created to address the lack of culturally appropriate information and community education materials on elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian (AI/AN/NH) elders. Most cases of elder abuse are undetected, underreported, and unresolved, resulting in injury, financial loss, and even death. NAEJI provides training and technical assistance to those working with Indigenous older adults to identify and address elder abuse in Indian Country. This project is housed at the International Association of Indigenous Aging (IA2) and funded by the Administration for Community Living (ACL).  

NAEJI offers a robust and responsive national hub for elder abuse training, technical assistance, subject matter expertise access, and targeted resources for tribes and tribal staff. The project advances community engagement among tribes and tribal member-serving organizations as well as building local capacity by:  

• Promoting innovative and best practices for preventing elder abuse and exploitation and mitigating their impact, including through holistic assistance to victims.  
• Providing training and technical assistance to strengthen adult protective services, including through the use of multidisciplinary teams and restorative justice. 
• Identifying evidence-informed and evidence-based activities and resources that can be adopted for implementation with native populations. 
• Identifying and disseminating model tribal codes that support elder justice, similar to tribal codes protecting children, and providing technical assistance for implementation. 

NAEJI resources can assist professionals in responding appropriately to Indigenous victims of crimes and their families and enhance the provision of culturally sensitive services. Historically the Native American Elder Justice Initiative has offered various trainings on elder abuse to include financial exploitation, behavioral health, cultural sensitivity, caregiving, medication issues, and more. This initiative also has a repository of state, tribal, and urban Indian association hotlines that provide resources to indigenous elders.  

NAEJI has also offered assistance to tribes in developing Elder Protection Teams by providing a toolkit. The Tribal Elder Protection Team (EPT), similar to an MDT, is a group of professionals and community members from diverse disciplines, as well as the older adult and family members as appropriate, that provides comprehensive assessment and consultation in addressing elder abuse concerns. The EPT provides assistance to clients to promote coordination among service programs available to elders. As seen in the case of Spirit Lake and North Dakota APS, the team can improve lines of communication to efficiently address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.  

The ETP toolkit also guides the development of a tribal elder abuse code, such as that developed by Spirit Lake. Adoption of tribal elder abuse codes allow tribes to establish tribal laws that protect elderly persons within the tribe’s jurisdiction from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The codes provide identification and appropriate resolution of elder abuse, defining what agency receives and investigates suspected reports of abuse, and how elderly protection services are delivered.  

Knowing the elder is an important part of addressing abuse. NAEJI Project Coordinator Peggy Jo Archer emphasizes that it is important to hear from elders and learn about customs, traditions, and beliefs. Two leading elders addressing abuse in Indian country, John Eagle Shield from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Cynthia LaCounte from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, sat down to share their history, lessons learned, and bits of wisdom in the videos linked above. Cynthia LaCounte is also the Director of the Office of American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian Programs at ACL. 
 

Resources

• Tribal Nations & the United States: An Introduction, National Congress of American Indians
• National Center on Elder Abuse: Tribal Resources
• Contact the Native American Elder Justice Initiative

The APS Blog is updated regularly with posts from contributing authors and new publications from the APS TARC.

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