Child Safety and Risk Assessments in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Research to Practice Brief.

This brief is a resource for human service professionals on child safety and risk assessments in AI/AN communities. It is informed by the work of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) with tribal child welfare professionals and by concerns in the field about the effectiveness of standard assessments in tribal communities. A majority of the tribal organizations that received ACF grants in 2011 to coordinate Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child welfare services (9 of 14 grantees) used safety and risk assessments in their practice (Ahonen et al., 2016). Efforts to develop or modify risk and safety assessments are part of broader efforts to develop models that are based on native values and address the disproportionate removal of AI/AN children and placement in out-of-home care by state child welfare agencies. (Author abstract)