Federal, state, tribal partnership seeks protection for drug-endangered children

PARKER, Ariz. - The Colorado River Indian Tribes hosted a training workshop on Aug. 25 in Parker to explore ways to better shelter and protect children in drug endangered environments.

Tribal leaders joined judges, social services, health care, substance abuse, and law enforcement personnel in attending the workshop, which aims to strengthen coordination among the many people and agencies responsible for helping children found in drug endangered environments.

 Based on a model developed in Wisconsin, the partnership includes the U.S. Attorney's Office; the Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families-Division for Substance Abuse Policy; the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Southwest Meth Program; and, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.

The partners deliver technical assistance and workshops to individual tribes to help strengthen a multi-disciplinary protocol encompassing child welfare specialists, substance abuse counselors, police, prosecutors, educators, and judges, among others.

 All tribal nations in Arizona are invited to host a Drug Endangered Child (DEC) Workshop, which is provided at no charge.  Each community is encouraged to assemble a multi-disciplinary team of individuals to participate in the workshop, thereby building the capacity of individuals in these disciplines to respond as a team.

Teams should include representatives from among the following: law enforcement, tribal prosecutors, child protective services, health care and education.  Teams should be multi-disciplinary and  composed of carefully selected individuals who provide services directly to tribal members.

 In addition to this week's training, workshops have been held in 2009 at Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, the Yavapai Apache Nation, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the Gila River Indian Community, and the Ak-Chin Indian Community.   Future training is scheduled for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Navajo Nation.

To request technical assistance, a DEC Workshop or to get more information about DEC, contact Law Enforcement Coordinator Patrick "Wyn" Hornbuckle at the U.S. Attorney's Office at (602) 514-7573, or patrick.hornbuckle@usdoj.gov.

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