No. To be eligible for our program at least one of the prospective Placement Resource parents must be able to provider proof of citizenship in a federally recognized tribe. Preference is given to families of Cherokee citizenship but citizens of other federally recognized tribes for our program are also eligible. It is recommend that if you are a member of another tribe, it would be beneficial to contact your respective tribe for consideration as a Placement Resource Home.

Yes. A prospective Placement Resource parent must be able to prove enrollment or affiliation by CDIB to a federally recognized tribe and will be considered like anyone else on the ability to meet a child's particular needs. 

When prospective applicants complete an inquiry with the Resource Family Coordinator, they complete Pre-Service Training along with initial paperwork. Once this is completed, the family's application is assigned to a certification worker.  Timing depends largely on how quickly the necessary paperwork is completed by the potential placement home and how quickly the background investigation information is returned to Cherokee Nation. Once the family is assigned to a certification worker, the worker has 90 days to complete your home study.

Please note due to the high need of families willing to provide foster placements, these types of application will receive priority along with relative certification requests.

The other option you have is to contract with a licensed professional to complete your home study. The independent professionals have a fee for their service so families should take that into consideration when determining the best method to have a home study completed. If another agency completes your home study, there would still be training required of the families on order tor ICW to complete the certification process.  Also, an addendum would need to be completed for clarification.

A home study is a document developed from the information you have given to Cherokee Nation through your application, home visits, interviews, background checks, physicals, financial information, and references, et cetera.  Your home study is a document which tells your life story of the types of children that you can care for in your home. Your home study will identify your strengths and tell us how many children your home will accommodate.

If you are picked as a potential placement, all parties responsible for placement decisions will review your home study, this may include caseworkers from Cherokee Nation, caseworkers from other state agencies, judges, attorneys, CASA or adoption agencies.

If you are interested in working with an adoption agency or private placements, or if birthparents are requesting to choose a family they, along with the Cherokee Nation caseworker, will review your home study. This means the pertinent information such as last names, addresses, social security numbers, places of employment and names of towns will be omitted to protect your confidentiality.

Yes, you can; however, you may be charged a fee depending on the intent.

We complete home studies for our Indian families who may live outside our jurisdictional boundaries which include a few bordering states.  We have a four-hour driving radius if your home is located outside of the four hours (one way) you will need to have your home study completed by a licensed social worker or agency in your area. Contracting costs will be your responsibility.  We will require a copy of the credentials of your contracted agent and the completed home study.

Cherokee Nation attempts to keep costs at a minimum for Placement Resource Homes. If a family is applying to be only an emergency placement, regular foster home or respite care, then all fees are waived for the family. There is a State monthly reimbursement for these types of homes. 

All fost/adopt and adoptive Placement Resource Homes are responsible for the fees necessary to complete all background investigations. There may also be fees associated with releasing your home study to outside agencies or for private placements. 

You will also be responsible for any attorney's fees associated with any legal adoption you may finalize. There are filing fees required when your selected attorney files your adoption legal with the court clerk.  These fees vary from court to court but this expense is again your responsibility.

You have the option of having your home study completed by someone other than the Cherokee Nation. If this is the choice you make, you must be aware the fees charged by licensed professionals vary. 

Parents can have full-time employment and also be a Placement Resource Home for children. Cherokee Nation looks at the whole picture in determining the best placement for a child. There are some children who will need a full-time parent in the home but each case is evaluated on the needs of the child or children.  When a child is placed in your home, the child may attend daycare/school while both resource parents are working or attending school, depending on your residence daycare assistance could be available through the State or Cherokee Nation.

Monthly reimbursements are available to Placement Resouce Homes providing foster placements for the duration the child is in your care, and fost/adopt placements until the adoption is finalized.  Monthly reimbursements are based on the age of the child.  Depending on what agency has custody of the child, a medical/dental card may be issued to the child while they are in your care to meet any medical expenses the child may incur. If the child is in state custody or tribal custody, you will receive a monthly reimbursement to help with the expenses of the child. Depending on what agency has custody of the child, a medical/dental card may be issued to the child while they are in your care to meet any medical expenses the child may incur. Your child’s worker should be able to inform you of what is available for the child they are placing with you.

If the child is in state or tribal custody and the adult household members are working or attending school on a full-time basis, then daycare assistance could be available thru the State or Tribe, depending on your residence.

Fost-adopt placements my be utilized for children who are in the custody of the State of Oklahoma, other States, or Cherokee Nation.  Placement Resource Homes willing to be a fost/adopt home will provide foster care to a child who is not currently legally free for adoption and the case plan goal is reunification with the child's parents. This is the home that will be utilized as a permanent adoptive placement if and when the legal barriers are resolved. Legally free means both parental rights for the mother and the father of the child(ren) have been terminated.

Legal risk is the term that is applied when there is some barrier to the finalization of the adoption process. All children in the system come with a degree of a legal risk. There are varying degrees of legal risk involved when actually choosing to adopt a child with newborns having the highest legal risk.  When you are approached about a particular child for a fost/adopt or adoptive placement, any such barriers should be fully discussed with you so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this is the placement for your family. If you have questions, you should make sure you understand and accept all legal risks associated with a particular placement prior to the child being placed in your home. 

No. Generally, prior to termination, you can only be considered as Placement Resource Parents.  People in this position are contracted caretakers who must agree with the philosophy that all children deserve an opportunity to be raised in their original home environment. You do have a right to know what the goals of the child’s case are and we would encourage you to ask questions as to what the outcomes were for any court hearings scheduled. Hiring an attorney will not give you any specific rights in the court system when the goal is reunification, develop a close relationship with your child’s worker and they will keep you informed of the current legal situation.

It is impossible to answer this question precisely. The child’s worker is trained to search for the most appropriate placement for each child and which home best matches the needs of the child.  Cherokee children who become eligible for placement are transitioned into a Placement Resource Home as soon as possible. Placement with you also depends on what type of child you are willing to accept and that may or may not be what type of child is the next available.  Some of our homes have been on our approved waiting list for a while, and it is important to remember when placement does occur it will be in accordance to what is in the best interest of the children involved. Placement Resource Homes may always contact their certification worker or e-mail the Placement Coordinator at placement@cherokee.org if they have questions regarding the placement of a child.

Not necessarily, each child's individual needs are considered when making this type of placement decision. Each child must have their own bed and enough room for their personal belongings.  It is sometimes in the best interest for children to share rooms just as it is sometimes necessary for them to have separate rooms. If a child or children have no history that warrants a separate room. If a child or children have no history that warrants separate rooms, then we fell it is much more important for that child to be a part of a permanent family than to be kept waiting for placement just because they won't have their own bedroom.  However, if the situation warrants, we may request that a child have their own room.

Cherokee Nation ICW is involved with voluntary and involuntary court proceeding concerning Cherokee children throughout the United States. We have a vast need for Placement Resource Homes in every state.

The Placement Coordinator maintains an availability list of all Cherokee Nation certified homes who are open for placement.  Requests for placement comes from a Cherokee Nation permanency worker, a private adoption agency, a birth parent or another tribe.  When the Placement Coordinator receives a request, the Coordinator uses information specific to that child to make the most appropriate match to a resource family.  Specific criteria is used to make an initial match; tribal affiliation, blood quantum location, length of certification, resource family preferences, child's needs, etc... The resource families who best match the needs of the child, are submitted to the requesting worker for consideration.  

• Birthparents
  If it is a voluntary proceeding, Cherokee Nation ICW makes every attempt to comply with the wishes of the birth parents. If the birth parents want to choose the family for her unborn child, the Cherokee Nation submits families who are willing to comply with the birth parents' wishes (i.e. open adoption, meeting the family, closed adoption, pictures, and letters, etc.). The worker then provides the birthparents with de-identified home studies of families whose preferences match those of the birthparents.  In a voluntary proceeding, the birth parents have the right to choose the resource family who will raise the child.
• Adoption Agency
  The same holds true with private adoption agencies as well as with birthparents. Cherokee Nation tries to meet the birthparents; expectations and requirements for the family who will be parents to their unborn child. However, with adoption agencies, fees will apply.  During the criteria matching process, resource families will be submitted who have stated they can meet the agency fee.    In situations where the fees are so exorbitant, Cherokee Nation will attempt to negotiate fee reduction with the agency.  It is not the intent of the Cherokee Nation for any resource family to "purchase" a Cherokee child; however, these fees are controlled by the private adoption agency.  In these cases, the profile books are vital to placement selection and play a perhaps more central role in birthparent selection than the actual home study.
• Custody Child
  Once homes are submitted to the Cherokee Nation permanency worker for consideration, the worker will review the home studies and potentially contact each home to get to know them better.  Final determination for placement lies with the child's worker, as they know the child best.  Cherokee children in state custody have a DHS and a Cherokee Nation worker who will work together to determine the best placement option. 

Cherokee Nation ICW has specific Placement Resource Home Expectation and these will be discussed with during your certification process.  All Placement Resource Homes will be expected to provide a loving, stable and caring environment for any child in your home. You will be expected to work with the child’s worker to help provide for all needs of the child placed with you.

Emotionally, as a Placement Resource Home, it is vital to maintain a sense of reality and realize some children need a little more time, patience and love as they have had a traumatic experience in some cases. As a placement home remember to not give up so easily when you experience difficulty but mostly was ask you to take the opportunity you are given and make a difference in a child's life.

Always contact the child’s ICW worker if there is a situation which places the child in danger and you are unsure of what to do. Make sure you have all ICW work numbers as well as after-hours telephone numbers to be able to reach either the assigned worker or the worker's supervisor.  If you are not able to reach your child's worker or the supervisor directly, you should utilize the emergency number which is answered by an ICW worker 24/7.

You can send an email to family411@cherokee.org and a Cherokee Nation worker will respond within 72 business hours. The email address is answered by a Cherokee Nation ICW employee. You should also discuss any child’s behavior with the child’s caseworker as they may be able to offer options for you and provide support as you work with the children placed in your home.