OKMULGEE – The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Foster Care and Adoption Department hosted events in May for Foster Care Awareness Month. “Our Steps of Hope” allowed MCN employees to leave messages of encouragement and support for Mvskoke children and families who are in care. They also hosted Mvskoke Onuckuce (storytelling) at the College of the Muscogee Nation and spoke to the Bristow Indian Community about their services.
Brittani Morgan (Mvskoke) wants to clear up a misconception about the children in their system. The MCN Certification Placement Recruitment and Training Program (CPRT) Manager wants to share that what children have been through doesn’t define who they are. Their program believes that every child deserves a chance and a sense of love, and that they deserve to grow up with stability and structure. No child should ever question their own worth.
“I think sometimes the community gets scared by the ages or behaviors, but if you think about it, the things that they’ve been through are things that no child ever deserves to go through,” Morgan said.
“So the misconception that there are ‘bad children’ or ‘the perfect child’, that’s never going to be a thing because they’re in the situation at no fault of their own. So they’re just trying to find any way to cope, to heal, to feel loved.”
Morgan recognizes that many families are apprehensive about welcoming teenagers into their homes, yet she points out that teenagers are simply looking for love and connection. “They want to understand why they had to go through things that they’ve been through,” Morgan said.
Morgan spoke about their program, what they do, and the difference they try to make for the Native children in their care. CPRT has approximately nine programs under MCN Children and Family Services, according to Morgan.
The program holds events every year to raise awareness in the community. This awareness aims to encourage others to show support, gain knowledge about their program, and open their homes to Native foster children.
This year, their program decided to do something new: pop-up events, such as “Our Steps of Hope.” This was where the community came out to draw images and quotes for the families that they’re working with at MCN Children and Family Services.
“So when they walk into the building, they can see these and just be hopeful and inspired,” Morgan said.
They’ve also included their annual wear teal day and compete to see who can wear the most teal at the MCN.
Foster Care Awareness Month is important to Morgan because it’s an opportunity to recognize everyone involved in foster care, including the children and families.
Their department has changed the phrase “foster homes” to “resource homes” because of negative associations within the community, Morgan said. “It’s about bringing awareness to them and what they do, also about our everyday advocates here in the office who are working hard every single day to do the things that have to be done once a child comes into care,” Morgan said.
A focus on reunification
Morgan would like people to understand that, as a Foster Care program within the tribal community, their program is focused on and centered around reunification.
“Everything we do is being a support while these children are in care, but our ultimate goal is getting them back home with mom and dad if possible. I think because of the things that have happened to our tribe in the past, the generational trauma, everything that’s negative about Foster Care in tribal communities. I wish more people would understand that we do want these children to go home,” Morgan said.
Morgan stated that their side is not the Western image of foster care that everyone has in mind. She hopes that people would ask more questions instead of assuming that they don’t want these children to go home, “Because when they don’t go home, they lose that identity,” Morgan stated.
“Even though we’re constantly doing everything we can to make sure they maintain that connection to their culture and community, that they know their identity, they know where they come from, the strengths of being Mvskoke Creek, their language. We are constantly pushing this and also working with our resource homes to make sure they’re learning,” Morgan said.
One of the pressing needs for the children is to get the word out, ask questions, and help their program change the narrative on foster care.
Also, recognizing how open and accessible the culture is getting. Morgan acknowledges that it’s not negative at all.
According to MCN Foster Care and Adoption, “Culture is medicine. Maintaining ties to tribal communities, ceremonies, language, and family connections can help Native foster youth feel grounded and supported during difficult transitions.”
“I think those are things that help, even if we just had citizens willing to share their stories, share their culture, be a part of our events that also teach our resource homes things that they should be passing down to the children who come into care,” Morgan shared.
A familiar concept
To Morgan, foster care isn’t something new to Mvskoke culture. “I believe that our community has always done foster care in some way. We just didn’t call it that,” Morgan said.
“We’re very family-centered, so when things got hard as a child, and some of the kids would go stay with family members, their grandparents, their aunts, I feel like that was our way of doing foster care while mom and dad needed to go figure things out, so we’ve been doing that.”
During resource home training, even in the beginning, when certifying a home until their first placement, the program is always focusing on reunification.
The program receives calls from people who want to adopt or are wondering how often they have children available for adoption, but Morgan always repeats that it’s reunification until it’s not.
“Sometimes it keeps our numbers low as well because it takes a lot to be able to strictly foster care and build those connections and start loving a child to know that they will be leaving you,” Morgan said.
Last year, their department reached its highest number of homes, and their numbers are dropping slightly as relatives’ homes close, as children are being reunified, Morgan stated.
“We hit the highest number of relatives’ homes we’ve ever had, and that to me is showing that the community is being a little more trustworthy. Maybe we are getting the word out there that we’re not all bad,” Morgan said.
“We do want kids to go home. Now that numbers are dropping because children are being reunified, it’s showing our efforts are working by reaching out to as many relatives to keep that child within their family.”
Morgan can feel the impact the month of events has had.
“There are a lot of really great families who just have it in their hearts to help a child until they can go back home to mom and dad. I feel our events are very impactful, and I wish we could have a lot more,” Morgan said.
The program hopes to emphasize that you don’t have to foster to make a difference.
According to MCN Foster Care and Adoption, there are many ways to help, including mentoring Native youth, supporting foster families, donating supplies, and sharing resources.
For questions, you can contact their program at 918-732-7869 and request Morgan or their Director, Michell Bender. You can also follow them on their Facebook page at Muscogee Nation Foster Care and Adoption.
