About Indian Child Welfare

The Indian Child Welfare Program’s first and foremost priority is the best interest and safety of our youth, and we will explore all avenues to assist our families and youth in becoming self-sufficient and well-off. The Program is designed to assist the families of youth who are enrolled or eligible to be enrolled as Comanche Tribal Members. It is also designed to deter Comanche families' disintegration and reunite them when deemed safe. Services are provided to families who have Comanche youth at risk of removal or have had youth removed from their parent or legal custodian due to deprivation (a young person who is not receiving the care and support they need to be healthy and happy), abuse (harm or threatened harm to a youth’s health and safety by a person responsible for the youth’s health and safety), or neglect (failure or omission to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care, supervision, or special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the youth).

     The Comanche Nation has active child welfare cases in the state of Oklahoma, Comanche Nation Tribal Court, and across the United States. The Indian Child Welfare Program can have at least eighty-five (85) open cases for Comanche youth at a time. Most of these children are placed by the state in non-Native American foster homes due to the lack of tribal foster homes in not only our area but also our state. If reunification cannot be achieved for these youth, they are placed for adoption. Because of the lack of tribal foster homes, the Indian Child Welfare Program is not able to transfer cases from state custody to tribal, which means many of our youth remain in the state’s custody and non-ICWA-compliant homes. Our caseworkers and foster care specialists work diligently to ensure that our Comanche youth are placed in the least restrictive home and that they are well cared for when they are out of their own homes. The Indian Child Welfare Program ensures that active efforts are met when state or out-of-state case workers seek kinship placements for our youth.

     The Comanche Nation Indian Child Welfare Program must follow the guidelines of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), the Tribal-State Agreement, Title IV-B subparts 1 and 2, Title IV-E, the Comanche Nation Tribal Court Code Title 4 Children and Family Relations Code, and the Program Policy and Procedure.