What Families are Dealing With
One of the effects of years of oppressive social policies and practices is that many tribal families live in poverty. There are many sobering statistics that show that a large majority of tribal people are living in poverty. American Indians have disproportionate levels of high poverty and high unemployment rates. (Pew Research Center, June 13, 2014)
How This Affects the Families I Work With
Poverty may affect the families you work with in the following ways:
- Poverty may prevent them from being able to access services that may help them.
- Their homes may not be as clean as you would like. For example, they may not have a vacuum cleaner or a washing machine. This does not mean that their children are unsafe.
- They may encounter barriers in transportation, child care, and access to treatment.
What I Can Do to Build on Family Strengths
First of all, it's important that you realize that, for the most part, people can't help that they live in poverty. Withhold judgments and personal biases.
You can build on strengths by:
- helping the family to identify resources they perhaps have not considered, for example, additional transportation or child care options.
- promoting connections to extended family and cultural family.
- encouraging openness to new ideas and the pursuit of their hopes and dreams for themselves and their children.