Who We Are

In 1978 American Indian people of the United States won a major victory in the area of self-determination with the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). This Act outlines placement preferences for American Indian children. Children who are enrolled or eligible for enrollment with a federally recognized tribe must first be placed with a member of their extended family; secondly, with a member of their tribe; and lastly, with a licensed American Indian foster home. It is well documented by the Minnesota Department of Human Services that a disproportionate number of American Indian children are in out-of-home placements (11%) when compared to the racial composition of the State of Minnesota.

American Indian Family and Children's Services (AIFACS) was the first organization in the State of Minnesota to address this need. The American Indian Family and Children's Services (AIFACS) ensures that ICWA is followed, when out-of-home placement is necessary, by licensing family members and tribal members for foster care. The St. Paul American Indian Center organized AIFACS in the 1985. In 1993 AIFACS became an independent, self-governing organization, separating from the St. Paul American Indian Center. Today we have AIFACS licensed homes spread across the state of Minnesota, such as Bemidji, Deer Wood, Milaca, Tamarack. AIFACS provides foster care services to American Indian children from birth to eighteen years of age who are involved in the child protection system and the corrections system through the counties in Minnesota. AIFACS recruits American adults over the age of 21 who would like to share their lives, culture and homes with American Indian children in need of out-of-home placement. AIFACS provides training and support services to those families that decide to become part of our agency.

The make-up of AIFACS homes vary from single parent families, two parent families, families who work with just one child, families who have sibling placements of up to six children, families who work only with teenage boys, families who are trained to work with medically fragile infants, and families who work with children who have developmental disabilities.

In the last three years AIFACS has provided care for over 250 American Indian children. These children have primarily been placed by Hennepin County, but AIFACS also had placements from the counties of Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, Redwood, Mille Lacs, Aitkin, Beltrami, Becker, Crow Wing, LeSeuer, St. Louis, Goodhue, Olmstead and Scott. These children come to placement from all the tribal communities within the state of Minnesota. AIFACS also serves American Indian children affiliated with tribes outside of the state such as San Carlos Apache, Lakota and Dakota from Rosebud, Standing Rock, Sisseton, and Pine Ridge, HoChunk from Black River Falls and Ojibwe from Turtle Mountain.