California Tribal Families Coalition has engaged in an initiative that focused on the health and wellness of our youngest tribal children population who have or are at-risk of having intellectual or developmental disabilities as a domain of services that intersects with ICWA but is often overlooked in issues of Indian child welfare. Regional Center Purchase of Service data indicate that Native American consumers receive lower expenditures than white consumers across catchment areas in California, despite Native American populations experiencing higher rates of childhood disability than all ethnicities combined.  

WHAT IS A REGIONAL CENTER?

Regional Centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the Department of Developmental Services to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. They have offices throughout California to provide a local resource to help find and access the many services available to individuals and their families. 

To be eligible for services, a person must have a disability that begins before the person’s 18th birthday, be expected to continue indefinitely and present a substantial disability as defined in Section 4512(a)(1) of the California Welfare and Institutions Code. Eligibility is established through diagnosis and assessment performed by regional centers. 

WHAT IS EARLY START?

The Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities was enacted in 1986 under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 20 U.S.C. Section 1431 et seq.). This program is California’s response to federal legislation ensuring that early intervention services for infants and toddler with disabilities and their families are provided in a coordinated, family-centered system of services that are available statewide. 

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR EARLY START?

Infants and toddlers from birth to age 36 months may be eligible for early intervention services through Early Start if, through documented evaluation and assessment, they meet one of the criteria listed below: 

  • a developmental delay of at least 25% in one or more areas of cognitive, communication, social or emotional, adaptive, or physical and motor development including vision and hearing; or
  • an established risk condition of known etiology, with a high probability of resulting in delayed development; or 
  • considered at high risk of having a substantial developmental disability due to a combination of biomedical risk factors of which are diagnosed by qualified personnel.

TRIBAL EARLY START PROGRAM

In December of 2020, California Tribal Families Coalition released the Tribal Early Intervention Report which highlighted the systemic failure to provide outreach, training, early detection and intervention information to tribes and their education and child welfare programs by the California Health and Human Services. 

In January 2021, CTFC and the Pala Band of Mission Indians initiated conversations with the California Department of Developmental Services regarding the findings of the Tribal Early Intervention Report and general concerns about the lack of access to early intervention services for tribal children. The California Department of Developmental Services engaged quickly in these discussions and responded by initiating a budget set aside to ensure equal access and targeted outreach to tribal children and families. This funding led to the creation of the Tribal Early Start Outreach Program, a collaboration between CTFC, the California Department of Developmental Disabilities Services, Far Northern Regional Center, San Diego Regional Center, and Kern Regional Center.  

The mission of California Tribal Families Coalition Tribal Early Start Outreach Program was to ensure that Regional Centers are providing equal access and services through Early Start to the most vulnerable of Native children and families. 

Between 2022 through 2024, CTFC built on this foundational work by: 

  • Creating opportunities to build relationships between Regional Centers and tribal communities. 
  • Bringing tribal engagement training to Regional Centers across the state – between four and five RCs per year. 
  • Hosting the California American Indian Developmental Disabilities Symposiums in 2022 & 2023. 
  • Providing training and technical assistance to tribes in accessing early intervention and Regional Center service information to increase access. 
  • Launching and maintaining a Tribal Services Lookup Up Tool interactive webpage that shows tribal and Urban Indian Health contact and service provider information by Regional Center catchment area. This tool can be used by tribes to find which Regional Center serves them, and by Regional Centers to learn which tribes are in their service territory and what services are offered by those tribes. Click HERE to check out our Tribal Services Lookup Tool. 

To file a complaint directly with the Department of Developmental Services, visit their website here. 

Trainings

Regional Center Trainings

  • Between 2022 and 2024, CTFC worked closely with Regional Centers throughout California to provide Tribal Engagement Trainings for their employees. The Tribal Engagement Training goal was to increase understanding of tribal culture and governance for Regional Center staff to improve service access and equity within the system of service for tribal families with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. 
  • CTFC has had the privilege of partnering with and providing the training for San Diego Regional Center, Kern Regional Center, Far Northern Regional Center, Redwood Coast Regional Center, Inland Regional Center, Alta California Regional Center, San Andreas Regional Center, Regional Center of the East Bay, and North Bay Regional Center. The general feedback from all regional center staff that participated in the training was positive. Beyond the positive feedback, our data gathered indicated a clear increase in knowledge and understanding. 
  • SDRC’s Executive Director Mark Klaus had this to share: “The feedback from everyone that attended was overwhelmingly positive. I must say that I have been to a “few” trainings in my 40-year career and this had to be one of the best I’ve ever attended!”. 
  • CTFC hopes to further support the creation of partnership and relationships between regional centers and the Native American communities in their catchments.  

CTFC’s Lunch and Learn Sessions

Our Lunch and Learn Training Sessions launched in 2024, highlighting the Introduction to Developmental Disability: Services and Regional Centers in California curriculum. Lunch and Learn Trainings provided Tribal communities and Tribal members information about Regional Centers in California and the services they can provide to Tribal and Intellectual and Developmental Disability (I/DD) communities.  These trainings are no longer regularly held,  but if you are interested in a one-time training for your Tribe, community or organization, please reach out to events@caltribalfamilies.org.

Tribal Trainings

Trainings that may be available upon request include:

  • 101: Indian Child Welfare Act: Still Here, Still Needed 
  • 102: Placement Preferences, Court Findings, and Why They Matter 
  • 103: Active Efforts Advocacy for Special Needs Children 
  • Education Rights and the Indian Child Welfare Act
  • Custom Trainings –CTFC can collaborate with your tribe to create and host custom trainings to support your staff and community’s needs. Training areas of focus can include education rights, intellectual and developmental disabilities, ICWA violations, and juvenile justice. 

CTFC Training and Member Portal – our training and member portal also has offerings related to I/DD to include education rights and the ICWA and CTFC vendorization training on how Tribes or urban Indian organizations may pursue becoming a vendor through Regional Centers to be reimbursed for select services. Read more about the vendorization process here.

Tribal Liaison Coaching Calls for Regional Center Staff

  • Tribal Communities are an underrepresented service population for many Regional Centers. In collaboration with Far Northern Regional Center, CTFC hosted Tribal Liaison Coaching Calls in 2024 to assist Regional Center staff in learning from experts in the field about solutions to supporting Native consumers and families. 
  • Beyond outreach and engagement directly to tribes and tribal families, the coaching calls provided a forum to discuss ideas on developing tribal liaison positions and staff recruitment. 

Tribal Capacity Building

Vendorization

CTFC can support your Tribe or departments within your Tribe in becoming a vendor with your local Regional Center. For more information, be sure to watch our Vendorization Training at caltribalfoundation.org.  

Developmental Screening Tools

  • CTFC developed a Model Developmental Tribal Screening Tool to help tribal parents and providers to identify specific delays. This tool supports the tribal parent or provider in using common language with the child’s primary care provider about I/DD issues to initiate an Early Start referral. 
  • The CDC Milestones Tracker App allows you to enter multiple children and enter their dates of birth. As children age, the app notifies you of milestones and social, emotional, language and motor skills. Tribal providers can also enter their client information to keep track of various milestones. 
    • The Milestone Tracker App also includes example videos to see behaviors and samples of milestones.
    • A caregiver or parent can inform the child’s provider about any milestone concerns and can begin an Early Start referral

Model Case Plan

  • The Model Case Plan aims to provide Tribal Social Service Departments with guidance and language around service objections to supplement state case plans in Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) proceedings. The Plan is designed to address specific needs of Tribal families in a respectful and culturally appropriate manner. This Model Case Plan is an advocacy tool, ensuring state agencies provide meaningful and culturally sensitive services. Tribal Social Workers can proactively contact the county or state social worker and request that specific language from the model case plan be added to the agency’s case plan. 
  • Under the Psychiatric Assessment, Parenting Education, and Health Care Coordination sections, model language is provided to support Tribal Social Service Departments in advocating for specific services and active efforts to meet the needs of the Tribal family. Much of this language can be utilized and adjusted to reflect a Tribe’s request for a family member or child to receive an assessment at the local Regional Center.  

Resources