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Montana DPHHS Office of American Indian Health highlights tribal training, urges early tribal consultation
Summary
At a community of practice meeting, Stephanie Ironshooter, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Office of American Indian Health, reviewed the office’s role in tribal relations, promoted an eight-tribe training series and urged state staff to consult tribes early on matters that affect them.
At a meeting of the Indian Child Welfare Act Community of Practice convened by Montana’s court improvement program, Stephanie Ironshooter, director of the Office of American Indian Health at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, described the office’s work to improve tribal relations, promote culturally relevant services and share an eight-tribe online training for state and local staff.
Why it matters: Ironshooter told attendees the office’s priorities include strengthening tribal relations, research and policy development, and technical assistance across statewide programs that intersect with American Indian children and families. Participants said the training and clearer consultation processes could affect case practice and foster better engagement between state agencies and tribal governments.
Ironshooter described the training package “Caring for Indigenous Montanans,” developed with the Montana Office of Rural Health AHEC and tribal permission. She said the modules present tribal voices from each of Montana’s eight federally recognized tribes and include continuing education credits. “It’s a free training and there are CEUs attached,” she said. “The training...is coming from a place, from the tribal voice.”
The director emphasized that tribal consultation should occur early. “When the thought even occurs to you, that’s when [to consult],” Ironshooter said, arguing that issues affecting tribes should be raised with tribal governments as soon as they are contemplated. She cited state tribal-consultation law (MCA 2-15-142) during her remarks and said the office is working to embed consultation guidance and desk references across departmental bureaus.
Participants described how the training is already being used. Raelynn, a Child and Family Services worker from Miles City, said: “I’ve been asking as a CPS worker...for this type of training for so long. I love that you did specific tribe caring for indigenous Montanans.” Another attendee noted some tribes had embedded the training into employee onboarding.
Ironshooter also outlined service systems that affect American Indian constituents: tribal health programs, Indian Health Service facilities, and Urban Indian organizations. She noted two Montana tribes have assumed full contracting authority under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638), meaning the tribes run their own health services in place of IHS-operated facilities.
She asked staff not to assume all tribes are the same and urged culturally tailored engagement: “When you step over that boundary, you’re in their law world...there is a process that we need to go through” before initiating work on a reservation. The office said it will continue to develop guidance for state staff, streamline workflows around contracts and media, and support technical assistance requests from tribes.
The presentation closed with Ironshooter offering to share the PowerPoint and the training link to attendees; she left contact information in the meeting chat. Participants asked that the training be shared widely across child welfare and other DPHHS divisions.
Looking ahead: meeting organizers said the Office of American Indian Health materials and the training link will be posted to the court improvement program site and shared with the community of practice ahead of the group’s final meeting in October.
