September 29th, 2020

The Academy for Professional Excellence (Academy), a project of SDSU’s School of Social Work, is proud to announce that its Tribal STAR program has recently been selected by the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) to revise the statewide Common Core Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Curriculum.

The Common Core ICWA curriculum was designed with the intent to ensure participants learned about bias and historical context in addition to the law.

For almost 20 years, Tribal STAR has been at the forefront of state and national efforts to ensure compliance with the spirit and legal requirements of ICWA. Tribal STAR serves as a bridge between Tribal Nations and agencies, counties, and academia providing comprehensive, competency-based, cross-cultural training and technical assistance to achieve ICWA compliance and improve outcomes for Tribal foster youth and their families. 

“Being asked to lead the curriculum revision process both acknowledges and honors the extensive work Tribal STAR has done, in collaboration with our Tribal partners, to develop and deliver Common Core ICWA training that is highly effective and that truly results in the transformation of practice.” said Academy CEO Jennifer Tucket-Tatlow.

The collaborative work required to revise the current curricula and develop training that meets the needs of the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), counties, and Tribal Nations will build on existing partnerships, allowing the work to be done efficiently with maximum stakeholder participation.

This project represents an opportunity for the Academy for Professional Excellence to continue working towards its mission to provide exceptional learning and development experiences for the transformation of individuals, organizations, and communities. 

Tucker-Tatlow adds, “We have an amazing team and it’s wonderful to hear that all of our efforts have resulted in the opportunity for us to continue to bring about positive changes in practice when it comes to serving the Tribal community.”

To learn more about Tribal STAR and the Academy, visit: theacademy.sdsu.edu/programs/tribal-star