40th Annual Virtual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference – “Homecoming: 40 Years of Connecting for Our Children”

2/4/2022 update: This event is now VIRTUAL only.

Out of an abundance of caution due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NICWA has decided to take our 40th annual conference fully virtual for 2022. While we all had high hopes of gathering in-person this year, we find it to be in everyone’s best interest to take the conference back to a virtual-only platform again.

Our ancestors, in their villages and camps, often traveled to neighboring places to visit relatives, replenish supplies, celebrate seasons and hunts, and visit to enjoy each other’s company and share news. This physical movement was part of the cycle of their calendars, something to anticipate and look forward to. Through these relationships and interdependence, our peoples were sustained over generations. Similarly, today, no matter where we work, travel, or live, home remains the place where we feel connected. For 40 years, the Protecting Our Children Conference has been a home for those who serve our children and families to gather.

Homecoming, or coming back to our place of origin, also implies connecting to our past in appreciation of where we’ve come from, the people whose hard work and perseverance made this community life possible, and gratitude to the Creator for our existence and daily experience. This conference is an opportunity for reflection and stock-taking. We can observe where we are now, the characteristics of this place—both literally and figuratively, and the status of our people. This is a chance to affirm what we do and to adjust practices so that we may serve families better.

This homecoming will provide participants an opportunity to chart our self-determined future, to plan for the physical and social movement to create the change needed to sustain our people. Our advocacy is a call for justice and equity, the principles that guide our future. Our communities call for the structural change that will enable us to transform our helping systems and services to better support and heal children and families. Our self-determined futures and the well-being of our citizens are at stake.