Five County Service delivery Area 

(Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom)

· Pay heating bills for low-income people

· Help crime victims. We can replace broken locks, provide emergency food and/or shelter, help with doctor or court appointments, help relocate, etc.

· Help youth who have been in foster care with Independent Living Skills

· Monthly food vouchers for low-income people

· Provide or refer to mental health counseling and/or chemical dependency counseling

Statewide

· Support and assistance with quitting your tobacco habit with quit-smoking kits that include patches and/or gum. 

· Refer people with alcohol/chemical dependency issues and provide prevention services

· We can help children & families stay out of Washington State’s CPS system. If a family is already involved with State CPS, we can help them regain control of their situation.

· Sponsors a portion of the Samish Indian Nation Canoe Journey

NATIONWIDE

Indian Child Welfare Act:  help families not become involved with their State CPS and if a family is already involved with State CPS, we can help them regain control of their situation.

CLARIFICATION ON FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE THROUGH SAMISH SOCIAL SERVICES

There have been questions and concerns raised regarding financial assistance offered through Samish Social Services.  I would like to clarify some of this.

Our programs are funded through a variety of sources, most of which are grants.  Each grant comes with a defined target population for services.  For example, some grants help children involved with the Child Welfare/Child Protective Services system, some help Crime Victims, some focus on youth involved with the Juvenile Justice system, and some assist young adults who have aged out of the Child Welfare system.  Additionally, we also offer assistance to low income members through the food voucher and LIHEAP (energy assistance) programs.

The amount/degree of assistance available can vary from year to year, and even within the year.  Some assistance, such as the food voucher and LIHEAP programs, are based on income guidelines.  Other assistance, such as those through grants, are not based on income but on case scenarios of clients.  Also, a client may qualify for a particular service through a grant one year and not qualify in another year.  If there are a large number of clients falling under a grant’s target population in one year, limited resources may result in our program determining to give priority to certain scenarios (such as crime victims who were a victim in the last 12 months, families with CPS referrals this year, etc.). For instance, during this recession, we have seen increases in requests for food and energy assistance, with the same amount of funding, so we have to spread the funds out to more people.

An important note: Our programs are committed to protecting our clients’ confidentiality.  If there is a question raised as to why one client received a particular type of assistance and another did not, answering such a question may publicly identify that one client has been involved with Child Protective Services or is a victim of a crime, for example. That is why we typically cannot directly answer the question as to why someone got services while somebody else didn’t.

Additionally, those making it known publicly that they received a particular type of assistance may unintentionally be making it known that they could be involved with the Child Welfare/CPS system, are a crime victim, or are low income, for example.

We certainly understand Tribal Members wanting to ensure services are being offered fairly and that individuals are not discriminated against.  We have many systems in place that pass audits and make certain that client services are offered to qualified clients. However, the Tribe must also ensure that the confidentiality of our clients is maintained.  I hope that this clarifies questions that anyone may have. Please call us if you have further general questions.

-Robert Ludgate