UND Social Work Alum recognized with Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Champion Award
Congratulations to UND Social Work alum Traci Van Beek!Traci played a meaningful role in representing the public child welfare sector in North Dakota at a grantee meeting with the Children’s Bureau in Minneapolis in June. Numerous attendees, including the grant’s federal project officer, noted her helpful and positive contributions. In recognition of her contributions, Traci was honored with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Champion Award at the Native American Training Institute’s (NATI) statewide conference at Turtle Mountain in July.
Traci is a BSSW graduate of the UND Social Work Program. She has been a state leader and champion in advancing the letter and the spirit of ICWA in her work as a Children and Family Services Program Administrator in the Grand Forks County Human Services Zone.
She helped ensure the successful planning for and implementation of the ICWA Family Preservationist (IFP) Program in the Grand Forks County Human Services Zone, which was selected as one of the two pilot sites for this Children’s Bureau-funded grant to the UND Social Work Department.
One of the grant-funded staff said of her, “Traci has a genuine desire to help others. She exemplifies the Social Work Code of Ethics and works hard to support the same in her co-workers and supervisees. Even through adversity and challenges Traci remains true to her calling to help others as a social worker and, more specifically, in the work she does serving children and families with child welfare involvement. She is not only able to acknowledge shortcomings, but she also works to address them to provide superior service to the children and families she encounters in her work. Additionally, everything she does is done with compassion, grace, and humility.”
Traci has worked hard to bring education and training to her staff. She has built meaningful relationships with partners—always focusing on improving outcomes for the children and families she serves. More specifically, she embraces the opportunity to work very closely with Tribal representatives to ensure quality and culturally appropriate care and services are provided.
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