The Hu'thuga Project

Through the Hu’thuga Project, family members will learn to apply traditional Omaha principles, laws, and values to resolving family conflicts, to making family decisions, and to ensure that each member of the family is heard and treated in a respectful way. Children will also be given a voice in re-building the family dynamics. They will learn they can be heard and that adults will listen to what they have to say. The Hu’thuga Project’s goal is to provide family reunification services for a minimum of 75 families over the course of the five-year grant period by providing a culturally focused, trauma-informed approach. Child & Family Services (CFS) plans on providing 3 to 4 cycles of Family Gathering Sessions per year depending on the size of each family. The Hu’thuga Project will continue to be a successful family preservation support service of CFS’ effort to reunify families long after the grant period has ended, as the project will become a fixed service within the Omaha Tribe’s child welfare and CFS delivery systems respectively. The focus of the Hu’thuga Project is to incorporate Omaha cultural values into a pro-social, pro-cultural mileau of support services for families going through a very difficult time. By doing so, the Project will greatly enhance the efforts of the Tribe’s Child & Family Services (CFS) to be more successful in the reunification process of children removed from their biological parent(s) and families.