Healing, culture are key for award-winning mother

Shana King shares her personal story and past challenges with the hope that they can help another struggling parent heal.

“To see somebody … and hear where they’ve been and what they’ve gone through is very powerful,” she says.

Parent mentor supports Native American families in Minneapolis
RUNTIME: 00:04:42
Shana King shares about her journey and reunifying with her children.
RUNTIME: 00:04:42
Shana King shares about her journey and reunifying with her children.

As the only parent mentor at the Indian Child Welfare Act Law Center in Minneapolis, Shana helps more than 200 Native American families, supporting them in court, meeting with social workers and assisting them with case plans.

She was honored earlier this year with a Casey Excellence for Children Award for birth parent.

A member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Shana lived in foster care as a teen. As a mother, she became involved in the child welfare system because of opiate abuse, and her two youngest children were placed in foster care. She overcame her substance abuse and was able to be reunited with them.

Shana works toward the law center’s mission to strengthen, preserve and reunite Indian families under the framework of the Indian Child Welfare Act. She is also a parent consultant who works under contract with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to teach classes on resiliency and strategic storytelling that help families in the child protection system communicate their situation and wishes.

Shana serves on Casey Family Programs’ Birth Parent Advisory Committee.