Who We Are

Board of Directors

 

Tracy “Ching” King, Assiniboine, ICFRC Board President, has served 14 years on the Fort Belknap Indian Community tribal council, including two years as Vice-President and six years as Tribal President. Before co-founding the Indian Child and Family Resource Center where he has served on the board for ten years, Mr. King served more than twelve years as a board member for the National Indian Child Welfare Association. He served as president of the To-Ga-He-Yo-He Youth Ranch, a therapeutic ranch project designed to bring traditional Assiniboine horsemanship skills to troubled youth in his community. Mr. King is committed to addressing the needs of vulnerable Native children, youth and families throughout Montana as well as throughout the country. He participates on a variety of state and national boards aimed at addressing Native issues on suicide, child abuse, juvenile justice and fatherhood. He resides with his family on the Fort Belknap Reservation near Harlem, MT.

 

Silvanna Osuna, (Diegueno, Santa Ysabel Band of Mission Indians) is retired from twenty-three years of service with the Indian Child and Family Services foster family and adoption agency in Southern California. During her tenure she served in a variety of capacities, from social worker to court services to social work supervisor. Always providing direct family services, Silvanna is one of the original social workers in the field of Indian Child Welfare after the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978. She worked tirelessly to reunify families whenever possible and ultimately became a strong supporter for kinship care, rather than the placement of children with unrelated foster families where they frequently were adopted, losing all contact with their tribal culture and community. Silvanna continues to be involved in her tribal community where she lives near her five grown children and five grandchildren. 

 

Kathy Deserly, has spent 34 years in child welfare services for Native communities, including serving as assistant director for a Southern California Native American non- profit foster and adoption agency; policy analyst and technical assistance specialist for the National Indian Child Welfare Association; and Indian Child Welfare Specialist for the State of Montana Child and Family Services. Kathy currently works as an independent consultant, providing training, technical assistance and facilitation skills for tribes and states throughout the country on Indian child welfare-related topics.Kathy is married to Lannie Deserly, an enrolled member of the Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. She and her husband have been involved in Native American urban and tribal programs for more than thirty years, including serving as foster parents. They are parents to three grown children and grandparents to eighteen grandchildren.

 

Our Founding and Former ICFRC Board Members

Mary Ann Akers, M.A., was a co-founder of ICFRC after retiring from Montana state government bringing a background is in administration, program development, public- private sector financing, quality assurance, project evaluation, proposal development, policy development and implementation for human service organizations. Mary Ann’s fiscal management experience spanned thirty-five years of administrative and management experience in both federal and state appropriated budgets as well as private sector funding in the form of grants, fee for service and federal non- appropriated monies. Mary Ann has been involved in numerous projects assisting tribes and Native organizations in the development of their fiscal and sustainability issues

 

 Mary Mc Nevins, M.S.W. (Creek Nation), ICFRC co-founder, previously served as Children’s Protective Services director for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She brought more than 24 years of experience specializing in Indian child welfare, grant management, Title IV-E agreements, family group conferencing, multi-disciplinary child protection teams and development of comprehensive Indian child welfare programs. Mary also served as the Indian Child Welfare Manager for the Oregon Department of Human Services and former director of community development at the National Indian Child Welfare Association. A graduate of the University of California Riverside, Mary has been a tribal liaison and Indian child welfare advocate throughout her career. Mary is a national trainer with a strong background in tribal Indian child welfare and mental health systems. She has provided extensive national tribal consultation through the National Resource Center for Tribes and current Capacity Building Center for Tribes. Dana Leno Ainam, (Grand Ronde), is the child welfare director of the Grand Ronde Tribe of Oregon. Ms. Leno has spent many years participating in Indian child welfare issues impacting the tribes of Oregon, including participation as a member of the Oregon ICWA Advisory board. A former member of the National Indian Child Welfare Association board of directors, Ms. Leno is committed to the needs of Native American children and families.