Ozha Wahbeganniss Project explores need for visitation centers in Native American communities

W

Ozha Wahbeganniss is Ojibwe for “Yellow Flower,” which represents health, healing, peace, serenity, and the delicate balance of life. This name was given to this project as part of a ceremony to bless the collaboration between Mending the Sacred Hoop (MSH) and the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC). Together IDVAAC and MSH are looking at the issues on child visitation in families where there is a history of domestic violence.

According to Jeremy Nevilles- Sorrell, resource coordinator for Mending the Sacred Hoop, and Oliver Williams, IDVAAC executive director, we are specifically attempting to understand the extent to which there is a need for visitation centers in Native communities, and if there is a need, how they should be designed.

We want to increase our understanding about the need for visitation centers in Native communities and also get Native people’s perspectives on other methods that promote safety for women and children and connections among families, says Nevilles-Sorrell.

The methods we will use to gather this information include interviews on two reservations with professionals in the fields of domestic violence, human services, courts, and Native women and men who might be candidates to utilize these systems if they existed, says Williams, adding: “When finished, we will develop a set of principles necessary for creating an effective visitation center for Native communities and will provide the framework to develop such a center.”