LITTLE BOSTON — The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe will operate its own program governing guardianship assistance, foster care, and adoption assistance, reportedly a first for a tribal nation in the U.S.

Guardianship assistance, foster care and adoption assistance — known as Title IV-E programs — whether under the control of states or tribes, are overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The signing ceremony is March 29, 11 a.m. at the Port Gamble S’Klallam Longhouse.

“We’re proud that our Tribe has qualified to administer its own foster care and adoption program,” Chairman Jeromy Sullivan said. “The real winners here will be Tribal families that choose to open their homes for fostering or adopting children. With our own program, we’ll be able to provide dedicated staff and grow services that support these families.”

With foster care and adoption program approval from DHHS, Port Gamble S’Klallam now internally administers all DHHS social services, including those related to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, other child welfare services, and child support assistance. It also runs a pilot program in conjunction with the State of Washington to determine eligibility for Medicaid and basic food benefits. Port Gamble S’Klallam is able to offer these services to tribal members within Kitsap County boundaries.

In 2008, federal legislation was passed allowing the nation’s tribes to run their own Title IV-E programs with reimbursement from DHHS. Up until this time, tribes collaborated with states on foster care and adoption programs.

As defined by DHHS, foster care programs run by states or tribes “provide safe and stable out-of-home care for children until the children are safely returned home, placed permanently with an adoptive families or placed in other arrangements for permanency.”

Foster care programs fall under Title IV-E, which also covers adoption assistance programs that “facilitate the timely placement of children, whose special needs or circumstances would otherwise make it difficult to place, with adoptive families.”

According to DHHS, in 2007, 496,000 children were in foster care throughout the United States, while in 2008, 381,000 children per month were receiving assistance through IV-E programs.