Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act Documentary Now Available

Our newly completed one hour long film from producer Susan Reetz, Missing Threads: The Story of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act, explores the connection between family, tribal culture and children, and the consequences of severing those ties.

The project began in 2012 with initial funding from the Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center (Lincoln, Nebraska) which made it possible to capture interviews with two tribal social workers, two tribal attorneys, two former Wisconsin Department of Children and Families staff and sponsoring senator Robert Jauch (now retired). This portion of the story outlines why all 11 Wisconsin tribes and representatives of Wisconsin state government made the unprecedented decision to work together to codify the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into Wisconsin law, and how the bill was drafted, enacted and implemented.

Additional funding from the Ho-Chunk Nation, Forest County Potawatomi Foundation and the Oneida Nation made it possible to film in-depth interviews with a Forest County Potawatomi man and a Ho-Chunk woman who were removed from their families as children and placed in non-Native foster homes. These personal stories illustrate the long term impact of a Native child’s removal from their culture and subsequent efforts to reunite with family and tribe, and find their personal identity.

The goal of the film is to inform viewers about the importance of maintaining connection between Native children and their tribes and culture, and the state’s legal responsibility to make sure proper channels and procedures are followed. It will be used to educate social workers, attorneys, judges and the general public. It can also be used as a road map by other states seeking to undertake their own codification of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

Three hundred DVDs will be given away to tribal and state judges, attorneys, social workers, foster care staff and others who may have contact with a case impacted by the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act. The film will be shown at the Green Bay Film Festival (http://www.gbfilmfestival.org/filmgreenbay/) on March 5, and by late fall it will also be available on YouTube for free viewing. More information can be found at http://missingthreadswicwa.blogspot.com/.

Making the Most of Down Time

We are just barely into September and I’m sitting on my deck as I write this. Summer goes by way too fast in Wisconsin, and I refuse to squander even one day of warm weather and sunshine by sitting in my cave chained to my desk.

I also refuse to squander my down time. When work is a little scarce (as it is with many of us in the current economy) I need to get creative with how I spend my time. I’m one of those people who work best under deadlines – the more I have to do the more I get done. But when I have less to do it seems that my pace slows and I don’t accomplish as much. So, I make up or find additional things to do. Like take a class. Read about industry trends. Experiment with my little prosumer HD camcorder. Write more short stories and poetry. Etc.

Right now I’m reading a book by Wisconsinite Stephen Woessner called “Search Engine Optimization: Increase Your Google Rankings, Double Your Site Traffic.” My business partner and I went to one of his workshops at UW La Crosse on search engine optimization and learned a lot. The book is a great recap of the presentation and I’m sure I’ll refer to it often as we plan the re-design of our website. And I am happy to tell you that Stephen will be presenting for our chapter of the Media Communications Association - International this spring on SEO and marketing.

At the end of last year I bought a nice little Canon Vixio HD camcorder. I’ve done a little shooting with it, but haven’t had a chance to try edting any of it. So, within the next month I plan to write, shoot and edit a short story. My main stumbling block is finding the right method for digitizing the footage. (Yes, I went with tape for a variety of reasons.) Even though I have no aspirations to shoot and edit for my clients (I'll stick to writing, directing and producing), it would be fun to learn how to do it for myself or my family, and may help me as I write shot descriptions in scripts.

Some writer-friends and I started a writing group a few months ago. We are having a blast exploring screenplay, short story, poetry, and creative nonfiction formats. I believe that working in other genres reenergizes my scriptwriting, making for fresher concepts and crisper narration. Who knows, maybe I’ll even try my hand at writing a book some day. Whether it would be a work of fiction or industry related I can’t say, but the general idea is intriguing.

Of course, marketing is also a very good thing to do when you have time between projects. My business partner and I are developing a marketing plan that includes our main target markets, what message to tailor to each market, and how to reach the most people with investing the least amount of cash. We’d rather go heavy on the time investment and save the cash for the highest return ventures only.

So, what are you doing when work gets a little slow? How do you make the most of down time? Send me your response and I’ll post a compilation of answers.

Thanks for reading!