‘Nothing but good medicine': Minnesota groups plan to build an Indigenous birth center

Yahoo

23-04-2025

This story was originally published by The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Sign up for The Imprint's free newsletters here.Nancy Marie SpearsThe ImprintWhen considering what Indigenous mothers might need when they are about to give birth, Ruth Buffalo pictures a warm community-based center, full of laughter and love. Relatives are singing soft lullabies in their Native languages. Family members could dance ceremonially around mother and baby after birth.Before heading home with her newborn from this welcoming place, mom would leave with plenty of support. She'd receive tips on swaddling and breastfeeding, along with referrals for classes on cooking traditional Ojibwe baby foods, sewing regalia for soon-to-be toddlers, and beading baby moccasins. She could always return for check-ups and connection with other moms.Buffalo, of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, serves as the CEO of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center. She has been helping plan the Birth Center, which involves weekly and monthly meetings, coordinating community listening sessions and creating a strategic planning document with to-do lists and deadlines.'I see it as a place with nothing but good medicine, where everybody's welcome,' said Buffalo, a mother of four.A group of nonprofit child welfare and maternal health organizations expects to submit their proposed plan to Minnesota lawmakers by the end of this calendar year. While the ultimate funding mix has yet to be finalized, it's likely to include state funds and Medicaid reimbursement. The Birth Center will provide medical and cultural resources to expecting or parenting mothers, including ceremonial activities and access to traditional medicine approaches.
Believed to be a first-of-its-kind project, it's spearheaded by the Minneapolis-based Birth Justice Collaborative, a partnership of African American- and Indigenous-led community organizations. Founded in 2022, the alliance works with Hennepin County to improve birth outcomes in African American and Indigenous communities. The mission is to reclaim teachings on child-rearing practices that were common in tribal communities before the U.S. government systemically separated Indigenous families. In just one example, according to Iroquois historian Arthur C. Parker, his people took dried and greased bear gut and added a nipple fashioned from a bird's quill to create bottles that could be used to feed infants.The need for better maternal care of Indigenous women is widely understood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that American Indian and Alaska Native mothers are twice as likely to die of 'pregnancy-related causes' compared to white mothers. The National Institute of Health reports that Indigenous women also suffer heightened risks of maternal death, particularly those living in rural areas where access to prenatal care can be scarce. Additionally, Indigenous people who rely on public health insurance heightened barriers to prenatal and postpartum care.
Respecting tribes' cultural beliefs and practices was listed as the most effective way to improve maternal and infant health, according to a November 2024 report by Child Trends, an independent research organization.The Birth Center aims to address such disparate outcomes through compassionate care which will be provided before, during, and after women's due dates.The collaborative's Indigenous partners will combine holistic services for the Indigenous children, mothers and the family unit. Indigenous elders and spiritual leaders will also be on site to provide cultural, tribe-specific teachings on things like the role of the waters inside the womb, and how to nurture a young infant's Indigenous identity through storytelling.Services are being determined by direct feedback from community meetings and listening sessions with pregnant mothers and birth parents, said Antony Stately, who is Ojibwe and Oneida and serves as president for the Native American Community Clinic in south Minneapolis.'We heard some women talk about how either their relatives, or even their own parents, have had really bad birthing experiences — even the idea of becoming pregnant is such a frightening experience for them,' Stately said. 'Then the fear multiplies significantly once they actually find out they're pregnant.'The center, Stately explained, is meant to help expectant mothers overcome those fears through culturally appropriate services.
Resources at the Birth Center will include services provided by partner organizations, like the Division of Indian Work, an independent nonprofit that provides culturally-specific programs and services to the urban Indigenous community in southern Minneapolis. Shashana Skippingday is the director of programs at the division, where she leads the organization's various maternal health and family well-being programs.'Education on culture should start from the get-go,' said Skippingday, who has worked as a doula and cared for new parents in their homes. Stately said he believes future generations will benefit from this center.'We're centering culture, traditional knowledge and wisdom about our health with what we know has sustained us over the thousands of years,' he said. 'I think within a few years of opening the center we'll start to see significant improvement in the health outcomes of the Indigenous women in our community.'Nancy Marie Spears works nationally covering Indigenous children and families for The Imprint with a focus on the Indian Child Welfare Act. She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.