Children and Youth Services Review 121 (2021) 105834 Available online 15 December 2020 0190-7409/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Characteristics and competencies of successful resource parents working in Indian country: A systematic review of the research ☆ Angelique G. Day a, * , Kerrie S. Murphy a , Virginia Drywater Whitekiller b a University of Washington School of Social Work, 4101 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105, United States b North Eastern State University, 600 N. Grand Ave, Tahlequah, OK 74464, United States A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: American Indian/Alaska Native foster children American Indian/Alaska Native grandparents as parents Recruitment and retention of AIAN foster families Foster parent training ABSTRACT Despite the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act over the last 40 years, American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children continue to be removed from their homes at an alarming rate and are overrepresented across the United States’ foster care system. To ensure the future of tribal communities, it is imperative that AIAN children grow up connected to their culture and their identity. One method to ensure stability is to increase efforts to recruit and retain competent, committed tribal relatives as caretakers, and when not possible, AIAN resource parents who are ready and able to care for them. This study utilized PRISMA methodology to conduct a systematic review to identify characteristics and competencies of successful resource parents who care for AIAN children and youth. Four major characteristics (strong cultural identity, resilient and adaptive to change, will- ingness to access tribal resources, and willingness to access kin/family as resources) and fve major competencies (history, laws and policy; health and wellness from the AIAN perspective, AIAN family, kinship and community structure, and AIAN learning style, pedagogy and methods) were identifed. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. 1. Introduction and literature review Over 650 federally recognized tribes and native villages exist in the United States today (BigFoot & Schmidt, 2010). According to the Na- tional Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children experience a substantiated rate of child abuse and neglect of 15.2 per 1000 as compared to 10.8 for Caucasian children in 2018 (Children’s Bureau, 2020). They are overrepresented as child maltreatment victims at more than 1.6 times the expected level (Austin, 2009). Though AIAN children in the United States accounted for only 1% of the census, 10,617 AIAN children in out-of-home care represented approximately 2% of the total number of children in the foster care system (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). On the state level, the disparity of AIAN children in the foster care system be- comes much more evident. For example, the percentages of AIAN chil- dren in the total out-of-home care populations compared to their state census is very large in Alaska (50.9% vs. 20%), South Dakota (52.2% vs. 15%), Montana (33.6% vs. 10%), and Minnesota (12.2% vs. 2%) (Na- tional Indian Child Welfare Association, 2007). Additionally, urban AIAN children removed from their homes are more frequently placed into group homes/residential placements (16.8%) as compared to non- Indian children (7.9%) (Carter, 2011). Due to the high prevalence rate of AIAN children in out-of-home care, there is an urgency to recruit and retain resources parents (i.e. foster/adoptive parents and kinship caregivers) who have the charac- teristics and competencies to care for AIAN children in the most culturally relevant and least restrictive environment possible. Grand- parents have largely stepped up to fll this gap. For example, the expectation that grandparents will play a major role in the physical care and training of their grandchildren is common among most AIAN pop- ulations; as such AIAN children are 3.5 times more likely to be living in the home of a grandparent than White children (Bahr, 1994). Kinship caregivers, however, often lack access to training, support and resources needed to address the unique challenges these children face (Cross, Day, ☆ Indian Country is legally defned to include Indian reservations, select Indian communities, Alaska Native villages, rancheros, and all Indian allotments. Within this article, the defnition is extended to include all Indigenous people served through tribal or Native organizations or service systems, including those living in rural or off-reservation sites, urban areas surrounding or adjacent to reservation lands, and in communities with substantial American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations Canadian populations living within the continental United States (BigFoot & Schmidt, 2010). * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: dayangel@uw.edu, haggerty@uw.edu (A.G. Day), ksmurp66@uw.edu (K.S. Murphy), longvs@nsuok.edu (V.D. Whitekiller). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105834 Received 21 August 2020; Received in revised form 6 December 2020; Accepted 6 December 2020