This piece is published in partnership with Foster Advocates.
Nationally, the United States federally recognizes 574 Native American nations. Yet, it wasn’t until 1978 that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, allowing Indigenous peoples to legally conduct spiritual practices in their traditional manner. The grave misunderstanding and delay of acceptance of spiritual practices has resulted in the abuse and misuse of traditions, the banishment of ceremonies, and extensive cultural appropriation. For these reasons, many Natives chose to share little about their culture, practices, and spirituality, fearing entitlement and disrespect. When seeking a deeper understanding of spirituality, it is vital first to comprehend the underlying values that shape the Indigenous worldview. With more than 3.4 million recognized Native Americans, one must acknowledge the vast diversity of Indigenous values, including community contribution, reverence for nature, immediacy of time, and deep respect for elders. The following four cultural elements of Native spirituality expand on these values: medicine, harmony, relation, and vision.
The foundation of Native spirituality is tied to a sacred connection with Mother Earth, or Nanabush — the energy of life. The lesser beings — still deeply valued — are referred to as Spirit Beings or Spirit Helpers. The spirit world is composed of plants, animals, humans, and ancestral spirits. One’s spirit exists before and after the mind and body’s physical creation. Medicine, the essence of our inner being, exists in every moment, event, person, place, or movement. It can be found in trees, plants, rocks, animals, and people. It comes from sunlight, soil, water, and wind. As Michael Tlanusta Garrett and Michael P. Wilbur stated in a 1999 article published in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, “There is even Medicine in empty space, if you know how to use it.”
Wellness is harmony, and unwellness is disharmony. Unwellness may be either natural or unnatural, as defined by the violation of a social or natural creational law, or conjured with disingenuous intentions, respectively. Each person bears responsibility for their own wellness by remaining attuned to themselves, their relations, their environment, and the universe. The Circle of Life represents the relational powers among all beings. It consists of the four elements — fire (sunlight), earth, water, and wind — reflecting the interconnection and natural progression of life.
To seek vision, one must look toward the future while honoring the past and present. This is often expressed through ceremonial practices: some to heal or bless, others to give thanks, celebrate, or clear the way. Sweat lodges, vision quests, blessing-way or pipe ceremonies, and sun dances are a few examples of traditional practices. Ceremonies go beyond rituals through creating a space where questions may be asked, lessons are iterated, and understanding unfolds over time. Within these spaces of observation and guidance, stories like the following show the rooted wisdom that guides Native life:
“Tsayoga was sensitive, quiet, inquisitive, but also very stubborn. He was a good boy, but he had to do things his own way, and couldn’t always understand why things weren’t the way he thought they should be. ‘But why?’ he asks his grandfather — over and over and over. Sometimes, Grandfather would get a little frustrated with the boy who might be busy listening but not hearing. ‘Tsayoga,’ the old man would say abruptly sometimes, ‘Does the worm live in the ground, or does the worm fly in the sky?’”
Like Tsayoga, many children and youth in the foster and child welfare system live in a state of continual asking. In Native teachings, harmony is not something we find; it is something we create through intentional action. Relation is not simply given; it is honored through respect and reciprocity. Vision is not inherited; it is earned by walking a path that balances the past, the present, and the future. Each person carries a piece of sacred soil upon their back — our own essence — which becomes the foundation for our belonging. Yet, for children in care, fractured experiences leave lasting cracks, and they must learn to step carefully as they navigate a world they hope will welcome them. It is the responsibility of caregivers, educators, government systems, and other Fosters to create a framework of interconnectedness that helps children find their ground again. For some, this support is found through nature or culture, silence or patience, but above all, it is realized through the expansion of compassion in the eyes of those who bear witness.
