Executive Summary

Indigenous peoples suffer the greatest inequities in the world, resulting from generations of historical trauma caused by colonization and its after-effects, including poverty, racism, poor health care and education, and devastating losses of children to foster care. The parent-child relationship in early life is core to children’s healthy development, but Indigenous parent-child relationships are under constant threat. Our solution: culturally-grounded home education to break cycles of despair paired with Indigenous playspaces.

We will scale the evidence-based, Indigenous home-visiting program, Family Spirit®, proven to promote parenting, mental health and children’s positive developmental trajectories. Partners include Indigenous communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Family Spirit will be taught by local home visitors to parents from pregnancy through age 5. To extend our impact, we will layer in a new synergistic approach: nature-based intergenerational playspaces to promote the power of communal play and Indigenous family-based traditions.

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