Friends of the Children-Flathead Nation celebrates a year of serving the Flathead Indian Reservation with impacts to families and children. 

Friends of the Children is a national non-profit organization that provides a 12-year commitment of professional mentorship to children, starting as young as 4-years-old. With one-on-one support, the mentors, who are called “friends,” focus on skill development, social engagement and educational achievement 

“It's more than just mentoring the kids. I'm there with families and walking alongside them,” John Berard, one of the friends, said. “And I've always really enjoyed working with the community.” 

The program includes a two-generation approach, which offers support to the child's caregivers. Each location of Friends of the Children is its own non-profit that builds relationships in the community and with the local schools to provide resources such as school supplies or transportation. 

“We don't just focus on the child. We really focus on the needs of the families too,” Berard said. “By working with the kids, we have built these relationships with the parents and grandparents, to where we essentially become part of their family.”

All four mentors at Flathead Nation are assigned eight youths that they spend four hours with each week. Each mentor is Indigenous and brings cultural knowledge and lived experience of long-term relationships to the children and families they work with. 

Since the launch last summer in Polson, the clubhouse has served 26 children with their free services. The organization plans to add another friend this year, a family engagement specialist and academic achievement specialist if their fundraising goes well. This means the Flathead Nation will be serving 32 children and 160 family members. 

The Flathead Nation location is a part of the Friends of the Children-Western Montana Chapter which serves Missoula, Ravalli and Lake counties. Flathead Nation is one of four locations the organization has nationwide that is on a reservation. 

"The youth are our most precious racial resource that we have for the tribal community. They're our future and what's going to lead us and continue our traditions and beliefs and protect our sovereignty as they grow older,” Nicole Callahan, the Flathead Nation program director, said. 

Callahan said youngsters need to be mentored and guided to become their best selves in order to fulfill roles and legacies in the future. She also explained that the organization is filling a gap because there are a number of services for older youth but not younger age groups.

The organization has built formal partnerships with local school districts and receives a number of referrals from them. This year the Flathead Nation received 56 referrals but only has 16 available spots. Right now they are serving children from Dayton to Dixon but are hoping to continue to expand further south as they grow. Callahan said they are also looking at a new and bigger location in Ronan. 

“The children that are referred to our program have the lowest protective factors and the highest risk factors. And there's a lot of things that we take into consideration,” Callahan said. “Some of our children also have involvement with the child welfare system, are actively in foster care (or) they're being raised by a non-biological caregiver.” 

The mentors spend time with the children in and outside of the classroom and build relationships with their friends and teachers. John explained that having him in the classroom helps the kids he serves and those around them stay more calm and focused. 

“The friends are like little local celebrities in the schools. You go in there and they're like, ‘John,’” Callahan said. “All of the kids that are around the child that's enrolled in our program are also building that relationship, and seeing those behaviors and actions modeled towards them.”