Lakota woman opens Pine Ridge children’s shelter

A new children's shelter opened its doors in August for the Pine Ridge Reservation community.

Seven years ago, a Google search sparked an idea in Genevieve Skidmore’s mind. Her desire to help homeless children through Native American ministry led to the creation of the Oglala-based NAOMI House.

Skidmore, an Oglala Sioux Tribe citizen, didn’t always know what her calling was. As an adult, she moved to Arizona, where she said she felt drawn to ministry. This is how she found a little House in the Navajo Nation, a shelter for Indigenous children called the Native American Outreach Ministries (NAOMI) House.

Growing up, Skidmore experienced many of the same struggles that Indigenous youth face every day. 

Youth ages 10-19 account for the highest percentage of Pine Ridge’s population at 21 percent, followed by 0-9 year-olds at 20 percent. Of those under 18, 55 percent live below the poverty line, more than four times the U.S. average of 12.6 percent.

Additionally, Native children are heavily overrepresented in the South Dakota foster care system, despite making up just 13 percent of the state’s overall child population. As of 2020, Native kids accounted for 74 percent of those in the foster care system.

As time went on, Skidmore became immersed in the NAOMI House and its mission to help children. When she told her grandmother Alma Sauser on Pine Ridge what she was doing in Arizona, Sauser offered her 600 acres of land in Oglala to bring a shelter to her home community.

In August, her grandmother’s vision became reality. Seven years after learning about the NAOMI House in Arizona, Skidmore now serves as the executive director of the Pine Ridge NAOMI House.

The location of the NAOMI House allows Oglala Lakota foster children to stay in their own communities and often in the same school districts. This kind of structure is crucial for children, said house manager Katie Ford.

“Structure and routine are so important, especially for kids who have experienced trauma,” she said.

In 2017, the tribal council unanimously voted to approve the new shelter. Now in 2023, the Pine Ridge Reservation-based shelter has finally opened its doors.

The overall goal of the NAOMI House is the reunification of children with their families.

“Success in general for us is not about more houses or more beds, it’s about the healing and unification of biological families and systemic transformation for communities,” Skidmore said.

The NAOMI house can be many things for a child in need. It can be a home for foster children, a shelter for abused children or those experiencing homelessness. Workers also can provide food, safety, clothing and more on an emergency basis. The current facility is capable of housing up to eight children.

Immediately after opening, children began walking through the doors. Since August, 10 children have been through the shelter and four currently live there.

Ford, who is of Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation descent, strives to keep kids engaged with their culture as house mother. Her goal is to make sure every child leaves with a ribbon skirt or ribbon shirt, something many of them don’t have, Ford said.

“We strive to preserve and honor their culture,” Ford said. “It’s so cool for them to be a part of (creating items) too.”

Ford was drawn to the NAOMI house to help Native kids. In 2020, she spent 36 hours volunteering at the Navajo Nation NAOMI House and was immediately hooked. Two hours after getting home from volunteering, she applied to live in the house.

The NAOMI House is a faith-based nonprofit, meaning Christianity is central to the organization and its mission. Christian teachings are offered at the NAOMI House.

In 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe voted to limit Christian ministries that visit the reservation after a pamphlet was distributed by the Jesus is King Mission organization claiming that Tunkasila, the Lakota’s creator, was a demon. That ministry was promptly banished, and new measures were put in place requiring religious organizations to register with the tribal council.

While the NAOMI House hasn’t experienced any community pushback, Skidmore understands religion is a sensitive subject in Indian Country.

“There’s been so much damage done to First Nations people by those who claim to represent Jesus. I understand the politics of it and I can understand the world around it,” she said.

Skidmore wasn’t always a Christian. In Arizona, she had what she described as a powerful encounter that led to her faith in Christianity.

“Coming from my perspective, (Christianity is) not a denomination, it’s not a church,” Skidmore said. “Jesus had been misrepresented, we had an entire group of people (boarding school leaders) misrepresenting Jesus. That was not Jesus.”

Several community members have donated goods, services and an entire school bus to the NAOMI House. The organization strives to meet the tribe’s needs by working directly with the tribe.

“This is a firm perspective that I’m coming in with, and it’s a perspective that has carried the NAOMI house for over 30 years in the Navajo Nation,” Skidmore said.

Children can regularly attend Lakota ceremonies and have access to cultural programming.

Ford said once the NAOMI House is settled she plans to invite Oglala Lakota citizens to teach classes on beadwork, regalia making and pow-wow dancing. The Navajo Nation NAOMI House does its own form of cultural programming, and that model will be applied to the new Oglala house.

“We strive to be one big family. Kids are able to come and go, and we’re providing all the basic necessities of an emergency shelter and even into long-term foster care-type situation,” Skidmore said.

Some kids may stay a few hours, others a decade. It all depends on the situation.

In the future, the house will expand to offer several different buildings, including a cultural center and volunteer bunkhouses.

Skidmore’s goal for the future is to establish a NAOMI House on South Dakota’s eight other reservations.

Correction: An earlier edition misspelled Alma Sauser’s last name as Sauserback. 

Dateline:

OGLALA, S.D.