Creating lifelines for Indigenous families
Shared Waters Tribal Home Visiting
Before La Costa McGhee became director of the Shared Waters Tribal Home Visiting Program, she served as one of the program’s parent educators–a team focused on providing vital support to families struggling with the immense pressures of raising young children.
During her time in that role, La Costa worked with many families across both the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations, flanking the shores of the Missouri River. Today she carries the stories of those families with her as she works to guide the program into the next phase of its work.
“I remember a particular young mom who was really struggling—postpartum depression, four kids under five, no transportation, and just completely overwhelmed. The baby wasn’t sleeping, and she was carrying so much guilt for not being able to fully function. So I focused on helping get her older children into Head Start and Early Head Start, so that she could channel her energy into getting her newborn onto a schedule and caring for herself. With that support, she recovered and ended up being hired by Early Head Start herself. And now, years later, they still come up to me at events and ask when I’m coming to visit. That’s what this program does—we show up, we support, and we stay connected.”
“I’m so proud that our team is being welcomed into people’s homes–and sharing resources and care with families that are extremely vulnerable. Because through that support, we not only see children hit their milestones, but parents as well.”
Meeting community needs by weaving connection, care, and cultural wisdom
Shared Waters was created nearly a decade ago when the Crow Creek and Lower Brule tribes partnered to strengthen the wellbeing of Native children and families. According to La Costa, communities across both reservations face the impacts of intergenerational poverty and inequality–including high rates of substance abuse, suicide, and infant mortality, and a lack of access to health care, nourishing food, and safe, affordable housing. Shared Waters offers culturally rooted, evidence-based support to pregnant women and families with young children who are particularly vulnerable to those and other barriers.
“Our goal is to empower parents and caregivers–to give them the skills and resilience to help their young ones thrive, and to thrive themselves too,” said La Costa. “We celebrate every one of our families’ successes–because they are our successes too.”
Funded by the federal Tribal Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, Shared Waters pairs families with its team of experienced parent educators. Educators visit homes to share guidance on child development, parenting skills, and creating nurturing environments that help children thrive—laying strong foundations for lifelong learning and wellness.
La Costa shares that home visits can play out in many different ways. One visit might include helping a parent find engaging forms of play with their children, while another might be connecting families with resources and services for challenges like substance abuse. But overall, it’s about offering consistent, encouraging support that allows families to stay connected, secure, and healthy.
Co-creating with community: grounding program design and evaluation in community wisdom
Shared Waters has always been deeply committed to understanding the specific challenges families are facing–and then designing its services to address those needs head on. And for La Costa, partnering with Emergence to implement a community-driven evaluation strategy has been an essential part of its impact.
By integrating nontraditional evaluation methods like storytelling, Shared Waters not only strengthened its outcomes—it deepened its impact where it matters most: in the lives of children and families. Caregivers have reported stronger knowledge and confidence in early childhood development and positive parenting, while more children were screened for developmental delays—helping boost early literacy and school readiness. At the same time, families have gained greater access to supportive services that address essential needs like food, housing, and safety, contributing to a decline in risk factors linked to child abuse and neglect.
“Working with Audrey [Director of Advancement Systems & Evaluation at Emergence] has been a game changer. She has helped us learn so much about where parents and caregivers need support to get their young ones ready for kindergarten. It’s given us the ability to shape our services to really make a difference. And throughout the process, Audrey has always been there–to jump in, offer advice and insight, and support our team through our own challenges. Her support has really been transformative in so many ways.”
The road ahead: building and expanding in support of Indigenous families
As she looks into the future, La Costa’s vision for Shared Waters is rich with growth. For the first time, she has a fully staffed team of parent educators who are deeply engaged with their families. She’s focused on supporting their work–in order to show the impact of home visiting for participating Indigenous families. But her vision doesn’t stop there.
“In the future, I dream of the ability to hire even more parent educators, to expand to serve families beyond the reservation borders, and even to have our own building that offers a central location to ground our programmatic work,” she shared.
“With all the positive impacts we’ve seen, I want to maintain this program for years to come. One of my coworkers' young daughters sometimes comes in, sets up her little chair, and pretends to check her work emails–pretending to be a part of our team. I want to keep this program strong so that, down the line, she can take over our jobs and continue offering families the support they need to thrive.”