Robert Ludgate

Robert Ludgate (Siksika) is a development and facilitation specialist at the Alliance, where his roles include delivery and development of curriculum. 

Robert joined the Alliance after 23 years working in the Indian Child Welfare field in Washington and Oklahoma in positions ranging from front line social worker to ICW program director at Lummi Nation, Caddo Nation, Fort Still Apache Tribe, Samish Nation, and Stillaguamish Tribe.  Robert’s recruitment into the ICW field began as a high school student, where the interconnection of tribal community survival, families remaining intact, social work, the court system, disproportionality of Native children in the child welfare system, and the need for systemic changes was part of his education by his mentors and fostered his outlook on child welfare going forward.  Robert credits his family, his many mentors, and the tribal communities in which he has lived and worked for preparing him and giving him the skills to be effective in this work.

In recent years, Robert has focused on ICWA’s Active Efforts requirements and expanding awareness and education around this.  Robert was the primary researcher/developer/writer of the Lummi Nation’s Comprehensive Guide to Active Efforts and is a national-level trainer on this topic.    While Robert misses directly working with children and families as a case-carrying social worker, he is excited that his move to the Alliance provides him the ability to focus on developing and providing education and training to social workers and the impacts that this can make in case outcomes and systemic changes.