Laura Newton is a descendant of the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe. She has an MSW from the U of M and a BSW from Augsburg College. She has worked in the field of Indian Child Welfare and the Minneapolis/St Paul American Indian Community for 24 years. As the Family Services Program Director at the Minneapolis American Indian Center she manages several programs including early intervention services to prevent child welfare involvement as well as a nationally recognized Tribal Liaison Project that specifically works hand in hand with out of state ICWA Directors to provide services to their members in the seven county metro area in MN. She has provided trainings nationally at the National Indian Child Welfare Conference (NICWA) on several occasions, and locally for MN Department of Human Services, UMD Summer Institute, Fraser, Augsburg University, and at various MN metro counties. In addition she has served for many years as a Field Supervisor for social work student interns from Augsburg University and St Olaf College, and Bethel College.