Assessing Partnership Functioning In Icwa Contexts: A Preliminary Examination of the Balance Wheel

Background: Effective collaboration is central to advancing the goals of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which calls for culturally grounded, community-engaged approaches to support Native American children and families. Cross-system partnerships among tribal, state, and community stakeholders are critical to ICWA implementation; however, few tools exist to systematically assess partnership functioning. The Balance Wheel is a conceptually developed framework that evaluates collaboration across four domains: trust and communication (East), engagement and leadership (South), resources and inclusion (West), and learning and shared vision (North), reflecting holistic and relational approaches aligned with Indigenous-informed practice.

Methods: This study provides a preliminary examination of the Balance Wheel using survey data from 34 partnership members engaged in ICWA-related collaborative efforts. Participants rated 20 items on a 5-point scale (0 = not at all to 4 = completely). Descriptive statistics were used to assess domain-level strengths and areas for improvement. Internal consistency was examined, and an exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis with Promax rotation) was conducted to explore the underlying structure of the instrument.

Results: The Balance Wheel demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = .93), with moderate to high intercorrelations among domains (r = .50–.86), suggesting that partnership dimensions are interconnected. Descriptive results indicated generally positive perceptions of partnership functioning. Among the four domains, North (learning and shared vision; M = 3.19) and South (engagement and commitment; M = 3.13) were rated highest, reflecting strong motivation, growth, and alignment with partnership goals. East (trust, transparency, and voice; M = 3.03) and West (resources and inclusion; M = 2.98) were comparatively lower, highlighting opportunities to strengthen feedback processes and resource access.

Exploratory factor analysis supported a four-factor structure reflecting (1) emotional engagement and shared leadership, (2) trust, communication, and collaborative processes, (3) voice, respect, and active engagement, and (4) cultural responsiveness and impact. While these dimensions partially aligned with the conceptual framework, several items demonstrated cross-loadings, indicating overlap among constructs. Notably, a distinct factor corresponding to the North domain did not emerge; instead, elements of learning, reflection, and future vision were embedded within leadership and communication factors.

Implications: This study provides an initial empirical examination of the Balance Wheel as a culturally grounded tool for assessing partnership functioning in ICWA-related contexts. Findings highlight both strengths, particularly in engagement, motivation, and shared learning, and areas for growth, including strengthening voice, feedback loops, and equitable access to resources. The interconnected nature of the domains suggests that improvements in one area may positively influence others, supporting a holistic approach to partnership development. Results offer practical guidance for ongoing evaluation, capacity-building, and continuous quality improvement in tribal–state collaborations. Future research with larger and more diverse samples is needed to further validate the structure and refine the measurement of partnership functioning in Indigenous and child welfare settings.