Technical amendments to the 1996 welfare reform legislation--the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)--include new requirements for administering a state child support enforcement program. This document provides background information to American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal courts, and inter-tribal organizations that may apply for direct funds to provide child support enforcement services in Indian Country. The first section describes the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Native American Program, the OCSE Native American Work Group and Nation to Nation Consultation Plan, the process of direct funding to tribes, and state-tribal cooperative agreements regarding child support enforcement programs. The second section discusses federal self-determination policy toward Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages, the national Native American consultation policy, OCSE services, new enforcement techniques in effect through PRWORA, new requirements for state programs under PRWORA, current tribal participation in child support enforcement, and related federal tribal initiatives. The third section examines tribal traditions of supporting children, various child-rearing practices in the extended family, attitudes of respect toward the child's autonomy, means of resolving family conflict, and aspects of tribal government and tribal jurisdiction. Programs of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Chickasaw Nation, Narragansett Tribe, Navajo Nation, and Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are described. An appendix summarizes the legislative history of child support enforcement. (SV)