Reports show that mental health services for Indian children are inadequate, despite the fact that Indian children are known to have more serious mental health problems than all other ethnic groups in the United States. This monograph examines five American Indian childrens mental health projects funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). These projects have developed extraordinarily creative and effective systems of care largely based in their own cultures and on the strengths of their families. The goal of this work is to examine promising practices that implement traditional American Indian helping and healing methods that are rooted in their culture. This monograph presents the strengths and challenges of community-based service designs that draw on culture as a primary resource. The pertinent literature is reviewed here, and it suggests that the American Indian sites described here are not alone in their pursuit of culturally-based mental health methods. Two appendixes present parent and provider questions. (Contains 56 references.) (GCP)