Representatives of several Montana Native nations were involved in discussions about the research.

Shane Doyle, a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation who served as a liaison between the research team and Native communities, played a significant role in facilitating those conversations.

The process was not simple, and the perspectives of different Native communities varied — some were supportive of the research, seeing in it confirmation of what their traditions had always maintained about deep American roots; others were more skeptical, with concerns about the appropriate treatment of ancient remains and the use of genetic data from those remains.

The outcome of those consultations included agreements about the conduct of the research, the treatment of the remains, and critically, the reburial of the child after the analysis was complete.