[6] In the early 1970s, Cox began touring Native American communities throughout the United States collecting data on the needs of Indian children.

She specifically focused on institutionalized children, who were part of the Foster Care System, in group homes, or those living in American Indian boarding schools.

She signed the Bill of Rights for Foster Children, drafted in 1973, which was ratified by Congress and attended the White House Conference on Mental Retardation.

[9] In 1983, Cox was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to succeed Nadine Chase on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

[16] In 1984, Cox was appointed to the board of the Child Welfare League of America and in 1988 she served as a member for the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.

[1] In 1993, Cox was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame[17] and in 1999 she and her husband James were interviewed as part of the Museum of the Great Plains Oral History Project.