Terry Cross - Founder of the National Indian Child Welfare Association Terry Cross (Ha-ne-ga-noh), an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation, received his master’s degree in social work from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. He is the founding executive director of National Indian Child Welfare Association, now serving as senior advisor. He is the author of Positive Indian Parenting and co-authored Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care, published by Georgetown University. He has 40 years of experience in child welfare, including 10 years direct practice.
Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Recognizing 40th Anniversary Of Indian Child Welfare Act
November 28, 2018 - 5:35am
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. ―
U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.), vice
chairman and chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,
respectively, along with U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S.
Representatives Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.), led 46
members of Congress Tuesday in introducing a bipartisan resolution
commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA), and recognizing its importance to promoting the stability and
security of Tribal communities and families.
ICWA
sets best-practice standards for child welfare and adoption proceedings
involving children who are members of a federally-recognized Tribe or
are eligible for membership in a federally-recognized Tribe.
It
was designed to respond to the disproportionately high number of Native
children who were unnecessarily removed from their families. When the
law was first enacted in 1978, one-third of all Native children in the
U.S. were placed in foster care or adoptive homes by child welfare
systems unfamiliar with tribal child rearing practices, resulting in
generations of displaced Native children. Over four decades, the law has
become the “gold standard” for child welfare policy and keeping Native
children connected to their communities and cultures.
“Native
American children, like all children, thrive when they are able to grow
up with the support of their families, communities, and cultures,”
Udall said. “Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978 to
ensure that best practices in child custody for Native communities are
in place, keeping families togetherand kids healthy and safe. Now, on
the 40th anniversary of its passage, I’m proud to have worked with my
colleagues in the House and Senate to mark the important impact that
this law has had on generations of Native kids.”
“The
Indian Child Welfare Act is an important piece of legislation that
respects the principles of government to government relationships with
Tribes and Tribal sovereignty,” Hoeven said.
“The
Indian Child Welfare Act or ICWA is landmark legislation enacted four
decades ago to end the abusive practice of ‘adopting out’ Native
children in need of aid,” Murkowski said. “Its premise is that Native
children who grow up with a connection to their heritage and culture
become strong adults and parents. The State of Alaska and Alaska’s 229
tribes have partnered to ensure that this important legislation fulfills
its promise to our Native children. It is important that we celebrate
this partnership during this 40th anniversary year for ICWA is as vital
today as it was on the day it was enacted by Congress.”
“Forty
years ago, when the Indian Child Welfare Act became law, Congress
declared national policy for Tribal children,” Bass said. “Through the
Indian Child Welfare Act, Congress recognizes tribes’ sovereign
authority to make decisions about children who are tribal members.
Eighteen national child welfare and child advocacy organizations —
including the Child Welfare League of American, the National Association
of Social Workers, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children
— are united in their view that the Indian Child Welfare Act is the
gold standard for child welfare policies and practices that should be
afforded to all children. This bipartisan resolution affirms the
principles embodied in the Indian Child Welfare Act, including the
importance of protecting the best interests of American Indian and
Alaska Native children, promoting the stability and security of Indian
Tribes and families, and respecting tribal sovereignty. Congress should
pass it.”
“At
the heart of the Indian Child Welfare Act is the recognition that
Tribal heritage is a profoundly special and valuable heritage to know
and pass on,” Cole said. “Forty years since this monumental legislation
was enacted, we affirm our obligation to serve the best interests of
Native children and ensure that their Tribal heritage is not lost.”
In
addition to Udall, Hoeven, Murkowski, Bass, and Cole, the Senate
resolution is sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Heidi
Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Angus King (I-Maine), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.),
Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Amy Klobuchar
(D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie
Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tim
Kaine (D-Va.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.),
Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Jon Tester
(D-Mont.), and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) while the House resolution is
sponsored by Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ruben Gallego
(D-Ariz.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Raúl M.
Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Judy Chu
(D-Calif.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal
(D-Wash.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.),
Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Norma Torres (D-Calif.), Tom Marino (R-Pa.),
Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alcee
Hastings (D-Fla.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Tom
O’Halleran (D-Ariz.).
The full text of the resolution can be found HERE.
From left, Drew Nicholas, producer of “Blood Memory,” speaks along the
side of Oglala Lakota tribe member Jerry Dearly, Sandy White Hawk,
founding director of First Nations Repatriation Institute, and fellow
“Blood Memory” producer Megan Whitmer, during a panel on the preview
screening in the Beus Center for Law and Society on Nov. 20, 2018.
(Jonmaesha Beltran/DD) BLOOD MEMORY MOVIE
excerpt:
Over the past several years, as part of a coalition of groups including for-profit adoption agencies, the right-wing Goldwater Institute has spearheaded attacks against ICWA in multiple states, including California, Arizona, Oklahoma and Minnesota. They finally made inroads last month: After a Texas couple sued for the right to adopt a Cherokee Nation toddler, a federal district court judge, Reed O’Connor, struck down portions of the ICWA, finding that the disputed sections violate the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee by mandating racial preferences. The case may wind up before the Supreme Court, where Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh is widely believed to be a deciding vote against it.
As the Indigenous peoples of this land, countless generations have built a base of wisdom about how to raise our children in community.
Last month, a federal district court made an egregious
ruling ignoring the government-to-government relationship between tribal
nations and the federal government. In Brackeen v. Zinke,
the U.S. District Court in Northern Texas ruled in favor of Texas,
Indiana and Louisiana and several foster and adoptive families,
declaring that the Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA) is a race-based law lacking a present-day articulation of its
need. The court found ICWA to be unconstitutional. In this context, it
is important to elevate the lingering effects of historical governmental
policies and practices on Native children and families — including the
removal of tribal nations from their traditional homelands to
reservations, relocation of Native peoples to major cities, and numerous
efforts to assimilate Native children.
Prior
to contact with European immigrants, tribal practices and beliefs about
raising a child allowed a natural system of child protection to
flourish. Traditional Indian spiritual beliefs reinforced that all
things had a spiritual nature that demanded respect, including children.
Not only were children respected, they were taught to respect others.
Extraordinary patience and tolerance marked the methods that were used
to teach Indian children self-discipline. At the heart of this natural
system were beliefs, traditions and customs involving extended family
with clear roles and responsibilities. Responsibilities shared by
extended family and community members made protection of children the
responsibility of all people in the community. Within the natural safety
net of traditional tribal settings and beliefs, child maltreatment was
rarely a problem.
As European migration to the United States increased,
traditional tribal practices in raising children were devalued or lost
as federal programs sought to systematically assimilate Native people.
Efforts to “civilize” the Native population were almost always focused
on children. It began as early as 1609, when the Virginia Company, in a
written document, authorized the kidnapping of Indian children for the
purpose of civilizing local Indian populations through the use of
Christianity. The “Civilization Fund Act” passed by Congress in 1819
authorized grants to private agencies, primarily churches, to establish
programs in tribal communities designed to “civilize the Indian.”
Removing and relocating Native people onto reservations
between 1830 and 1871 forced tribes to leave behind customs tied to
their traditional lands, adjust their economies, and change their ways
of life without the support promised by the federal government.
A class in penmanship at the Red Deer Indian Industrial School. Photo courtesy Victoria University Archives.
From the 1860s through the 1970s, the federal government
and private agencies established large boarding schools, far from
reservations, where Indian children were placed involuntarily. Agents of
the federal government had the authority to withhold food and clothing
from parents who resisted sending their children away. In boarding
schools, children were not able to use their Native languages or
traditional customs, were required to wear uniforms and cut their hair,
and were subjected to military discipline and standards.
As the federal government began to recognize how the
removal and reservation of tribal communities hurt Native people, it
instituted the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, moving thousands of
Natives to large cities. This program not only broke down family
systems, but also left families and individuals stranded away from their
communities and natural support systems in unfamiliar environments.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the child welfare system became
another avenue that state and federal governments used to force the
assimilation of Native children. During this era, 25 to 35 percent of
all Native children were separated from their families — and 90 percent
of children removed were placed in non-Native homes.
In 1978, the passage of ICWA acknowledged the inherent
sovereign right of tribal governments and the critical role they play in
protecting their member children and maintaining families.
In the face of centuries of unjust treatment of Native
families and communities by federal and state governments, tribal
governments have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of our
families and to raise our children within tribal communities. Advocates
in Indian Country are uniting because we know the adage “it takes a
village” is truer now that it ever has been — today, it takes a movement
to raise an Indian child.
Sarah Kastelic is executive director of the
National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) — the only national
American Indian organization focused specifically on tribal capacity to
prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect. Before coming to NICWA,
Kastelic served the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI),
including founding the NCAI Policy Research Center.
At
the Gathering for our Children and Returning Adoptees Powwow in 2015,
the American Indian community in Minneapolis welcomes home Native people
who were raised in foster care or adopted out. (Photo
courtesy of Red Lake Nation News.)
By Camille Erickson
Each year, the Minneapolis American Indian Center fills with
adoptees, formerly fostered individuals and families for the Gathering
For Our Children and Returning Adoptees Powwow. Now in its fifteenth
year, the powwow is held on Saturday, Nov. 3 2018 at the Minneapolis American
Indian Center (MAIC) to once again provide a vital space for community
healing and celebration.
“There are so many things that happen that day that are always
miracles,” said Jacque Wilson, coordinator of the Bois Forte Urban
Office and an organizer of the powwow.
The morning of the powwow, Sandra White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) gathers
with adoptees, formerly fostered individuals and birth relatives to
visit with one another and share their experiences. White Hawk has been
an organizer of the powwow since its beginning, and she remains an
intrepid advocate for First Nations people impacted by foster care or
adoption. Among her myriad roles, she serves as the director of First
Nations Repatriation Institute.
Too often, conversations about the trauma caused by family separation
and adoption remain buried under a veil of silence, explained White
Hawk. Some attendees have never had the opportunity to attend a powwow
or connect with the American Indian community. White Hawk works hard to
foster a ceremonious and welcoming environment. “We mostly want to give
them an opportunity to share in a way that they’ve probably never been
able to,” White Hawk said.
For over a decade, a group of Native adoptees and formerly fostered
individuals in Minneapolis have met each month to support one another.
Many of them come out every first Saturday in November to welcome those
returning to the circle. “Because of their healing as part of this
community, they are there to greet our new people who have never been
here before,” said White Hawk. Elders also share stories about the
painful history of removal and cultural erasure in American Indian
communities that ripped thousands of youth away from their families and
tribal identity.
The space also welcomes and receives birth mothers. White Hawk hopes
that the gathering can serve as a time for birth mothers to develop
compassion for themselves and shed layers of guilt or shame. “For our
mothers who lost [children] under all kinds of circumstances, our hope
is that we continue to encourage them to be a part of our circle,” said
White Hawk. “They gave us life and that was the most important thing.”
Following the morning gathering, the powwow begins in the auditorium.
Community members are invited and encouraged to attend. The entrance of
the color guard in the grand entry signals the celebration’s beginning.
Adoptees and formerly fostered relatives follow in their stead, making
their way back to the circle. In the eyes of White Hawk, the following
“Wablenica ceremony” is dedicated to “taking care of the hearts of our
relative who are making their way back to this circle and the hearts of
our relatives who lost us.”
The ceremony can be laden with emotion, particularly grief, at the
beginning, she said. But by the end, the adoptees and formerly fostered
individuals stand in the circle and the community comes forward to
welcome them. “Our hearts are just lifted,” she said. “Some people have
never heard the phrase, ‘welcome home,’ and it makes them feel the
acceptance and sense of belonging that is so needed for our people.”
For many, this is the day that healing begins.
Fifteen years of dedication from three Native women
Sandy White Hawk. (Photo courtesy of Red Lake Nation News.)
The powwow started in 2003 with a call for healing. And Jacque
Wilson, Sandra White Hawk and Tina Knafla are three women whose lives
have been touched both personally and professionally by the impacts of
American Indian adoption and foster care. Throughout their lives of
service, they each have seen and felt the intergenerational trauma
present in their communities. “There is so much pain around adoption and
the loss of children because of the Indian adoption era and the
boarding school era,” said Knafla, who in 2003, worked with Hennepin
County as an ICWA adoptions recruiter. “I really felt like we needed to
address that.”
In addition to the forcible placement of American Indian children
into abusive boarding schools beginning in the 1860s, the Child Welfare
League of America instituted the Indian Adoption Project from 1958 to
1967. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Children’s Bureau were
also complicit in this program. The government ripped American Indian
children away from their tribes and families and placed a vast majority
of them into non-Native foster or adoptive homes. According to a 1976
surveys commissioned by the Association on American Indian Affairs, 25
to 35 percent of American
Indian children were removed from their
families between 1941 and 1967.
After exhaustive calls for justice from Native communities, The
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was enacted in 1978 by Congress. It
requires the state to place American Indian children experiencing foster
care with family or relatives as often as possible. But only about half
of Native children in foster care in Minnesota find Native homes,
according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. And the trauma
from these twentieth century policies linger in the lives of adoptees
and their communities who still reckon with family separation.
After attending a National Indian Child Welfare Association
conference in Duluth in 2003, Knafla felt compelled to expand
opportunities for healing with the support of the county. She began
reaching out to community agencies and colleagues, including White Hawk
and Wilson, to uplift resources for Native communities processing the
impacts of family separation. The three women believed that a powwow
would provide a needed space for healing and celebration.
Organizers obtained the sponsorship of Hennepin County and the
Minnesota Department of Human Services, among other community agencies.
This support continues to keep the powwow strong and sustained. “That
collaboration is very unique between Hennepin County and the community,”
said Knafla. “We’re still here, 14 years strong.”
The year the powwow began, Wilson worked in the juvenile justice
courts representing state tribes in child welfare cases. She yearned to
see foster families participating in more culturally-relevant
activities. In her eyes, the powwow would provide an opportunity for
foster youth to establish a connection to their identity.
“The more the children know about who they are and where they come
from, the less traumatic it is for them,” explained Wilson. “It also
gives them a place to look for answers when they become older.”
Although her job has since changed, Wilson continues to support
people who she said have been away from their families or tribes for a
generation or more. The gathering would also be an opportunity to
connect families with foster care agencies to expand the availability of
culturally-involved, Native homes for youth still in foster care.
“This powwow is still important to me because that trauma has not
gone away on many levels,” she said. “It’s always important for
[returnees] to learn who they are, because in order to be a full human
being, it’s best that you know who you are, where you came from, or your
people.”
Adoptees from all over the country attend the powwow in Minneapolis.
“We’re trying to share what we’ve learned and get other tribes and
communities to recognize their returning adoptees and birth mothers in
whatever kind of ceremonies they want to do,” said Wilson.
Organizers of the powwow envision a time when reservations and Native
communities across the country create their own spaces that encourage
returning relatives to heal.
Official
Statement: Joint Statement on the Federal District Court of Northern
Texas denying to stay the court’s ruling on constitutionality of the
Indian Child Welfare Act
(Portland, OR, October 30, 2018)—The
National Indian Child Welfare Association, the National Congress of
American Indians, the Association on American Indian Affairs, and the
Native American Rights Fund are disappointed that the Federal District
Court of Northern Texas has denied a motion to stay their decision in Brackeen v. Zinke
pending appeal by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This will likely
cause great uncertainty and disruption for hundreds of vulnerable Indian
children and their families who are currently in state child welfare
systems within the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana, especially
as we enter the holiday season and the Fifth Circuit moves forward with
what may be months of proceedings. Indian children and families deserve
better, and we hope that the Fifth Circuit will move quickly to consider
a motion to stay this lower federal court decision.
# # # Read the full joint statement here.
