For the first time in U.S. child welfare history, a tribe will have control over the process for evaluating child abuse and neglect allegations, determining whether children need to be placed in foster care, and finding permanent homes for children –safely back with their parents, in the homes of caring relatives, or with adoptive families. Thanks to new federal rules, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) becomes the first Native American community permitted to operate its own guardianship assistance, foster care and adoption assistance program.
“The approval of this program marks an important milestone in furthering relationships between the federal government and Indian tribes in the operation of child welfare programs,” said George Sheldon, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “I congratulate the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe on its achievement and I look forward to seeing additional Tribes operate their own welfare programs in the future.”
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351) allows tribes to receive direct funding from the federal government under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. Prior to this law, states, not tribes, made decisions regarding foster care and permanent families for all Native American children.
The Title IV-E foster care program helps states and tribes provide:
• Safe and stable out-of-home care for children until they can be returned home safely or until they are placed permanently with relatives or adoptive families.
• Services for children and families to address the underlying causes and consequences of abuse and neglect.
• Support for children who are placed with relatives who become guardians or adoptive families.
Effective April 1, PGST will oversee a broad array of services and supports funded by HHS and typically run by states, including:
• Child Welfare
• Child Support
• Child Care
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
PGST will also run a pilot program with the state of Washington to determine eligibility for Medicaid and basic food benefits for tribal members in Kitsap County.
To mark this historic occasion, Acting Assistant Secretary George Sheldon and HHS officials will attend the tribe’s signing ceremony and celebration on March 29 in Port Gamble.
Originally known as the Nux Sklai Yem or Strong People, PGST are descendants of the Salish people. The Salish people are well established in the Puget Sound basin and surrounding areas. In the late 1930’s, the PGST reservation was created on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. Nearly 1,000 tribe members live there today.
For more information on the program, visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ebrochure2011/ACYF_CBPage4.htm.
To find out more about the tribe, visit http://www.pgst.nsn.us/.
Source http://transition.acf.hhs.gov/programs/region10/news/first-native-american-tribe-approved-to-operate-guardianship-foster-care
CPS corruption hurts and destroys families worldwide. Please use caution posting about CPS here or anyplace on the internet. For your protection, using your full, real name and precise location is not advised. CPS has eyes everywhere and CPS is notorious for taking what people say, twisting it, embellishing on it and then using it against them in CPS "investigations" and at court proceedings.
Showing posts with label native american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label native american. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Audit: Child-welfare checks uneven in Minnesota
Article by: JEREMY OLSON
Audit urges state to unify county and tribal standards in handling abuse and neglect allegations.
Minnesota's child welfare system needs stronger guidance to ensure that vulnerable children are treated consistently from one county to another, a legislative audit concluded Tuesday.
Testing county and tribal child-welfare agencies with 10 fictional cases of abuse and neglect, state auditors found wide variations in whether local officials deemed investigations necessary. It was a virtual 50-50 split, for example, on whether agencies would investigate a claim of a small child found wandering a block from home. And 64 percent said they wouldn't investigate as maltreatment a domestic abuse incident that occurred while a child was in another room.
Despite these so-called "gray area referrals," many of the state's child-welfare intake workers made reasonable and thoughtful deliberations, said Carrie Meyerhoff, the lead author of the report for the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.
Child welfare advocates sought the audit because of wide regional variations in screening decisions -- and because Minnesota is unique, nationally, for the low rate of child abuse complaints that it "screens in" -- or flags -- for investigation or intervention. In 2010, Minnesota screened in a third of abuse complaints for further action; nationally, the figure was two-thirds, according to a federal Child Maltreatment report. Minnesota had the nation's third-lowest screen-in rate.
The report encouraged the Legislature to clarify the legal definition of "risk of harm," and urged the Department of Human Services to increase its training for evaluating and screening child maltreatment allegations.
Counties, for example, varied in whether they accepted anonymous child-welfare complaints, the auditors found. Meyerhoff said some county officials thought that the statute might prohibit anonymous reports. Erin Sullivan Sutton, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Human Services, said the State Supreme Court has determined that anonymous reports are valid if they meet all other legal requirements.
The audit didn't address the question of teen neglect or abuse, but Rich Gehrman of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota said counties are inherently more protective of young children.
"Once you are above a certain age, at least some counties are not going to screen you in no matter what the circumstance," he said.
'Small boats'
Minnesota is one of 11 states that empower counties to manage and help finance child-welfare services. One lawmaker at the hearing questioned whether decisions on abuse allegations would be standardized by creating a single state-run system. Neither Gehrman or Sullivan Sutton endorsed such an approach. Sullivan Sutton said the 11 county-run states have enacted some of the nation's most promising child-welfare reforms.
"It's sometimes easier to move 84 small boats," she said, referring to the number of child-welfare agencies in Minnesota, "than one large ship."
The report did not address why the state screens out more child abuse claims than most other states. Meyerhoff said unreliable data made such a comparison too difficult.
At least one observer said he thinks Minnesota might be doing things right. For example, said Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, only 15 percent of the screened-in reports in Minnesota are turned away.
About 17 percent are substantiated, which means they become official child-welfare cases -- and kids can potentially be removed from their homes -- while another 65 percent receive alternative services to train parents and stabilize families.
"Minnesota caseworkers spend far less time spinning their wheels and more time actually providing help," Wexler said.
Source http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/139921823.html
Audit urges state to unify county and tribal standards in handling abuse and neglect allegations.
Minnesota's child welfare system needs stronger guidance to ensure that vulnerable children are treated consistently from one county to another, a legislative audit concluded Tuesday.
Testing county and tribal child-welfare agencies with 10 fictional cases of abuse and neglect, state auditors found wide variations in whether local officials deemed investigations necessary. It was a virtual 50-50 split, for example, on whether agencies would investigate a claim of a small child found wandering a block from home. And 64 percent said they wouldn't investigate as maltreatment a domestic abuse incident that occurred while a child was in another room.
Despite these so-called "gray area referrals," many of the state's child-welfare intake workers made reasonable and thoughtful deliberations, said Carrie Meyerhoff, the lead author of the report for the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.
Child welfare advocates sought the audit because of wide regional variations in screening decisions -- and because Minnesota is unique, nationally, for the low rate of child abuse complaints that it "screens in" -- or flags -- for investigation or intervention. In 2010, Minnesota screened in a third of abuse complaints for further action; nationally, the figure was two-thirds, according to a federal Child Maltreatment report. Minnesota had the nation's third-lowest screen-in rate.
The report encouraged the Legislature to clarify the legal definition of "risk of harm," and urged the Department of Human Services to increase its training for evaluating and screening child maltreatment allegations.
Counties, for example, varied in whether they accepted anonymous child-welfare complaints, the auditors found. Meyerhoff said some county officials thought that the statute might prohibit anonymous reports. Erin Sullivan Sutton, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Human Services, said the State Supreme Court has determined that anonymous reports are valid if they meet all other legal requirements.
The audit didn't address the question of teen neglect or abuse, but Rich Gehrman of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota said counties are inherently more protective of young children.
"Once you are above a certain age, at least some counties are not going to screen you in no matter what the circumstance," he said.
'Small boats'
Minnesota is one of 11 states that empower counties to manage and help finance child-welfare services. One lawmaker at the hearing questioned whether decisions on abuse allegations would be standardized by creating a single state-run system. Neither Gehrman or Sullivan Sutton endorsed such an approach. Sullivan Sutton said the 11 county-run states have enacted some of the nation's most promising child-welfare reforms.
"It's sometimes easier to move 84 small boats," she said, referring to the number of child-welfare agencies in Minnesota, "than one large ship."
The report did not address why the state screens out more child abuse claims than most other states. Meyerhoff said unreliable data made such a comparison too difficult.
At least one observer said he thinks Minnesota might be doing things right. For example, said Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, only 15 percent of the screened-in reports in Minnesota are turned away.
About 17 percent are substantiated, which means they become official child-welfare cases -- and kids can potentially be removed from their homes -- while another 65 percent receive alternative services to train parents and stabilize families.
"Minnesota caseworkers spend far less time spinning their wheels and more time actually providing help," Wexler said.
Source http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/139921823.html
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
SD DSS and ACLU Director Issues
Blogger Note:
It would be intresting to know who much of this story may have to do with the following story below. It would be quite surprising if there is absolutely no connection but it appears that something fishy is going on.
---
Indian Child Welfare Act Violations Prompts ACLU Investigation Into South Dakota Foster Care System
ACLU Seeks Input from American Indian Families With Children in DSS
SIOUX FALLS, SD - The appalling treatment of American Indian children, family, and tribes by the South Dakota Department of Social Services as described in recent NPR News reports has prompted the ACLU of South Dakota to investigate the actions as violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
The NPR News series, "Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families," explains how American Indian children represent more than half of all children in foster care, yet account for less than 15 percent of the state's total child population. The report also features interviews from tribal members who recall DSS officials driving onto the reservation, removing children from homes, and preventing contact with family.
The report describes several instances of ICWA violations, as well as blatant disregard of fundamental Constitutional norms and international human rights as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to Robert Doody Esq., Executive Director of the ACLU of South Dakota.
"The ACLU is firmly committed to addressing this most recent manifestation of racism and colonization in our state," Doody said. "It is shocking to see politicians and members of the government, who hold themselves out as "pro-family," react in utter contempt and callous disregard to the legitimate grievances of American Indians."
The ACLU of South Dakota wants to hear from American Indians who recently had children removed by DSS in order to ascertain the depth and breadth of the problem. Any American Indian with concerns regarding their experiences with or treatment by DSS should contact the ACLU at (605) 332-2508 or email southdakota@aclu.org.
###
Please direct media inquiries to Taté Walker, ACLU of South Dakota Communications Director: (605) 332-2508, (646) 421-9387 or twalker@aclu.org. For more information about the ACLU of South Dakota, visit www.aclusd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.aclusd.org/indian-child-welfare-act-violations-prompts-aclu-investigation-into-south-dakota-foster-care-system.html
It would be intresting to know who much of this story may have to do with the following story below. It would be quite surprising if there is absolutely no connection but it appears that something fishy is going on.
---
Indian Child Welfare Act Violations Prompts ACLU Investigation Into South Dakota Foster Care System
ACLU Seeks Input from American Indian Families With Children in DSS
SIOUX FALLS, SD - The appalling treatment of American Indian children, family, and tribes by the South Dakota Department of Social Services as described in recent NPR News reports has prompted the ACLU of South Dakota to investigate the actions as violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
The NPR News series, "Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families," explains how American Indian children represent more than half of all children in foster care, yet account for less than 15 percent of the state's total child population. The report also features interviews from tribal members who recall DSS officials driving onto the reservation, removing children from homes, and preventing contact with family.
The report describes several instances of ICWA violations, as well as blatant disregard of fundamental Constitutional norms and international human rights as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to Robert Doody Esq., Executive Director of the ACLU of South Dakota.
"The ACLU is firmly committed to addressing this most recent manifestation of racism and colonization in our state," Doody said. "It is shocking to see politicians and members of the government, who hold themselves out as "pro-family," react in utter contempt and callous disregard to the legitimate grievances of American Indians."
The ACLU of South Dakota wants to hear from American Indians who recently had children removed by DSS in order to ascertain the depth and breadth of the problem. Any American Indian with concerns regarding their experiences with or treatment by DSS should contact the ACLU at (605) 332-2508 or email southdakota@aclu.org.
###
Please direct media inquiries to Taté Walker, ACLU of South Dakota Communications Director: (605) 332-2508, (646) 421-9387 or twalker@aclu.org. For more information about the ACLU of South Dakota, visit www.aclusd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.aclusd.org/indian-child-welfare-act-violations-prompts-aclu-investigation-into-south-dakota-foster-care-system.html
Children removed from home of ACLU director after dispute - South Dakota
Written by John Hult
The stepchildren of the director of the South Dakota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union were placed in protective custody last week after a family dispute call at his address.
Robert Doody, 31, was asked to leave a closed child protection hearing Tuesday morning at the Minnehaha County Courthouse. A judge decided at the hearing to keep the children in protective custody during a Department of Social Services investigation.
The inquiry was sparked by a report of physical abuse given to the Department of Social Services by the biological father of two of the children. By law, Social Services can place children in protective custody for 10 days while it investigates claims against parents.
Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan confirmed Tuesday that he was aware of allegations, but said no charges have been filed against the mother or stepfather.
“We’ll have to wait for the investigating agency’s report,” McGowan said.
Doody said the removal of his Native American stepchildren, as well as his absence from the courtroom, constitute violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The welfare act bars the foster care placement of Native children under most circumstances and gives Native parents additional rights during custody hearings.
“This is a disgrace. It goes to show that the state does not give due process to Indians or non-Indians,” Doody said after the hearing. “It’s a sham.”
Doody and the children’s maternal grandmother initially walked into the hearing Tuesday morning but were asked to leave, he said.
Doody denied any wrongdoing.
The only family members inside the courtroom were the children’s biological parents: Doody’s wife, Kimberly St. John, and their father, David Knorr.
After the hearing, Knorr said the judge determined that the children would remain in protective custody while the Social Services investigation proceeds. Doody and his wife objected to a placement in Knorr’s home.
The report appears on the Sioux Falls Police Department’s daily call log as a “family dispute” Friday morning, although Knorr said the incident in question took place Wednesday.
Police spokesman Sam Clemens confirmed only that the call came in as a Department of Social Services referral.
Doody has been the director of South Dakota’s chapter of the civil rights organization since 2008.
The organization has offered support to Native Americans suing the Department of Corrections and displaced voters on Indian reservations.
A spokesperson for the national ACLU declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.
“Robert Doody is an ACLU employee and as this is a personal matter,” Marsha Zeesman said.
Doody’s lawyer, Debra Voight, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday night.
St. John is director of Mita Maske Ti Ki, a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Source http://www.argusleader.com/article/20120222/NEWS/302210043/Children-removed-from-home-of-ACLU-director-after-dispute?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
The stepchildren of the director of the South Dakota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union were placed in protective custody last week after a family dispute call at his address.
Robert Doody, 31, was asked to leave a closed child protection hearing Tuesday morning at the Minnehaha County Courthouse. A judge decided at the hearing to keep the children in protective custody during a Department of Social Services investigation.
The inquiry was sparked by a report of physical abuse given to the Department of Social Services by the biological father of two of the children. By law, Social Services can place children in protective custody for 10 days while it investigates claims against parents.
Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan confirmed Tuesday that he was aware of allegations, but said no charges have been filed against the mother or stepfather.
“We’ll have to wait for the investigating agency’s report,” McGowan said.
Doody said the removal of his Native American stepchildren, as well as his absence from the courtroom, constitute violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The welfare act bars the foster care placement of Native children under most circumstances and gives Native parents additional rights during custody hearings.
“This is a disgrace. It goes to show that the state does not give due process to Indians or non-Indians,” Doody said after the hearing. “It’s a sham.”
Doody and the children’s maternal grandmother initially walked into the hearing Tuesday morning but were asked to leave, he said.
Doody denied any wrongdoing.
The only family members inside the courtroom were the children’s biological parents: Doody’s wife, Kimberly St. John, and their father, David Knorr.
After the hearing, Knorr said the judge determined that the children would remain in protective custody while the Social Services investigation proceeds. Doody and his wife objected to a placement in Knorr’s home.
The report appears on the Sioux Falls Police Department’s daily call log as a “family dispute” Friday morning, although Knorr said the incident in question took place Wednesday.
Police spokesman Sam Clemens confirmed only that the call came in as a Department of Social Services referral.
Doody has been the director of South Dakota’s chapter of the civil rights organization since 2008.
The organization has offered support to Native Americans suing the Department of Corrections and displaced voters on Indian reservations.
A spokesperson for the national ACLU declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.
“Robert Doody is an ACLU employee and as this is a personal matter,” Marsha Zeesman said.
Doody’s lawyer, Debra Voight, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday night.
St. John is director of Mita Maske Ti Ki, a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Source http://www.argusleader.com/article/20120222/NEWS/302210043/Children-removed-from-home-of-ACLU-director-after-dispute?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Abuse, native foster care focus of Unity Rally - South Dakota
by David Montgomery
A small group of activists rallied Friday in Rapid City to protest sexual abuse of children and the state's foster care system.
The two-issue Unity Rally for the Children took place at 1 p.m. at Memorial Park. Addressing the issue of sexual abuse were Mayor Sam Kooiker and Robert Brancato, director of the Rapid City chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Tate Walker of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and Evelyn Red Lodge, a reporter for the Native Sun News, talked about problems they see with the state's foster care system.
Galvanizing Kooiker and Brancato was a 2010 law limiting the time frame within which people can bring lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse. Both men say that statute of limitations should be repealed.
"It is time that South Dakota joins our friends in Montana and other states that have repealed the civil and criminal statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse," Kooiker said. "It's very important that victims have the right to bring this up later in life, to not have an arbitrary barrier stand in their way."
Brancato, an abuse survivor himself, pledged to "do everything I can" to rescind what he called "such a horrible law."
After Kooiker and Brancato spoke on sexual abuse, Walker and Red Lodge tackled the foster care issue. An NPR investigative report published this fall alleged that South Dakota's Department of Social Services violated the federal Indian Child Welfare Act by placing Native American children in non-Native households.
Walker, of the ACLU, said her organization has been gathering stories of families who claim their children have been unjustly taken away by social workers.
"We are sad to say we've been very busy," Walker said. "Too many children and families have been affected and not in good ways."
State officials have disputed the accusations, saying they have placed as many Native American children as possible with Native families and only turn to non-Native foster parents and group homes as a last resort.
Walker said the ACLU is "investigating legal angles" to "bring justice to the families."
The rally was a one-shot event, Red Lodge said.
"This was just basically a group of concerned individuals who got together and said, ‘We've got to make a noise. We've got to get out there. We've got to let people know,'" she said.
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/abuse-native-foster-care-focus-of-unity-rally/article_c1048b36-2859-11e1-b1c0-001871e3ce6c.html
A small group of activists rallied Friday in Rapid City to protest sexual abuse of children and the state's foster care system.
The two-issue Unity Rally for the Children took place at 1 p.m. at Memorial Park. Addressing the issue of sexual abuse were Mayor Sam Kooiker and Robert Brancato, director of the Rapid City chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Tate Walker of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and Evelyn Red Lodge, a reporter for the Native Sun News, talked about problems they see with the state's foster care system.
Galvanizing Kooiker and Brancato was a 2010 law limiting the time frame within which people can bring lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse. Both men say that statute of limitations should be repealed.
"It is time that South Dakota joins our friends in Montana and other states that have repealed the civil and criminal statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse," Kooiker said. "It's very important that victims have the right to bring this up later in life, to not have an arbitrary barrier stand in their way."
Brancato, an abuse survivor himself, pledged to "do everything I can" to rescind what he called "such a horrible law."
After Kooiker and Brancato spoke on sexual abuse, Walker and Red Lodge tackled the foster care issue. An NPR investigative report published this fall alleged that South Dakota's Department of Social Services violated the federal Indian Child Welfare Act by placing Native American children in non-Native households.
Walker, of the ACLU, said her organization has been gathering stories of families who claim their children have been unjustly taken away by social workers.
"We are sad to say we've been very busy," Walker said. "Too many children and families have been affected and not in good ways."
State officials have disputed the accusations, saying they have placed as many Native American children as possible with Native families and only turn to non-Native foster parents and group homes as a last resort.
Walker said the ACLU is "investigating legal angles" to "bring justice to the families."
The rally was a one-shot event, Red Lodge said.
"This was just basically a group of concerned individuals who got together and said, ‘We've got to make a noise. We've got to get out there. We've got to let people know,'" she said.
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/abuse-native-foster-care-focus-of-unity-rally/article_c1048b36-2859-11e1-b1c0-001871e3ce6c.html
Friday, December 16, 2011
US officials plan South Dakota summit on Indian foster care
CHET BROKAW Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Federal officials are planning a summit in South Dakota in the wake of allegations that the state has violated federal law by removing too many American Indian children from their homes and placing them in foster care with non-Indian families.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department's Office of Indian Affairs, told The Associated Press that the agency has created a committee to plan the summit, the date of which has not yet been set.
"We hope it will open up a dialogue between tribes and federal and state agencies," Darling said.
The summit is in response to a National Public Radio series in October that said the state routinely broke the Indian Child Welfare Act and disrupted the lives of hundreds of Native American families each year. Federal law requires that Native American children removed from homes be placed with relatives or put in foster care with other Native American families except in unusual circumstances.
The three-part NPR report said 90 percent of the Native American children removed from their homes in South Dakota each year are sent to foster care in non-Indian homes or group homes. It reported that Native American children are placed in South Dakota's foster care system at a disproportionate rate because only 15 percent of the state's child population is Native American, but half of the children in foster care are Native American.
State officials have criticized the NPR report as inaccurate, unfair and biased.
Kim Malsam-Rysdon, secretary of the state Department of Social Services, said the Interior Department has not notified state officials about the planned summit, but that the state has nothing to hide.
"We are very confident that South Dakota is in compliance with federal law in this area, and we really do welcome the opportunity for the federal government and others to understand just how that federal law is being implemented in our state," Malsam-Rysdon said.
The summit suggestion surfaced in a letter to members of Congress who had called for an investigation. The meeting is meant to give state, federal and tribal officials a way to work together so that all involved agencies comply with the law and make sure American Indian children and their families are protected, wrote Larry Echo Hawk, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.
The Interior Department also is considering sending lawyers to South Dakota to help tribes enforce the Indian Child Welfare Act, Echo Hawk wrote.
Malsam-Rysdon, whose agency oversees South Dakota's child welfare system, said people need to understand that the system involves her department, tribes, courts, law-enforcement officers and others. Federal officials should not take any action based on the NPR report, but instead should get the facts about what is happening in South Dakota, she said.
"We're glad the Department of Interior is taking it seriously, that they're evidently interested into looking into and ensuring the federal law is being implemented," she said.
Malsam-Rysdon said it's true that a disproportionate number of Native American children are involved in the child welfare system. The state receives more referrals for alleged abuse and neglect involving Native American children, and that leads to more investigations and removals from homes for those children, she said.
"What really permeates our involvement with the child welfare system is safety of the child," Malsam-Rysdon said. "We're involved in homes where there are proven or foreseeable safety concerns regarding a child."
In a written response to the NPR series, the state has said it uses all available Native American foster placement homes.
The series said the state's motive for removing Native American children from their homes might be financial because the state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from his or her home. The report said the state gets almost $100 million a year to subsidize foster care programs, but state officials said the budget for the entire Division of Child Protection Services last year was only $59 million, and spending specifically on foster care and foster-care support was just $8 million.
The series also said there was a conflict of interest in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was lieutenant governor. That organization received millions of dollars for housing Native American children under contracts the state awarded without competitive bids.
The governor's office responded that Children's Home Society has had contracts with the state since 1978, long before Daugaard became its chief operating officer in 2002.
State officials also have said the Department of Social Services cannot remove children from homes and place them in protective custody. Only law officers and judges have the legal authority to do so, the state officials said.
Source http://m.siouxcityjournal.com/mobile/article_e1ed29d6-1b91-59ab-bfe6-26801493047a.html
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Federal officials are planning a summit in South Dakota in the wake of allegations that the state has violated federal law by removing too many American Indian children from their homes and placing them in foster care with non-Indian families.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department's Office of Indian Affairs, told The Associated Press that the agency has created a committee to plan the summit, the date of which has not yet been set.
"We hope it will open up a dialogue between tribes and federal and state agencies," Darling said.
The summit is in response to a National Public Radio series in October that said the state routinely broke the Indian Child Welfare Act and disrupted the lives of hundreds of Native American families each year. Federal law requires that Native American children removed from homes be placed with relatives or put in foster care with other Native American families except in unusual circumstances.
The three-part NPR report said 90 percent of the Native American children removed from their homes in South Dakota each year are sent to foster care in non-Indian homes or group homes. It reported that Native American children are placed in South Dakota's foster care system at a disproportionate rate because only 15 percent of the state's child population is Native American, but half of the children in foster care are Native American.
State officials have criticized the NPR report as inaccurate, unfair and biased.
Kim Malsam-Rysdon, secretary of the state Department of Social Services, said the Interior Department has not notified state officials about the planned summit, but that the state has nothing to hide.
"We are very confident that South Dakota is in compliance with federal law in this area, and we really do welcome the opportunity for the federal government and others to understand just how that federal law is being implemented in our state," Malsam-Rysdon said.
The summit suggestion surfaced in a letter to members of Congress who had called for an investigation. The meeting is meant to give state, federal and tribal officials a way to work together so that all involved agencies comply with the law and make sure American Indian children and their families are protected, wrote Larry Echo Hawk, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.
The Interior Department also is considering sending lawyers to South Dakota to help tribes enforce the Indian Child Welfare Act, Echo Hawk wrote.
Malsam-Rysdon, whose agency oversees South Dakota's child welfare system, said people need to understand that the system involves her department, tribes, courts, law-enforcement officers and others. Federal officials should not take any action based on the NPR report, but instead should get the facts about what is happening in South Dakota, she said.
"We're glad the Department of Interior is taking it seriously, that they're evidently interested into looking into and ensuring the federal law is being implemented," she said.
Malsam-Rysdon said it's true that a disproportionate number of Native American children are involved in the child welfare system. The state receives more referrals for alleged abuse and neglect involving Native American children, and that leads to more investigations and removals from homes for those children, she said.
"What really permeates our involvement with the child welfare system is safety of the child," Malsam-Rysdon said. "We're involved in homes where there are proven or foreseeable safety concerns regarding a child."
In a written response to the NPR series, the state has said it uses all available Native American foster placement homes.
The series said the state's motive for removing Native American children from their homes might be financial because the state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from his or her home. The report said the state gets almost $100 million a year to subsidize foster care programs, but state officials said the budget for the entire Division of Child Protection Services last year was only $59 million, and spending specifically on foster care and foster-care support was just $8 million.
The series also said there was a conflict of interest in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was lieutenant governor. That organization received millions of dollars for housing Native American children under contracts the state awarded without competitive bids.
The governor's office responded that Children's Home Society has had contracts with the state since 1978, long before Daugaard became its chief operating officer in 2002.
State officials also have said the Department of Social Services cannot remove children from homes and place them in protective custody. Only law officers and judges have the legal authority to do so, the state officials said.
Source http://m.siouxcityjournal.com/mobile/article_e1ed29d6-1b91-59ab-bfe6-26801493047a.html
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Number of American Indian children in foster care worries tribal leaders - Minnesota
by Sasha Aslanian
St. Paul, Minn. — Each year about 1,500 American Indian children in Minnesota spend time in foster care or other out-of-home-care, often after allegations of neglect or substance abuse by a parent.
In Minnesota, American Indian children are 14 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care than white children - the widest such gap in the nation. Officials place 66 percent of the children with relatives or with American Indian foster families.
Even as the total number of Minnesota children in foster care dropped 44 percent in the last decade, the number of American Indian children placed in foster care dropped by only 16 percent.
That worries tribal officials like Erma Vizenor, chairwoman of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She said the tribes should be able to determine which of their families need intervention, and what kind.
"When we do not have the decision making and the authority and the control to determine what is best for them, it has become a major concern," Vizenor said.
Aiming to reduce the break-up of Indian families, the White Earth and the Leech Lake band of Ojibwe have taken over responsibility for child welfare on tribal lands. Now the White Earth, Minnesota's largest tribe, is now preparing to care for its children living hundreds of miles away in Hennepin County.
High poverty among American Indian families makes it more difficult to meet a child's basic needs, but that doesn't completely explain why Indian children are much more likely to be removed from their parents' care.
The tribes have questioned whether racial bias is a factor in such decisions, and they've worked with state officials to develop training for county workers to reduce bias in deciding which cases to investigate. The training also seeks to help outsiders understand the traditional role extended families play in raising Indian children.
Dawn Blanchard, the state's ombudsperson for American Indian Families, said removing American Indian children from their homes is "a daily reality."
Blanchard sorts cases into those she can solve over the phone, and those that require an investigation. She reports wide variation in how well counties follow a federal law designed to keep Indian children with other family members, or to at least place them with an Indian foster family.
Blanchard said the most common complaints she handles are disagreements between county social workers and tribes over where children should go.
"The tribe will say we want them to go to Aunt Betty and the county will say, 'we have problems with Aunt Betty. We think that she's not a good person,' " Blanchard said. "Maybe she's too old. 'We've heard' — that's a big one 'we've heard that she's drinking.' Is it substantiated? Do we know for sure if she has a history of drinking or was it 10 or 15 years ago and she's cleaned up her life now?"
Representatives of Minnesota's 11 tribes were so concerned that the needs of their children were not adequately addressed that late last year they sent letters to then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Gov.-elect Mark Dayton requesting immediate action to address the problem.
White Earth tribal officials want to take on responsibility for the tribe's children in Hennepin County, hundreds of miles south of the reservation. White Earth children make up a quarter of Hennepin County's American Indian caseload, or about 2 percent of the county's overall cases.
Margaret Thunder, a program manager for Hennepin County child protection, is enthusiastic about the tribe's effort.
"I think it's a huge deal," said Thunder, a member of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe. "They will have 100-percent say. Not that they don't already have a fair percent."
Tribes do have a seat at the table in child protection cases.
The 1978 federal Indian Child Welfare Act requires tribes be notified and involved in decision-making for their children. Hennepin County, with its large urban Indian population, has a high volume of these cases. The county gets high marks for complying with the act, and that's one of the reasons White Earth officials believe addressing the needs of the tribe's children there is a next logical step.
Transferring such cases to the tribe would give it complete control over American Indian cases such as a recent one heard in juvenile court.
Four children, ages 4, 2, 1 and one month, were placed in emergency foster care following reports that their parents were abusing drugs and neglecting the children. The parents didn't show up for the court hearing. Their father is a member of the White Earth band and their mother is enrolled in the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin.
"Her current address is technically St. Joseph's hospital where the treatment center was," said Mike Hogan, a courtroom monitor for the Minneapolis American Indian Center. "No one's quite sure where she is, even her attorney."
A Ho-Chunk attorney who joined the hearing by speaker phone said the tribe would prepare a list of relatives who could care for the children. White Earth officials agreed to let the mother's tribe take the lead, but they agreed to compile a list of paternal relatives.
A guardian ad litem said the children were doing well under the care of their foster care families.
Hogan's boss, Sheri Riemers, said the embrace of extended families offers the most hopeful outcome for children in such tough situations.
"We do believe when children are removed that their spirit is left behind," said Riemers, program director of Indian Child Welfare for the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
Other tribes around the state and around the country are watching closely.
Erin Sullivan Sutton, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Human Services, said she is not aware of another state transferring public child welfare from a state or county to a tribal system. But there are good reasons to do so, said Sutton, the state's point person on child welfare.
"We're thinking that if services can be provided in a cultural context to Indian families and by tribal agencies that there may be more success," she said.
For state and tribal officials success won't mean eliminating out-of-home placements. There will always be children who need to be removed from unsafe situations, but they hope more tribal involvement will reduce the disparate treatment of American Indian children.
Vizenor said the Hennepin County program could be the beginning of an ambitious venture to expand care for children living off the reservation.
"Without a doubt, I know we will be successful and gradually, we will phase in the metro area and eventually all our children in the state of Minnesota," she said.
White Earth and the state will present a report to the legislature in January. The timeline for the Hennepin County transfer, and the costs, are still to be determined.
Source http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/11/30/american-indian-children-foster-care/
St. Paul, Minn. — Each year about 1,500 American Indian children in Minnesota spend time in foster care or other out-of-home-care, often after allegations of neglect or substance abuse by a parent.
In Minnesota, American Indian children are 14 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care than white children - the widest such gap in the nation. Officials place 66 percent of the children with relatives or with American Indian foster families.
Even as the total number of Minnesota children in foster care dropped 44 percent in the last decade, the number of American Indian children placed in foster care dropped by only 16 percent.
That worries tribal officials like Erma Vizenor, chairwoman of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She said the tribes should be able to determine which of their families need intervention, and what kind.
"When we do not have the decision making and the authority and the control to determine what is best for them, it has become a major concern," Vizenor said.
Aiming to reduce the break-up of Indian families, the White Earth and the Leech Lake band of Ojibwe have taken over responsibility for child welfare on tribal lands. Now the White Earth, Minnesota's largest tribe, is now preparing to care for its children living hundreds of miles away in Hennepin County.
High poverty among American Indian families makes it more difficult to meet a child's basic needs, but that doesn't completely explain why Indian children are much more likely to be removed from their parents' care.
The tribes have questioned whether racial bias is a factor in such decisions, and they've worked with state officials to develop training for county workers to reduce bias in deciding which cases to investigate. The training also seeks to help outsiders understand the traditional role extended families play in raising Indian children.
Dawn Blanchard, the state's ombudsperson for American Indian Families, said removing American Indian children from their homes is "a daily reality."
Blanchard sorts cases into those she can solve over the phone, and those that require an investigation. She reports wide variation in how well counties follow a federal law designed to keep Indian children with other family members, or to at least place them with an Indian foster family.
Blanchard said the most common complaints she handles are disagreements between county social workers and tribes over where children should go.
"The tribe will say we want them to go to Aunt Betty and the county will say, 'we have problems with Aunt Betty. We think that she's not a good person,' " Blanchard said. "Maybe she's too old. 'We've heard' — that's a big one 'we've heard that she's drinking.' Is it substantiated? Do we know for sure if she has a history of drinking or was it 10 or 15 years ago and she's cleaned up her life now?"
Representatives of Minnesota's 11 tribes were so concerned that the needs of their children were not adequately addressed that late last year they sent letters to then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Gov.-elect Mark Dayton requesting immediate action to address the problem.
White Earth tribal officials want to take on responsibility for the tribe's children in Hennepin County, hundreds of miles south of the reservation. White Earth children make up a quarter of Hennepin County's American Indian caseload, or about 2 percent of the county's overall cases.
Margaret Thunder, a program manager for Hennepin County child protection, is enthusiastic about the tribe's effort.
"I think it's a huge deal," said Thunder, a member of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe. "They will have 100-percent say. Not that they don't already have a fair percent."
Tribes do have a seat at the table in child protection cases.
The 1978 federal Indian Child Welfare Act requires tribes be notified and involved in decision-making for their children. Hennepin County, with its large urban Indian population, has a high volume of these cases. The county gets high marks for complying with the act, and that's one of the reasons White Earth officials believe addressing the needs of the tribe's children there is a next logical step.
Transferring such cases to the tribe would give it complete control over American Indian cases such as a recent one heard in juvenile court.
Four children, ages 4, 2, 1 and one month, were placed in emergency foster care following reports that their parents were abusing drugs and neglecting the children. The parents didn't show up for the court hearing. Their father is a member of the White Earth band and their mother is enrolled in the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin.
"Her current address is technically St. Joseph's hospital where the treatment center was," said Mike Hogan, a courtroom monitor for the Minneapolis American Indian Center. "No one's quite sure where she is, even her attorney."
A Ho-Chunk attorney who joined the hearing by speaker phone said the tribe would prepare a list of relatives who could care for the children. White Earth officials agreed to let the mother's tribe take the lead, but they agreed to compile a list of paternal relatives.
A guardian ad litem said the children were doing well under the care of their foster care families.
Hogan's boss, Sheri Riemers, said the embrace of extended families offers the most hopeful outcome for children in such tough situations.
"We do believe when children are removed that their spirit is left behind," said Riemers, program director of Indian Child Welfare for the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
Other tribes around the state and around the country are watching closely.
Erin Sullivan Sutton, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Human Services, said she is not aware of another state transferring public child welfare from a state or county to a tribal system. But there are good reasons to do so, said Sutton, the state's point person on child welfare.
"We're thinking that if services can be provided in a cultural context to Indian families and by tribal agencies that there may be more success," she said.
For state and tribal officials success won't mean eliminating out-of-home placements. There will always be children who need to be removed from unsafe situations, but they hope more tribal involvement will reduce the disparate treatment of American Indian children.
Vizenor said the Hennepin County program could be the beginning of an ambitious venture to expand care for children living off the reservation.
"Without a doubt, I know we will be successful and gradually, we will phase in the metro area and eventually all our children in the state of Minnesota," she said.
White Earth and the state will present a report to the legislature in January. The timeline for the Hennepin County transfer, and the costs, are still to be determined.
Source http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/11/30/american-indian-children-foster-care/
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Pre-Thanksgiving March Will Memorialize Iowa’s Lost Children
By Stephanie Woodard
In the days before Thanksgiving, mourners and protesters will participate in the Ninth Annual Memorial March to Honor Our Lost Children. The pilgrimage takes walkers from South Sioux City, Nebraska, over the Missouri river and into Sioux City, Iowa, where Native children have for years been swept up by the child-welfare system and even died in its custody. The route evokes the passage of Nebraska tribes, including Poncas, Omahas, Santees and Winnebagos, who came to the city looking for jobs after World War II, as did Sioux people from South Dakota and others.
“They were seeking a better life,” said Frank LaMere, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and executive director of Four Directions Community Center, in Sioux City, which is organizing the march. “But it didn’t work out that way.” The consequences have been devastating for the Native children of Sioux City, surrounding Woodbury County and Iowa as a whole, according to LaMere, who is a national leader in child-welfare and juvenile-justice issues. “If you’re a Native parent in this county, you’re many times more likely to lose your kids than a white parent. In recent years, three of our Native children—Hannah Thomas, Nathaniel Saunsoci-Mitchell and Larissa Starr-Red Owl—have died after being taken from their families. We march to remember them and all the children who have been separated from their families and communities.”
The march has changed lives. Several years ago, an Internet image of the march inspired a Native boy to stand his ground. “The child had acquiesced to adoption into a white home after years of being told, ‘your people have forgotten about you, your people are drunks and no-goods,’” said LaMere, who was present at a final adjudication in the case. Then one day, the boy was clicking around the web and saw a photograph of the march. “He was shocked. He told the court he’d been lied to. He said he saw hundreds of people looking for their lost children. ‘They were marching for me,’ the boy said. ‘They were looking for me.’ He balked at the adoption and was returned to his tribe.”
On another occasion, an adoptive family watching a television segment on the march happened to see a Native mother who’d lost her parental rights years before carrying a baby picture they recognized. “All excited, the adoptive mother called me and arranged to bring the child to be reunited with the birth mother,” recalled LaMere.
Events surrounding this year’s march—which is also supported by other local groups, including the Community Initiative for Native Children and Families, a coalition of government agencies and nonprofits—begin November 22 with a prayer gathering at 7 p.m. at the Marina Inn, in South Sioux City. The next morning, November 23, at 9 a.m., the marchers progress, rain or shine, into Sioux City, where they stop at the Woodbury County Courthouse and the Department of Human Services. In both places, strangers decide the fate of Native people, according to LaMere.
The reception at each building is expected to be different than it was nine years ago, when a sheriff tried to stop marchers from entering the courthouse, said LaMere. This year, the group will be welcomed and will have an opportunity to read a letter calling for a national investigation into non-compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act. “There are no grey areas in ICWA,” said LaMere. “But racist judges, attorneys, guardians ad litem and more are feeding the system, making money off our kids with their decisions.”
Two special guests during the event will include Cade and Jace Courtright, 14-year-old Rosebud Sioux twins who’ve just been reunited with their mother with the help of LaMere and Four Directions program director, Judy Yellowbank, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Cade relies on a wheelchair, and Jace is blind, so LaMere suggested the twins meet the march at the Four Directions Community Center dinner that closes the event. However, the boys insisted on making the journey with the other marchers. “We’ll do whatever is necessary to make that happen,” said LaMere. “An elder once told us that the prayers of children are very powerful, more powerful than those of adults. Those boys’ presence during this time is a gift to us.”
Things are changing in Woodbury County, he added. “When it comes to Native child-welfare decisions, we have a place at the table now, along with the Department of Human Services. They even support our parenting and leadership programs. We can hold their feet to the fire on the issues, and no matter how heated the meetings get, we come away from them knowing we are going to move forward together, as collaborators. We in the Woodbury County Native community are winning the battle to keep our families together, one family, one child at a time.”
Recently, LaMere sat in on a meeting concerning an Omaha child. The judge announced that the tribe had intervened, and the child was going home. “Everyone’s jaws dropped, including mine. Hopefully, the good we see growing here will spread, and more of our children nationwide will be going—and staying—home.”
Source http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/11/20/pre-thanksgiving-march-will-memorialize-iowa%E2%80%99s-lost-children-63914
In the days before Thanksgiving, mourners and protesters will participate in the Ninth Annual Memorial March to Honor Our Lost Children. The pilgrimage takes walkers from South Sioux City, Nebraska, over the Missouri river and into Sioux City, Iowa, where Native children have for years been swept up by the child-welfare system and even died in its custody. The route evokes the passage of Nebraska tribes, including Poncas, Omahas, Santees and Winnebagos, who came to the city looking for jobs after World War II, as did Sioux people from South Dakota and others.
“They were seeking a better life,” said Frank LaMere, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and executive director of Four Directions Community Center, in Sioux City, which is organizing the march. “But it didn’t work out that way.” The consequences have been devastating for the Native children of Sioux City, surrounding Woodbury County and Iowa as a whole, according to LaMere, who is a national leader in child-welfare and juvenile-justice issues. “If you’re a Native parent in this county, you’re many times more likely to lose your kids than a white parent. In recent years, three of our Native children—Hannah Thomas, Nathaniel Saunsoci-Mitchell and Larissa Starr-Red Owl—have died after being taken from their families. We march to remember them and all the children who have been separated from their families and communities.”
The march has changed lives. Several years ago, an Internet image of the march inspired a Native boy to stand his ground. “The child had acquiesced to adoption into a white home after years of being told, ‘your people have forgotten about you, your people are drunks and no-goods,’” said LaMere, who was present at a final adjudication in the case. Then one day, the boy was clicking around the web and saw a photograph of the march. “He was shocked. He told the court he’d been lied to. He said he saw hundreds of people looking for their lost children. ‘They were marching for me,’ the boy said. ‘They were looking for me.’ He balked at the adoption and was returned to his tribe.”
On another occasion, an adoptive family watching a television segment on the march happened to see a Native mother who’d lost her parental rights years before carrying a baby picture they recognized. “All excited, the adoptive mother called me and arranged to bring the child to be reunited with the birth mother,” recalled LaMere.
Events surrounding this year’s march—which is also supported by other local groups, including the Community Initiative for Native Children and Families, a coalition of government agencies and nonprofits—begin November 22 with a prayer gathering at 7 p.m. at the Marina Inn, in South Sioux City. The next morning, November 23, at 9 a.m., the marchers progress, rain or shine, into Sioux City, where they stop at the Woodbury County Courthouse and the Department of Human Services. In both places, strangers decide the fate of Native people, according to LaMere.
The reception at each building is expected to be different than it was nine years ago, when a sheriff tried to stop marchers from entering the courthouse, said LaMere. This year, the group will be welcomed and will have an opportunity to read a letter calling for a national investigation into non-compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act. “There are no grey areas in ICWA,” said LaMere. “But racist judges, attorneys, guardians ad litem and more are feeding the system, making money off our kids with their decisions.”
Two special guests during the event will include Cade and Jace Courtright, 14-year-old Rosebud Sioux twins who’ve just been reunited with their mother with the help of LaMere and Four Directions program director, Judy Yellowbank, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Cade relies on a wheelchair, and Jace is blind, so LaMere suggested the twins meet the march at the Four Directions Community Center dinner that closes the event. However, the boys insisted on making the journey with the other marchers. “We’ll do whatever is necessary to make that happen,” said LaMere. “An elder once told us that the prayers of children are very powerful, more powerful than those of adults. Those boys’ presence during this time is a gift to us.”
Things are changing in Woodbury County, he added. “When it comes to Native child-welfare decisions, we have a place at the table now, along with the Department of Human Services. They even support our parenting and leadership programs. We can hold their feet to the fire on the issues, and no matter how heated the meetings get, we come away from them knowing we are going to move forward together, as collaborators. We in the Woodbury County Native community are winning the battle to keep our families together, one family, one child at a time.”
Recently, LaMere sat in on a meeting concerning an Omaha child. The judge announced that the tribe had intervened, and the child was going home. “Everyone’s jaws dropped, including mine. Hopefully, the good we see growing here will spread, and more of our children nationwide will be going—and staying—home.”
Source http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/11/20/pre-thanksgiving-march-will-memorialize-iowa%E2%80%99s-lost-children-63914
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
ACLU to probe if SD breaks child-protection laws
Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union is investigating whether the South Dakota Department of Social Services violated federal law by removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in foster care instead of with relatives.
Tate Walker, an ACLU spokeswoman in Sioux Falls, said the civil rights organization has fielded individual complaints for years from families who said the state violated the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The law directs officials to place Native American children removed from homes with their relatives or tribes except in unusual situations.
But the cases had been too scattered and disparate to tackle, Walker said, until a recent National Public Radio series accused the state of routinely breaking the law and disrupting the lives of hundreds of Native Americans each year.
"That aired and then boom: We're getting calls left and right," Walker told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The outcry was phenomenal, not only from people demanding that something be done, but also from several potential plaintiffs."
The ACLU investigation could lead to a potential lawsuit that would unite complainants as plaintiffs against the state.
The three-part NPR report described Native American children as being placed in South Dakota's foster care system at a disproportionate rate: More than half of all children in foster care are Native American, despite them accounting for just 15 percent of the state's child population.
The series suggested that the motive might be money, since the state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from his or her home. It also suggested a conflict of interest in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was a lieutenant governor. That organization received millions of dollars for housing Native American children under contracts the state awarded without competitive bid.
The governor's office criticized the report and went on the defensive even before the series began airing last week, releasing a memo titled "Setting the Record Straight" that accused NPR's reporter of being unfair and biased. According to the memo, Children's Home Society has had contracts with the state since 1978, long before Daugaard became its chief operating officer in 2002.
While Walker commended the NPR report, she said the ACLU isn't out to attack the governor.
"It's not about the governor. It's about these kids," she said. "They deserve someone to check into this."
At the center of the conflict, she said, is a merging of state, federal and tribal jurisdiction that is difficult to navigate. The ACLU hopes the spotlight on the issue will prompt new legislation to make it easier for child-protective services workers to do their jobs.
On its website, NPR describes the three-part series as the culmination of a yearlong investigation.
"Some children are removed from their homes for legitimate reasons," the series' introduction reads. "But in South Dakota very few are taken because they've been physically or sexually abused. Most are taken under a far more subjective set of circumstances."
After the series began airing, two members of Congress _ U.S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Dan Boren, D-Okla. _ sent a letter to the Interior Department of Indian Affairs calling for an investigation.
"If the information on the NPR article is accurate, it would appear that the state of South Dakota has failed not only to abide by the mandates of federal law but also failed its Indian children, their families and their tribes by violating the letter and spirit" of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the congressmen wrote to Larry Echo Hawk, Indian Affairs' assistant secretary.
The federal law was passed in 1978 to help ensure that Native American children weren't separated from their families and tribes through involuntary removal.
Gubernatorial aide Tony Venhuizen told the Rapid City Journal it was unfortunate that two members of Congress representing other states didn't contact South Dakota officials before seeking an investigation into allegations about the state.
"These congressmen based their letter on an NPR report that was deeply flawed," he said. "It's really too bad that they took this step without even asking the Department of Social Services or anyone in South Dakota for the facts."
Walker, the ACLU spokeswoman, said the NPR piece highlighted an important and overlooked issue affecting Native American families.
"I have much respect for the (Department of Social Services) workers. I have to imagine that meeting all of the requirements they have to meet can get tricky," she said. "I think that some statutory legislative could potentially ease some of the burden."
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/aclu-to-probe-if-sd-breaks-child-protection-laws/article_2210024d-e8c1-5de7-a2d5-b2bcaacebf39.html
The American Civil Liberties Union is investigating whether the South Dakota Department of Social Services violated federal law by removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in foster care instead of with relatives.
Tate Walker, an ACLU spokeswoman in Sioux Falls, said the civil rights organization has fielded individual complaints for years from families who said the state violated the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The law directs officials to place Native American children removed from homes with their relatives or tribes except in unusual situations.
But the cases had been too scattered and disparate to tackle, Walker said, until a recent National Public Radio series accused the state of routinely breaking the law and disrupting the lives of hundreds of Native Americans each year.
"That aired and then boom: We're getting calls left and right," Walker told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The outcry was phenomenal, not only from people demanding that something be done, but also from several potential plaintiffs."
The ACLU investigation could lead to a potential lawsuit that would unite complainants as plaintiffs against the state.
The three-part NPR report described Native American children as being placed in South Dakota's foster care system at a disproportionate rate: More than half of all children in foster care are Native American, despite them accounting for just 15 percent of the state's child population.
The series suggested that the motive might be money, since the state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from his or her home. It also suggested a conflict of interest in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was a lieutenant governor. That organization received millions of dollars for housing Native American children under contracts the state awarded without competitive bid.
The governor's office criticized the report and went on the defensive even before the series began airing last week, releasing a memo titled "Setting the Record Straight" that accused NPR's reporter of being unfair and biased. According to the memo, Children's Home Society has had contracts with the state since 1978, long before Daugaard became its chief operating officer in 2002.
While Walker commended the NPR report, she said the ACLU isn't out to attack the governor.
"It's not about the governor. It's about these kids," she said. "They deserve someone to check into this."
At the center of the conflict, she said, is a merging of state, federal and tribal jurisdiction that is difficult to navigate. The ACLU hopes the spotlight on the issue will prompt new legislation to make it easier for child-protective services workers to do their jobs.
On its website, NPR describes the three-part series as the culmination of a yearlong investigation.
"Some children are removed from their homes for legitimate reasons," the series' introduction reads. "But in South Dakota very few are taken because they've been physically or sexually abused. Most are taken under a far more subjective set of circumstances."
After the series began airing, two members of Congress _ U.S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Dan Boren, D-Okla. _ sent a letter to the Interior Department of Indian Affairs calling for an investigation.
"If the information on the NPR article is accurate, it would appear that the state of South Dakota has failed not only to abide by the mandates of federal law but also failed its Indian children, their families and their tribes by violating the letter and spirit" of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the congressmen wrote to Larry Echo Hawk, Indian Affairs' assistant secretary.
The federal law was passed in 1978 to help ensure that Native American children weren't separated from their families and tribes through involuntary removal.
Gubernatorial aide Tony Venhuizen told the Rapid City Journal it was unfortunate that two members of Congress representing other states didn't contact South Dakota officials before seeking an investigation into allegations about the state.
"These congressmen based their letter on an NPR report that was deeply flawed," he said. "It's really too bad that they took this step without even asking the Department of Social Services or anyone in South Dakota for the facts."
Walker, the ACLU spokeswoman, said the NPR piece highlighted an important and overlooked issue affecting Native American families.
"I have much respect for the (Department of Social Services) workers. I have to imagine that meeting all of the requirements they have to meet can get tricky," she said. "I think that some statutory legislative could potentially ease some of the burden."
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/aclu-to-probe-if-sd-breaks-child-protection-laws/article_2210024d-e8c1-5de7-a2d5-b2bcaacebf39.html
Governor's office calls NPR foster care report flawed; congressmen seek review
Kevin Woster
Staffers for Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Monday attacked a National Public Radio report critical of state child-protection programs that remove Native American children from their homes for foster-care placement, saying NPR was biased and inaccurate in its reporting.
But two members of the U.S. House of Representatives thought the NPR report was valid enough to call for an investigation into whether those South Dakota child protection policies and practices with Native American families violate federal law.
U. S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Dan Boren, D-Okla., sent a letter to Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary of the Interior Department for Indian Affairs, calling for the investigation. They allege, as the NPR report implies, that South Dakota violates the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that directs officials to place Native American children removed from homes with their relatives or tribes, except in unusual situations.
That is not being done in South Dakota, according to the NPR investigation.
"If the information on the NPR article is accurate, it would appear that the state of South Dakota has failed not only to abide by the mandates of federal law but also failed its Indian children, their families and their tribes by violating the letter and spirit of ICWA," Markey and Boren said in the letter.
They added that Native American children were being placed in non-Indian homes or group care at "alarming rates," for what "appears to be for profit."
The state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from the home.
The NPR investigative report also alleges conflicts of interest in Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was lieutenant governor. Children's Home Society received millions of dollars for housing Native children under contracts with the state awarded without competitive bid, a practice that has been used and criticized in other professional service areas.
Daugaard staffers have said the governor did not use political connections to get the contracts, which they say Children's Home Society was highly qualified to receive.
Daugaard's staff issued statements critical of the NPR report even before it was aired. The staffers followed up Monday with seven pages of detailed rebuttals to the NPR report and allegations of inaccuracies and bias.
Daugaard senior aide Tony Venhuizen said Monday that it was unfortunate that two members of Congress representing other states didn't contact South Dakota officials before seeking an investigation into allegations about the state.
"These congressmen based their letter on an NPR report that was deeply flawed," Venhuizen said. "It's really too bad that they took this step without even asking the Department of Social Services or anyone in South Dakota for the facts."
None of South Dakota's three congressional members would comment Monday on the NPR report or on the call for an investigation by Markey and Boren. Staffers for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., said they needed to learn more before responding.
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/governor-s-office-calls-npr-foster-care-report-flawed-congressmen/article_86743c68-0433-11e1-96d8-001cc4c002e0.html
Staffers for Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Monday attacked a National Public Radio report critical of state child-protection programs that remove Native American children from their homes for foster-care placement, saying NPR was biased and inaccurate in its reporting.
But two members of the U.S. House of Representatives thought the NPR report was valid enough to call for an investigation into whether those South Dakota child protection policies and practices with Native American families violate federal law.
U. S. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Dan Boren, D-Okla., sent a letter to Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary of the Interior Department for Indian Affairs, calling for the investigation. They allege, as the NPR report implies, that South Dakota violates the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that directs officials to place Native American children removed from homes with their relatives or tribes, except in unusual situations.
That is not being done in South Dakota, according to the NPR investigation.
"If the information on the NPR article is accurate, it would appear that the state of South Dakota has failed not only to abide by the mandates of federal law but also failed its Indian children, their families and their tribes by violating the letter and spirit of ICWA," Markey and Boren said in the letter.
They added that Native American children were being placed in non-Indian homes or group care at "alarming rates," for what "appears to be for profit."
The state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from the home.
The NPR investigative report also alleges conflicts of interest in Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was lieutenant governor. Children's Home Society received millions of dollars for housing Native children under contracts with the state awarded without competitive bid, a practice that has been used and criticized in other professional service areas.
Daugaard staffers have said the governor did not use political connections to get the contracts, which they say Children's Home Society was highly qualified to receive.
Daugaard's staff issued statements critical of the NPR report even before it was aired. The staffers followed up Monday with seven pages of detailed rebuttals to the NPR report and allegations of inaccuracies and bias.
Daugaard senior aide Tony Venhuizen said Monday that it was unfortunate that two members of Congress representing other states didn't contact South Dakota officials before seeking an investigation into allegations about the state.
"These congressmen based their letter on an NPR report that was deeply flawed," Venhuizen said. "It's really too bad that they took this step without even asking the Department of Social Services or anyone in South Dakota for the facts."
None of South Dakota's three congressional members would comment Monday on the NPR report or on the call for an investigation by Markey and Boren. Staffers for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., said they needed to learn more before responding.
Source http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/governor-s-office-calls-npr-foster-care-report-flawed-congressmen/article_86743c68-0433-11e1-96d8-001cc4c002e0.html
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Treatment of Native Americans Explored in Documentary
This documentary, by Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman, about the treatment of Native American people by the United States government was screened at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. The film touches on a number of issues including boarding schools, suicide rates, unemployment, and alcoholism.
It mentions a suicide pact made by 10 young boys on the Cheyenne River Reservation. The boys drew numbers and one by one hung themselves. This incident didn’t make the national news. The film asks: “Imagine if they had been white.”
The director statement from the film festival website explains their goals in creating this film:
In making The Canary Effect, our first and foremost goal was to make an accessible statement that was easily digestable for a subject that is complex and often misunderstood. It was also important for us to provide an insight into a world not often visited without the issues being clouded by mysticism and romance. Instead, we chose to tell the story of the struggles of the indigenous people of America in a way that very much relates to the present day in style and content. We wanted to achieve an unforced opinion and to present the information in a way that would inspire debate and allow the viewers to draw their own conclusions. There are so many levels to this story, but above all it was important for us to make it human and to show that, at whatever level you are involved-be it political, scholarly, or living among it everyday-the situation is equally frustrating, infuriating, and heartbreaking.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
SD - State Dicks Over Hundreds Of Native American Children
Imagine having social workers show up to your home to take your twin babies because someone spread an unsubstantiated rumor that you were abusing prescription drugs. Two months later, your two young daughters don't come home on the bus, and later you learn they were taken from school and put in foster care. Yeah, this happened.
That's what Erin Yellow Robe claims happened to her several years ago, and a major investigation by NPR has revealed that there are many more Native Americans who say their children are being illegally taken from them. The situation is particularly troubling in South Dakota, where 700 Native American children are removed from their homes per year. Both the state's reasons for taking the children, and the way they place them with foster families, are questionable.......
However, many believe that money is the real motivation. States receive thousands in federal funding for every child removed from their home, and they get even more for Native American children. A former governor admitted that since the state is poor, federal money for social services is "incredibly important."
Read the rest of the article here:
http://jezebel.com/5853412/state-dicks-over-hundreds-of-native-american-children
That's what Erin Yellow Robe claims happened to her several years ago, and a major investigation by NPR has revealed that there are many more Native Americans who say their children are being illegally taken from them. The situation is particularly troubling in South Dakota, where 700 Native American children are removed from their homes per year. Both the state's reasons for taking the children, and the way they place them with foster families, are questionable.......
However, many believe that money is the real motivation. States receive thousands in federal funding for every child removed from their home, and they get even more for Native American children. A former governor admitted that since the state is poor, federal money for social services is "incredibly important."
Read the rest of the article here:
http://jezebel.com/5853412/state-dicks-over-hundreds-of-native-american-children
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A Fight For Her Grandchildren Mirrors A Native Past
Suzanne Crow, 58, has made and received a lot of bad telephone calls in her life, including the time she told her family that her 3-year-old son had died in a hospital because there wasn't a doctor on duty to care for him. Life in South Dakota as a displaced member of the Lakota and Dakota Sioux tribes can be tougher than most.
But the phone call she received on a sunny May day in 2007, Crow says, is still one of the worst. A distant relative had just driven by her home in Sioux Falls, and Crow says what she heard instantly connected her past to her present, bringing the next several years of her life to a near stop.
"The cops are at Lena's house," Crow said the relative told her. "I think they're taking your grandchildren."
Read the rest of this story here:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141650809/a-fight-for-her-grandchildren-mirrors-a-native-past
But the phone call she received on a sunny May day in 2007, Crow says, is still one of the worst. A distant relative had just driven by her home in Sioux Falls, and Crow says what she heard instantly connected her past to her present, bringing the next several years of her life to a near stop.
"The cops are at Lena's house," Crow said the relative told her. "I think they're taking your grandchildren."
Read the rest of this story here:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141650809/a-fight-for-her-grandchildren-mirrors-a-native-past
Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families
This is a must read and listen to report!
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141672992/native-foster-care-lost-children-shattered-families
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141672992/native-foster-care-lost-children-shattered-families
Report: S.D. skirts law protecting Native American children
By Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY
Thirty-two states are failing to abide by the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law passed by Congress in 1978 to stop thousands of Native American children from being forcibly removed from their families and being sent to boarding schools, where they were abused, or into other abusive conditions, a National Public Radio investigation has found.
The problem is most pronounced in South Dakota, NPR reports.
"Cousins are disappearing, family members are disappearing," Peter Lengkeek, a Crow Creek Tribal Council member, tells NPR. "It's kidnapping. That's how we see it."
About 700 Native American children in South Dakota are removed from their homes, some of them under questionable circumstances, NPR finds. The majority of those placed in foster care are sent to non-native homes or group homes, although the Child Welfare Act requires that Native American children must be placed with their relatives or tribes, except in rare circumstances.
South Dakota state officials say they have to do what's in the best interest of the child.
"We come from a stance of safety," Virgena Wieseler of South Dakota's Department of Social Services tells NPR. "That's our overarching goal with all children. If they can be returned to their parent or returned to a relative and be safe and that safety can be managed, then that's our goal."
Critics say the situation appears to be financially lucrative for foster care providers, one of whom has ties with state officials, NPR reports.
Source http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/report-south-dakota-skirts-law-protecting-native-american-children/1
Thirty-two states are failing to abide by the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law passed by Congress in 1978 to stop thousands of Native American children from being forcibly removed from their families and being sent to boarding schools, where they were abused, or into other abusive conditions, a National Public Radio investigation has found.
The problem is most pronounced in South Dakota, NPR reports.
"Cousins are disappearing, family members are disappearing," Peter Lengkeek, a Crow Creek Tribal Council member, tells NPR. "It's kidnapping. That's how we see it."
About 700 Native American children in South Dakota are removed from their homes, some of them under questionable circumstances, NPR finds. The majority of those placed in foster care are sent to non-native homes or group homes, although the Child Welfare Act requires that Native American children must be placed with their relatives or tribes, except in rare circumstances.
South Dakota state officials say they have to do what's in the best interest of the child.
"We come from a stance of safety," Virgena Wieseler of South Dakota's Department of Social Services tells NPR. "That's our overarching goal with all children. If they can be returned to their parent or returned to a relative and be safe and that safety can be managed, then that's our goal."
Critics say the situation appears to be financially lucrative for foster care providers, one of whom has ties with state officials, NPR reports.
Source http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/report-south-dakota-skirts-law-protecting-native-american-children/1
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Paper Orphans - From Voices Of Women
The Adoption and Safe Families Act, (ASFA), was passed in 1997 by the US Congress. The purpose of this Bill was to protect children from lingering in foster care. In some cases children were literally being lost in foster care in some of America’s larger cities. The idea was to find permanent placement for children within a designated time frame. Attached to this movement of children would be financial incentives and bonuses to states for compliance with mandates. Thus, the Child Abuse Industry in America was now, subsidized by the Federal Government.
One would hope that ASFA would make our children safer, at lower risk for neglect, abuse, and lower numbers of children in foster care. This has not been the case! In my opinion the goals of ASFA have grossly failed! ASFA demands that the child welfare agency be responsible for ensuring the safety of children in out-of-home care. Yet, nationwide hundreds of children have died while in the care of “professional parents”.
The actual outcome of ASFA has been a higher number of children in foster care. There has been a massive increase in parental terminations, and adoptions of America’s children. The issue that needs to be pointed out here, is that not only are the parent’s rights to have a relationship with their children terminated, all family members are terminated from having a relationship with these children.
Who is really benefiting from ASFA? The professional parents (foster/adoptive parents), the contracted mental health care providers, the residential and treatment centers, the growing demand for more social workers being hired to handle the caseloads, etc. According to statistics from the National Child Protection Reform each child that is in the system generates an estimated residual economic development figure of $250,000.00 or more per year! This tells me that our children are being harvested as a subsidized cash crop. When the market numbers increase then dividends in the form of bonuses are paid to the states.
The children who are being protected from their parents, (who are rarely if ever charged under any criminal abuse or neglect statue) are going to age out of the system without an adequate education, little or no social skills, little or no work experience, disenfranchised from their families and communities, on psychotropic drugs. What future does that hold for them? What are the residual costs to the taxpayers going to be? Are we just grooming our youth for their eventual commitment to our prison systems?
All of the proceedings that take place (with the exception of the rare criminal abuse charges,) are done by Administrative proceedings under a veil of secrecy. There is no jury, no evidence, only hearsay of the Case Worker, no witnesses or open trail, because of “the child’s confidentiality”. I don’t know of one case where the child(ren) were present in court to testify. The parents are adjudicated and placed on the Nation Registry of Child Abusers. They lose their family. They are told by everyone who hears their story, “They can’t do that!” But the fact remains it was done, is being done and will continue to be done until American families stand together to demand that their Constitutional right to parent their children is restored, and that the child protection system be reformed. However, they don’t do that for fear they will some how suffer further consequences from the State. Or they believe the biggest lie…parents in America have all gone mad and only professional parents and social workers care about and are capable of loving these “poor” children!
I am not suggesting, nor do I believe that there are not children who are being abused. What I am saying is that thousands of children are being removed arbitrarily and without substantiated cause from their homes. Some of these families only needed services that could’ve been provided with the children still in the home. I would like to note that according to national statistics children in foster care are at much higher risk of sexual and physical abuse then in the home of their parents. Federal legislation provides a foundation for States by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. §5106g), as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum:
Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or
An act or failure to act, which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.
After huge class action lawsuits were brought against 32 states, 30 of them reformed their child protection policies with great success in focusing on family preservation and in-home family services that reduced the cost to taxpayers and made children safer.
I know that most of you are thinking to yourself, “These parents have abused their children and are in denial, blaming the system.” According to the statistics filed with the Child Welfare League of America (www. cwla.org) prior to ASFA in 1998 there were 55 adoptions in South Dakota and no children waiting to be adopted, 5 years later there were 144 adoptions and a staggering 464 children waiting to be adopted. The state last year received an adoption bonus of $56,000.00 for adoptions over their baseline number. Residential foster care in 2000 cost taxpayers in $4,498,452.00. Two years later in 2002 that amount had increased to $17,212,505.00! Folks, this is about the money, not about protecting children! From 1996 to 2004 the federal budget increased in SD by 128.6% and the state budget by 53.0%! Did all the parents in SD just start going nuts on their children over that six-year period? I think not! I believe money and economic development in the newly subsidized child abuse industry increased these numbers.
South Dakota has a 9% total Native American population, according to the Governor’s Commission on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Yet more than 65% of the children removed from the home are Native American. I believe this number, is also motivated by funding and opportunity. South Dakota has a statue that allows the Secretary of Social Services to collect funding from the Department of Interior for the cost of their care. Thus, Indian children are worth double the money to the state. Even though this has been denied by DSS at Appropriations and Government Operation and Audit Committee meetings, I find it hard to believe that they would go to the trouble of having legislation drafted for such an action and not utilize it. (Chapter 28 SDCL)
In a recent Rapid City Journal article it stated that 81% of the children were taken for reasons of neglect. What the Social Workers view as neglect is arbitrary. Virtually anything can be used against parents to justify the interrogation of your children at schools by police officers, social workers and counselors to intimidate children, ask leading and open ended questions that are used to ultimately destroy the family. These children then are removed from the school without the knowledge of the parents and placed in foster care. Poverty and its effects are often confused with neglect. Instead of the state, social and community organizations helping these parents overcome the financial struggles they suffer their children they are ripped from their lives.
The Government does not exist for any other reason than to protect the interests of the individual. The Government has no rights, only powers and duties. There is no provision for this non-governmental action in our Constitution. In fact the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled at least fifteen times on the right of parents to raise own their children.
The state of South Dakota has statues that forbid the State, it’s officers or agent to violate the Constitution or US Supreme Court rulings. See SDCL 1-1A-1 and 1-1A-2. In Lehr vs. Robertson, 463 US 248,) The linkage between parental duty and parental right was stressed again in Prince v. Massachusetts ... The Court declared it a cardinal principle “that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder.” In these cases, the Court has found that the relationship of love and duty in a recognized family unit is an interest in liberty entitled to Constitutional protection ... “State intervention to terminate such a relationship ... must be accomplished by procedures meeting the requisites of the Due Process Clause” Santosky v. Kramer .
America’s children are not safer. Families are not being honored as the most primary social structure of our culture. The very foundation of a child’s normal development is being disassembled by states. The States create the problem, than they are the solution. The States create orphans, than they are the adoption agency.
* THIS ARTICLE WILL BE FEATURED IN THE JAN/FEB 2007 ISSUE OF WELL NATIONS MAGAZINE www.wellnations.com
Source: http://www.freewebs.com/voiceofwomen/
One would hope that ASFA would make our children safer, at lower risk for neglect, abuse, and lower numbers of children in foster care. This has not been the case! In my opinion the goals of ASFA have grossly failed! ASFA demands that the child welfare agency be responsible for ensuring the safety of children in out-of-home care. Yet, nationwide hundreds of children have died while in the care of “professional parents”.
The actual outcome of ASFA has been a higher number of children in foster care. There has been a massive increase in parental terminations, and adoptions of America’s children. The issue that needs to be pointed out here, is that not only are the parent’s rights to have a relationship with their children terminated, all family members are terminated from having a relationship with these children.
Who is really benefiting from ASFA? The professional parents (foster/adoptive parents), the contracted mental health care providers, the residential and treatment centers, the growing demand for more social workers being hired to handle the caseloads, etc. According to statistics from the National Child Protection Reform each child that is in the system generates an estimated residual economic development figure of $250,000.00 or more per year! This tells me that our children are being harvested as a subsidized cash crop. When the market numbers increase then dividends in the form of bonuses are paid to the states.
The children who are being protected from their parents, (who are rarely if ever charged under any criminal abuse or neglect statue) are going to age out of the system without an adequate education, little or no social skills, little or no work experience, disenfranchised from their families and communities, on psychotropic drugs. What future does that hold for them? What are the residual costs to the taxpayers going to be? Are we just grooming our youth for their eventual commitment to our prison systems?
All of the proceedings that take place (with the exception of the rare criminal abuse charges,) are done by Administrative proceedings under a veil of secrecy. There is no jury, no evidence, only hearsay of the Case Worker, no witnesses or open trail, because of “the child’s confidentiality”. I don’t know of one case where the child(ren) were present in court to testify. The parents are adjudicated and placed on the Nation Registry of Child Abusers. They lose their family. They are told by everyone who hears their story, “They can’t do that!” But the fact remains it was done, is being done and will continue to be done until American families stand together to demand that their Constitutional right to parent their children is restored, and that the child protection system be reformed. However, they don’t do that for fear they will some how suffer further consequences from the State. Or they believe the biggest lie…parents in America have all gone mad and only professional parents and social workers care about and are capable of loving these “poor” children!
I am not suggesting, nor do I believe that there are not children who are being abused. What I am saying is that thousands of children are being removed arbitrarily and without substantiated cause from their homes. Some of these families only needed services that could’ve been provided with the children still in the home. I would like to note that according to national statistics children in foster care are at much higher risk of sexual and physical abuse then in the home of their parents. Federal legislation provides a foundation for States by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. §5106g), as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum:
Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or
An act or failure to act, which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.
After huge class action lawsuits were brought against 32 states, 30 of them reformed their child protection policies with great success in focusing on family preservation and in-home family services that reduced the cost to taxpayers and made children safer.
I know that most of you are thinking to yourself, “These parents have abused their children and are in denial, blaming the system.” According to the statistics filed with the Child Welfare League of America (www. cwla.org) prior to ASFA in 1998 there were 55 adoptions in South Dakota and no children waiting to be adopted, 5 years later there were 144 adoptions and a staggering 464 children waiting to be adopted. The state last year received an adoption bonus of $56,000.00 for adoptions over their baseline number. Residential foster care in 2000 cost taxpayers in $4,498,452.00. Two years later in 2002 that amount had increased to $17,212,505.00! Folks, this is about the money, not about protecting children! From 1996 to 2004 the federal budget increased in SD by 128.6% and the state budget by 53.0%! Did all the parents in SD just start going nuts on their children over that six-year period? I think not! I believe money and economic development in the newly subsidized child abuse industry increased these numbers.
South Dakota has a 9% total Native American population, according to the Governor’s Commission on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Yet more than 65% of the children removed from the home are Native American. I believe this number, is also motivated by funding and opportunity. South Dakota has a statue that allows the Secretary of Social Services to collect funding from the Department of Interior for the cost of their care. Thus, Indian children are worth double the money to the state. Even though this has been denied by DSS at Appropriations and Government Operation and Audit Committee meetings, I find it hard to believe that they would go to the trouble of having legislation drafted for such an action and not utilize it. (Chapter 28 SDCL)
In a recent Rapid City Journal article it stated that 81% of the children were taken for reasons of neglect. What the Social Workers view as neglect is arbitrary. Virtually anything can be used against parents to justify the interrogation of your children at schools by police officers, social workers and counselors to intimidate children, ask leading and open ended questions that are used to ultimately destroy the family. These children then are removed from the school without the knowledge of the parents and placed in foster care. Poverty and its effects are often confused with neglect. Instead of the state, social and community organizations helping these parents overcome the financial struggles they suffer their children they are ripped from their lives.
The Government does not exist for any other reason than to protect the interests of the individual. The Government has no rights, only powers and duties. There is no provision for this non-governmental action in our Constitution. In fact the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled at least fifteen times on the right of parents to raise own their children.
The state of South Dakota has statues that forbid the State, it’s officers or agent to violate the Constitution or US Supreme Court rulings. See SDCL 1-1A-1 and 1-1A-2. In Lehr vs. Robertson, 463 US 248,) The linkage between parental duty and parental right was stressed again in Prince v. Massachusetts ... The Court declared it a cardinal principle “that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder.” In these cases, the Court has found that the relationship of love and duty in a recognized family unit is an interest in liberty entitled to Constitutional protection ... “State intervention to terminate such a relationship ... must be accomplished by procedures meeting the requisites of the Due Process Clause” Santosky v. Kramer .
America’s children are not safer. Families are not being honored as the most primary social structure of our culture. The very foundation of a child’s normal development is being disassembled by states. The States create the problem, than they are the solution. The States create orphans, than they are the adoption agency.
* THIS ARTICLE WILL BE FEATURED IN THE JAN/FEB 2007 ISSUE OF WELL NATIONS MAGAZINE www.wellnations.com
Source: http://www.freewebs.com/voiceofwomen/
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