Standing Strong for Native Families
A website from the Native American Rights Fund
March 23, 2015, WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today reintroduced her bipartisan bill to ease the financial challenges of adopting children in tribal communities in North Dakota and across the country. In all 50 states, parents who adopt children with special needs are able to claim the full adoption tax credit, helping to … Read more
July 9, 2014 U.S. Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD), James Inhofe (R-OK), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) today introduced the Tribal Adoption Parity Act. The legislation ensures parents adopting American Indian and Alaskan Native children through tribal courts are treated fairly under our nation’s tax code by making it easier for adoptive parents across … Read more
Three-year-old Elle was cleared to be adopted by her foster parents, and then was removed and placed with her uncle. See related articles at the KING website: Foster Child Adoption Halted Over Tribal Ties and Foster Child’s Uncle: ‘We Wanted Her All Along’
Several prominent Native American groups on Monday called for the Justice Department to investigate the treatment of Indian children in public child-welfare systems and private adoptions. In a letter presented to government officials in… Read more at the New York Times website and see the National Indian Child Welfare Association press release.