Cheyenne River Sioux

Seeking Native American foster parents for the first-of-its-kind “Simply Smiles Children’s Village” on the Cheyenne River Reservation

Simply Smiles, Inc. is seeking Native American foster parents for the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation (South Dakota). …

Native foster parents at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village will ensure that Native children who have been removed from their homes on Cheyenne River can remain with their “kin and community,” fulfilling the letter and spirit of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

Read the full article at the Indian Country Today website.

S.D. tribes look to establish foster care services on reservations

Five South Dakota tribes have asked the federal government for financial assistance to help operate their own foster care services.

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The Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Yankton, Oglala and Crow Creek Sioux tribes submitted applications Monday seeking federal planning dollars to develop and operate their own programs.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe received one of the $300,000 grants last fall and is among the first tribes in the nation to do so.

Read the full article at the Argus Leader website.

Tribes: S.D. fails in foster placement (Argus Leader)

Few decisions made by the state of South Dakota carry the emotional weight of removing a child from a home.

For Native American children, whose culture is scarred by a troubling history of forced displacement by whites, the decision has emotional and legal implications.

Federal law says native children belong in native homes except in the rarest of circumstances.

The state says officials do all they can to ensure Native children are placed in appropriate homes and move quickly through the system.

But the tribes disagree, and recently some sued, alleging more must be done.

See more at http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130324/NEWS/303240042/Tribes-S-D-fails-in-foster-placement.