Standing Strong for Native Families
A website from the Native American Rights Fund
The leaders of four American Indian tribes in North Dakota have signed a new agreement with the state over federal funding for child welfare services, including allowing tribes to license foster care parents on and off reservations. Read the full article at the Bismark Tribune website.
The University of North Dakota Department of Social Work has received a $2.4-million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support implementation and evaluation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in North Dakota over the next five years. UND is partnering in this grant with the Children and Family Services … Read more
This week 26 key decision-makers from the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, federal and state governments, as well as local and national private organizations met to kick off a comprehensive strategy called the “Spirit Lake Child Welfare Improvement Project.” The purpose of this gathering was to convene decision-makers to craft a vision and an initial plan … Read more
A congressional committee has begun investigating why child abuse and neglect persists on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake reservation, almost two years after the federal government stepped in to address the problem. At a hearing on Tuesday, tribal leaders and officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services are … Read more
On Tuesday, June 24th, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs will hold an oversight hearing entitled “Child Protection & the Justice System on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.” This hearing will assess whether Congressional action is needed to address systematic problems with the child welfare and justice system on the … Read more
A Spirit Lake Indian Reservation woman who was awarded custody of infant twin girls despite a history of child neglect was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison in the death of one of the children, who was thrown down an embankment. Read the full article at the Time website.
The BIA assumed control of child protection services and certain foster care placements on Oct. 1, 2012, after complaints of systemic failures when the Spirit Lake tribe was running the programs. A year later, tribal leaders and members credit BIA staff members with working hard to improve child protection, but visible progress has not yet … Read more
Social workers at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation have been furloughed because of the federal government shutdown, worrying tribal officials and Sen. John Hoeven. The Bureau of Indian Affairs took over social services from the tribe a year ago after complaints about rampant abuse of children and the death of several children placed by tribal … Read more
Twenty-seven months after the brutal abuse and killing of two young siblings at their home on the Spirit Lake Sioux Indian reservation, Valentino “Tino” James Bagola goes on trial in U.S. District Court in Fargo today facing four felony counts of murder. The violent deaths of two of its youngest and most vulnerable members traumatized … Read more
In 1978, Congress responded to the high numbers of Indian children being removed from their homes by passing the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. …. Some non-Indian foster parents who have taken in children from Spirit Lake say they are frustrated and confused by practices that seem not to be in the children’s best … Read more
It took a powerful, disturbing dream from which she awoke sobbing to convince Robin Charboneau, an Oglala Sioux and member of North Dakota’s Spirit Lake tribe, that “I needed to open my mouth, and I needed to speak.” So she let the documentary filmmaker David Sutherland follow her for more than three years as she … Read more