Reservation Family Speaks Out -

There’s another side to the ICWA that until very recently has received little disclosure or news coverage. Just why would a family (2-parent, single-parent, multi-generational, or blended) decide that reservation life is not what they CHOOSE for their family? The reasons are many, but some of the reasons are shocking.  

What cannot be denied is that a large number of Native Americans are dying from alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide and violence. Further, what is being hidden on some reservations is that scores of children are suffering emotional, physical and sexual abuse as a result of the accepted behavior on those reservations, and the ICWA is trapping more and more children into this unacceptable system.

While many tribal governments continue to fund congressional candidates who promise to increase tribal sovereignty, the voices of the children who are at the mercy of corrupt government continue to go unheard. The truth that must be revealed is that some tribal governments are not protecting the children in their “custody.” Some have said that there are children actually being traded and sold by the very people who are being paid to “foster” them. The Spirit Lake tribal government in North Dakota is not isolated in the mistreatment of children.

Though tribal governments claim there are accountability measures in place, in reality many children within the foster system never receive adequate care or any follow-up at all. Some tribal members report that extended family members, social workers, judges, lawyers, teachers, and other “mandated reporters” all seem to participate in this broken system where, as long as a child remains in foster care, the tribe and the custodian(s) receive a check. There is no incentive to permanently place an Indian child in an adoptive home, and no incentive to report abuse. The adults in charge simply turn a blind eye and pretend that the system works, and children are denied the most basic of human needs…real love and a safe place to call home.  

Dying in Indian Country, by Elizabeth Sharon Morris, provides a real glimpse into some of these unacceptable conditions. Dying in Indian Country tells a compelling true story of one family who comes to realize that corrupt tribal government, dishonest Federal Indian Policy, welfare policy, and the controlling reservation system has more to do with the current despair than tragedies that occurred 150 years ago.

“Dying in Indian Country is a compassionate and honest portrayal… I highly recommend it to you.” Reed Elley, former Member of Parliament, Canada; Chief Critic for Indian Affairs in 2000, Baptist Pastor, Father of four Native and Métis children

“He was a magnificent warrior who put himself on the line for the good of all…I can think of no one at this time, in this dark period of Indian history, who is able to speak as Roland has.” Arlene,Tribal Member

“…truly gripping, with a good pace.” Dr. William B. Allen, -Emeritus Professor, Political Science, MSU and former Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1989)

Dying in Indian Country is available at: http://dyinginindiancountry.com

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Free to be both Native American AND Christian

A woman was advocating for rights of tribal members and freedom from tribal government tyranny, while at the same time telling me that my husband and I were wrong to share our Christianity because the only way tribal members can be free from alcohol is through traditional religion.

So... while on the one hand she decried being dictated to and controlled by tribal government, she was attempting to dictate to and control other tribal members when it came to spirituality.

This is a very important point about freedom for tribal members. Some tribal governments do try to dictate that tribal members follow traditional religion, not any other.

When my husband, Roland, was testifying in Seattle against tribal jurisdiction, a representative of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) told us that reservations have a right to keep Christians off their property - and Christians have no right to speak to tribal members about their religion.

We asked "What if an elder has lived there all his life and becomes a Christian - and wants to talk to his grandchildren about it?" The NICWA representative answered that the grandfather had no right to speak to his grandchildren about it and would have to move.

This is not an unusual point of view within some tribal circles, nor was it unusual in many historical dictatorships where one religion was chosen for the entire country and all had to abide by it. This was why many settlers came to America and why the very first phrase of our constitutional amendments addresses freedom of religion.

Then comes the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is used by some tribal governments to dictate the religion Indian children must be raised in. Some times exposure to powwows and traditional Indian religion is mandated by courts and tribal governments as a condition of foster care or adoption. Other times, children are simply removed from Christian homes. This can happen even if the parents and grandparents placed the children in that home and want the children to be raised Christian.

Because ICWA is a federal law, the U.S. Congress is just as much to blame for this robbing of individual freedom and 1st amendment rights as tribal governments.

My husband and I knew who we wanted to be guardians of our kids if we were to die. We chose a man from our church. His race didn't matter to us - his spirituality and heart were all that mattered. This was - and is - our constitutional and God-given right as parents to choose. Neither Congress nor any tribal government should be allowed to steal that from us.

NO ONE else in America is put underneath a law that dictates how you are supposed to spiritually raise your kids. The 1st amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"... but the ICWA Congress enacted comes dangerously close to doing just that.

Dying in Indian Country is available at: http://dyinginindiancountry.com

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by Elizabeth Sharon Morris

“They just took my baby after 3 years…her sobbing is forever etched in my soul. She wanted us to save her and we couldn’t. Devastated."

An adoptive mother contacted CAICW on Facebook with this message at 1 am on Saturday, November 20, 2010, just hours after losing her little girl. CAICW cried with her. Why was this little girl, who screamed for her adoptive father to help her, taken - while he collapsed on the lawn, sobbing in grief? Because she had tribal heritage.  

While many argue that it is right and good that children of Native heritage be removed from non-Indian homes and turned over to tribal governments, many others question the policy. In this case, just five months after the little girl was taken, social services called the adoptive parents and asked if they would come and get her—immediately. Apparently the home she had been taken to “didn’t work out,” so now it was OK for her to return to the home they had torn her from just a few months prior. Of course, her parents immediately dropped everything to drive the two hours to get their little girl. When she saw them, the little girl threw herself into their arms and asked if she could finally “go home.”  

On Friday, October 19, 2012, Indian Country Today (ICT) reported on the “Veronica” episode of a Dr. Phil Show that had aired the day before. ICT claimed that the show “attacked the ICWA, and undermined the significance of Native children remaining in their tribe and being immersed in their culture.” It also announced a grassroots Facebook campaign to boycott the “Anti-Native American” Dr. Phil Show. The mission of the campaign ICT says, “is to hold Dr. Phil McGraw accountable by boycotting until he agrees to have a show where QUALIFIED experts discuss ICWA’s importance.”

This is an interesting demand, considering the fact that there were two qualified “experts” on the set that day: Cherokee Nation Attorney Chrissi Nimmo and Judge Les Marston. Furthermore, Terry Cross of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) had been invited too, but declined to appear.  

As a birth mother to children who are 50 percent tribal, I flatly refute claims by the tribal establishment that every single child of heritage “needs them.” No “tribal expert” knows our family or can speak for us. It is a myth that all tribal members want or need to be a part of Indian Country. Tribal members are individuals with their own minds and hearts.

The U.S. census shows that 75 percent of tribal members live off reservation. Some remain connected to Indian Country, but many extended families mainstreamed a long time ago. Many reject reservation life for the same reason our family does: it isn’t a safe place. Even though we love our extended family that live on the reservation, we choose not to live under a corrupt tribal government in a tract house surrounded by drugs, alcohol and violence. Not every Native person wants to live in or have their children exposed to these conditions.  

Furthermore, most “enrollable” children have more than one heritage. This means that they have more than one family, more than one traditional culture, multiple people who love them, and no heritage is more or less important than another.  

Tribal governments are now using the ICWA as a weapon to steal the rights and best interests of children, women and families across this country. Make no mistake—the Cherokee Nation alone has more than 100 attorneys targeting 1500 children across the United States who are in the process of being adopted. Many of these children, like Veronica, have less than 5 percent Cherokee heritage. Even that small heritage in many cases comes from families who at some point made deliberate CHOICES to leave Indian Country.

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