Indian Child Welfare

Background

AAIA began its active involvement in Indian child welfare issues in 1967, based upon the request of tribal leaders and distraught parents and grandparents, and for many years was the only national organization active in confronting the crisis in Indian child welfare. Association studies in the 1970s revealed that Indian children were placed in foster care far more than non-Indian children. The rate of placement ranged from 2.4 times the non-Indian rate in New Mexico to 22.4 times the national rate in South Dakota. Moreover, the adoption rate was more than eight times that of non-Indians. These studies led Congress to invite AAIA to work with it to develop legislation to deal with this tragic situation where enormous numbers of Indian children were being removed from their families and tribal communities by overzealous and culturally-insensitive state workers. That legislation became the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA). ICWA has provided vital protections to Indian children, families and tribes during the last 25 years.

Current Activities

AAIA has actively supported two important pieces of legislation that would further the goals of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Senate Daschle (D-S.D.) and Rep. Camp introduced identical bills that make tribal governments and foster care and adoptive placements made by tribal courts eligible for direct federal funding under the Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance program. These bills recognize that tribal programs are more attuned to the special programmatic and cultural needs of their local communities and have experience in operating quality child welfare programs when resources are available. They also recognize that tribes are "domestic dependent nations" with a government-to-government relationship with the federal government and are based upon the premise that permanency for Indian children who need out-of-home placements is best achieved when tribes have the resources to both ensure quality foster care and adoptive placements for these children and provide services to reunite families whenever possible. In addition, providing for tribal access to this program would address a substantial injustice - namely, that some of the neediest children in the country are excluded from a program that is an entitlement for all other similarly situated children, simply because they fall under tribal jurisdiction.

AAIA has been involved in efforts to make tribes directly eligible for this funding for many years. In 1988, then-Congressman Morris Udall introduced a bill at AAIA's request that would have provided for direct tribal funding from the Title XX Block Grant program, Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Block Grant. In 1990 and 1991, AAIA was invited to testify on these tribal funding issues by both the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy of the Senate Finance Committee and a subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. AAIA has continued to actively work with House and Senate staff ever since, as well as organizations like the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Much of the content in the Daschle/Camp legislation is based specifically upon AAIA proposals.

A major effort was made in 2002, spearheaded by Senator Baucus (D-Mont.), to include the provisions of this bill in Welfare Reform Reauthorization legislation pending before Congress and the proposal was included in the Senate version of the welfare bill. The bill was not enacted, however, but will be reconsidered in 2003. The effort to include this provision in the welfare legislation will continue.

• Another important bill pending before Congress is a bill to amend the Indian Child Welfare Act, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). (H.R. 4733 in 2002) Among other things, this bill would:
• Require detailed notice to Indian tribes in all voluntary proceedings.
• Clarify right of Indian tribes to intervene in all voluntary state court child custody proceedings and set timelines for intervention following the receipt of the notice.
• Require attorneys, public and private agencies to provide detailed information to Indian parents of their rights under ICWA.
• Set reasonable limits on parents' rights to withdraw consent to an adoption
• Clarify tribal jurisdiction in Alaska and tribal court authority to declare children wards of the tribal court.
• Provide for criminal sanctions for anyone who assists a person to lie about their Indian ancestry for the purposes of applying the ICWA.
• Allow state courts to enter enforceable orders providing for visitation or contact between tribes, natural parents, extended family and an adopted child.
• Make it easier for adoptees to gain access to their birth records.
• Expand the definition of Indian child.

AAIA has been actively involved in the development of this legislation and Mr. Young has specifically recognized AAIA's contributions in the Congressional Record. This effort is part of AAIA's continuing commitment to ensure that the Indian Child Welfare Act is properly implemented.

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