Author: Kate E. Fort

Government Affairs Attorney Position at NICWA

Kate Fort

Here.

The government affairs staff attorney of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) is responsible for assisting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, children, and families in their efforts to improve public policy at all levels to support effective services for and the general well-being of AI/AN children and families

And yes, this is the great Addie Smith’s position. She was appointed by the Governor of Oregon to administer the Child Dependency Task Force created by SB 222. Press release here.

Notice of Proposed Rule Making on Native Hawaiian Self Governance

Kate Fort

NPRM here.

Press release here.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior announced today a proposal to create an administrative procedure and criteria that the Secretary of the Interior would apply if the Native Hawaiian community forms a unified government that then seeks a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States. Under the new proposal, the Native Hawaiian community — not the Federal government — would decide whether to reorganize a Native Hawaiian government, what form that government would take, and whether it would seek a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Michigan Public Radio on Anishinaabemowin and the Boarding Schools

Kate Fort

Here.

Deleta Gasco Smith works for the Little Traverse Bay Band. She attended Holy Childhood for three years of elementary school.

“When we were in the school we were actually completely forbidden to speak the language, and if we were caught, the punishment was swift and it was severe,” Gasco Smith says.

Gasco Smith’s father was fluent in Anishinaabemowin, but he was careful not to teach his daughter the language. Gasco Smith says her Dad went to the same boarding school and knew she would be beaten for speaking Anishinaabemowin.

 

Additional Findings from NNI/NICWA on Tribal Child Welfare Codes

Kate Fort

Here.

Researchers reviewed 107 publicly available, tribal child welfare codes for U.S.-based tribes with populations ranging from 50 to 18,000 citizens. Researchers sought out the most up-to-date tribal child welfare codes available for each tribe, reporting that approximately 45% of the 107 codes were amended after 2000. The research team analyzed over 100 variables on the topics of culture, jurisdiction, tribal-state relationships, child abuse reporting, paternity, foster care, termination of parental rights, and adoption. A more detailed report on this study will be released later this fall. For more information about this project and its findings please contact the Native Nations Institute: Mary Beth Jäger (Citizen Potawatomi) jager@email.arizona.edu.

Cool poster here. First cool poster here.

Article On Trafficking at MHA Nation (Three Affiliated Tribes)

Kate Fort

Here.

With no anti-trafficking law of their own to deal with the crime and all signs pointing to a crisis, a group of tribal women snapped into action to work on a legislative solution. “No one said, ‘Here is the course on dealing with trafficking, and this is how you’re going to execute it,’ ” Young Bird says. “We’ve had to teach ourselves.”

“We all came together,” adds Cummings, “pulled what we could to the table, rolled up our sleeves, and got down and dirty with the whole situation.”

As an aside–there should be a collection of all the times someone writes something along the lines of “a small group of Native women made a massive difference in the face of collective indifference and ignorance.”

HT to a lot of Facebook friends who shared this.

@ilpc_turtletalk Instagram Account

Kate Fort1 Comment

As usual, TurtleTalk runs a few years behind the technology curve, but eventually catches up. We have an Instagram account now–@ilpc_turtletalk. It is linked to both our Twitter (@ilpcturtletalk) and Facebook accounts.

DOJ Motion for Summary Judgment and National Orgs Amicus Brief Filed in Guidelines Litigation

Kate Fort

Latest filings in Nat’l Council for Adoption v. Jewell:

DOJ Memorandum for Summary Judgment

A favorite footnote (5 is good too):

10 Finally, BAF does not elaborate as to why placement with an Indian child’s family or tribe could not also be “loving,” and its silence is telling. ICWA was designed as a remedy for precisely this type of bias: the stereotype held by some child-welfare advocates that Indian children will be better off placed with a non-Indian family. See Miss. Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 37 (reiterating that Congress feared that application of a “white, middleclass standard” will, “in many cases, foreclose[] placement with [an] Indian family”). BAF’s misguided view is, at best, an “abstract concern” that is insufficient to create standing. See Lane, 703 F.3d at 675 (citing Simon, 426 U.S. at 40).

National Organizations (NCAI, NICWA, AAIA) Amicus Brief in Support

BIA Issues Land into Trust Decision for Mashpee Wampanoag

Kate Fort1 Comment

Here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today issued a decision approving a request by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to acquire 170 acres of land into trust in the town of Mashpee, Mass., for tribal governmental, cultural and conservation purposes, and 151 acres in trust in the City of Taunton, Mass., for the purpose of constructing and operating a gaming facility and resort. The lands in both Mashpee and Taunton will become the tribe’s first lands held in trust.