Turtle Talk

We’ve been getting a number of questions about this compact, likely due to the level and type of press coverage about it in Alaska (see here). We’ve hesitated to post on it, given all the people who know it much better than we do, but it’s important to see what this compact does and doesn’t do.

The compact is HERE (now as a searchable PDF because that’s how we do things).

The compact is, without question, a big step forward for the state of Alaska. It is the result of a lot of hard work of a lot of tribes, and opens doors that Alaska has long kept closed to tribes. There is recognition of tribal court protection and child support orders, as well as ensuring a child’s eligibility for federal funding regardless of tribal or state custody. The compact (Sec. 6.2.1) allows for the sharing of confidential information, and access to databases. This section alone are of particular importance and relevant for all tribes facing state intransigence on confidentiality and child welfare.

The compact is not the final step, however. The document provides an agreed upon framework for future negotiations between the state and individual tribes or tribal consortiums. The compact allows the state (OCS) to shift responsibility for providing services–and importantly, the related state funding–to tribal social services departments. But the compact does not address tribal jurisdiction, transfer to tribal court, or assume that if a tribal department takes over services that the tribe will take jurisdiction. Therefore, the compact doesn’t address tribal courts at all, or if state funding follows a child in to tribal court (spoiler alert: right now it doesn’t).

There are a lot of tribes in Alaska increasing their tribal court capacity right now, and it does seem the next step would be for tribes to exercise jurisdiction over their children without losing the funding due to those children as state citizens. It will also be interesting to see the individual tribal/tribal consortium compacts that address the details of how the services will be divided between the state and tribe.