Reports to Congress

November 29, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Directors in South Dakota voted 6-0 to submit a report to Congress asserting that the South Dakota Department of Social Service has for over a decade “systematically violated the spirit and the letter of the Indian Child Welfare Act.” ICWA directors are federal employees tasked with enforcing the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that says that state agencies must place Indian foster children with family and tribal members whenever possible. The ICWA directors’ report, yet to be published, is titled “Reviewing the Facts: An Assessment of the Accuracy of NPR’s ‘Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families.’” The study was written with assistance from the Lakota People’s Law Project, a nonprofit law firm based in Rapid City, SD and Santa Cruz, CA.

In addition, the coalition prepared a second report focusing on pharmaceuticals being given to native children in foster care, and the incentives the state of South Dakota gets for diagnosing and over medicating foster children for mental illness.

Please direct inquires to info@lakotalaw.org, or 831-459-6135.

Reviewing the Facts: An Assessment of the Accuracy of NPR’s “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families”

Is South Dakota Over-Prescribing Drugs to Native American Foster Kids?

Tribal Council Endorsements / Declaration of State of Emergency

References for ‘Reviewing the Facts’
– Abourezk, James, Testimony for Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 4/8-9/74
– Administration for Children and Families; “Adoption Incentive Earning History”
– Administration for Children and Families; Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCAR); “Child Welfare Outcomes”; 1998-2001, 2002-2005, 2006-2009
– Administration for Children and Families; Children’s Bureau; “Child is Identified as Special Needs Adoption”; 2009 & 2010
– American Indian Policy Review Commission, Final Report, 1977
– BJ Jones Quote (footnote #32)
– The Brookings Institution; The Problem of Indian Administration
– Byler, William, Testimony for Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 4/8-9/74
– Children’s Bureau, Administration of Children and Families, Health & Human Services; “2010 Child Maltreatment Report,” 2010
– Children’s Bureau; Child Welfare Outcomes: Reports to Congress; 01, 02-05, 06-09
– Cornerstone Consulting Group, Inc.; “A Carrot Among the Sticks,” 2001
– Email from South Dakota Department of Social Services, 2011
– Families USA; “SCHIP Reauthorization: What’s at Stake for South Dakota?”; 5/2007
– Health & Human Services Dept.; “Federal Percentages and Federal Medical Assistance Percentages, FY 1961- FY 2011.”
– Indian Child Welfare Act, §1915
– Indian Child Welfare Act, 1978, Section 1912 (D)
– Letter dated 10/31/11 from Ed Markey and Dan Boren to Larry Echo Hawk
– Letter dated 11/1/11 from Jim Moran, Dale Kildee, Tom Cole, and Mike Simpson to Larry Echo Hawk, Ignacia Moreno, and George Sheldon
– Letter dated 11/22/11 from Larry Echo Hawk to Jim Moran
– Letter from the South Dakota Department of Social Services; 7/26/12
– NCCPR – National Coalition for Child Protection Reform; “2010 NCCPR Rate of Removal Index”
– National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ); “Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care”; 5/2012
– North American Council on Adoptable Children; “Adoption Tax Credit for Adoptions before 2010”
– North American Council on Adoptable Children; “AFCARS Adoption Data Research Brief # 4, Special Needs and Disabilities”
– The People of the State of South Dakota in the Interest of J.S.B., JR., Minor Child and Concerning J.S.B., Sr. and O.L.J., Respondents
– Salt Lake City Tribune; Brooke Adams; “American Indian Children Too Often in Foster Care”; 3/24/12
– South Dakota 2012 Governor’s Budget
– South Dakota Codified Law 26-7A-12
– South Dakota Governor’s Budget, Fiscal Year 2006; Child Protection Services section
– South Dakota House Bill 1226
– South Dakota Neglect Citation: Ann. Laws § 26-8A-2
– South Dakota Office of the Governor; “Indian Child Welfare Act Commission Report; 12/30/04
– South Dakota Senate Bill 55
– Sullivan, Laura & National Public Radio; “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Lost Families”
– The Tax Foundation; “Federal Aid to State Budgets,” 12/10/2012
– Treaty of Fort Laramie, Article VII, p.3
– U.S. Governmental Accountability Office; “TANF and Child Welfare Programs”; 10/2011
– United States Code, Chapter 34; “Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Protection”