Tribal Policeman dies 5 hours after talking to CAICW -

He died in a car wreck on Sept. 22, 2014. Just five hours earlier, he was talking to us on the phone, telling us he had tape recorded his meetings with BIA social services and tribal court because he finally wanted his story to be public.

Lavern “Bundy” Littlewind was a BIA policeman and Spirit Lake tribal member. He wanted people who don’t live on the reservation to understand why child abuse is endemic on so many reservations. Many Tribal social services don’t protect kids. They protect tribal sovereignty.

Jastin "Ian" Blue Coat

The latest: Toddler Jastin Blue Coat was murdered October 18, 2014, in Eagle Butte, SD. Because of his heritage, he wasn’t allowed protection.

After a series of child murders at Spirit Lake, our federal government – in the form of the BIA, FBI and U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon - was called in two years ago to oversee, improve care, and protect the kids. Federally funded programs such as Casey Family Services and ACF were also supposed to be improving care. But that money has been poured down the drain.

There is no serious intention to protect children if the only real solutions are perceived to threaten tribal sovereignty. Protect tribal sovereignty at all costs – even at the expense of children.

Power and money have corrupted nations from time immemorial.

In all our years of going to DC about this, Representative Kevin Cramer has been the only Congressman to take real action. This year, he pushed for an oversight hearing and called the BIA on the carpet. His office asked Bundy to testify at the June hearing as well, but Bundy was nervous, thinking tribal government might use his kids against him if he spoke up. That’s understandable – many have seen that happen.

The U.S. Government has set up a system that allows crime and corruption to occur without repercussion in Indian Country. We are very grateful to Rep. Cramer. It takes real courage to address something other Congressman have been afraid to touch. We need him to remain in office, pursuing protection for kids at Spirit Lake as well as across the country.

Chat with Author of "Dying in Indian Country"

The true story of an American Indian who realized just how much tribal and federal government policies were destroying his extended family.  

Roland grew up watching members of his family die of alcoholism, child abuse, suicide, and violence on the reservation. Like many others, he blamed all the problems on “white people.”  

Beth Ward grew up in a middle class home in the suburbs. Raised in a politically left family, she also believed that all problems on the reservation originated with cruel treatment by settlers and the stealing of land. Meeting her husband, her first close experience with a tribal member, she stepped out of the comfort of suburban life into a whole new, frightening world.  

After almost ten years of living with his alcoholism and the terrible dangers that came with it, they both realized that individual behavior and personal decisions were at the root of a man’s troubles, including their own, and no amount of entitlements would change that.  

What cannot be denied is that a large number of Native Americans are dying from alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, and violence. The reservation, a socialistic experiment at best, pushes people to depend on tribal and federal government rather than God, and to blame all of life’s ills on others. The results have been disastrous. Roland realized that corrupt tribal government, dishonest federal Indian policy, and the controlling reservation system had more to do with the current pain and despair in his family and community than what had happened 150 years ago.  

Here is the plain truth in the eyes of one family, in the hope that at least some of the dying in Indian Country — physical, emotional, and spiritual — may be prevented.  

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

Meet the author at an online book signing, Saturday, October 13th, 3 pm eastern time, 12 noon pacific, at https://dyinginindiancountry.campfirenow.com/room/533942

The book sells for $29.99 and is available online. For more information about the author and to purchase the book, please visit http://dyinginindiancountry.com/

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Indian Kids treated like Second Class Citizens

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Mickey came home an hour early from classes one day.

"What are you doing home?" I asked him.

"My advocate let me out."

"What do you mean, 'let you out'?"

"Well, I didn't like my art teacher, so a month or so ago my Indian advocate let me drop the class and go to study hall in his office instead. He'd ask me a couple questions and stuff, but I wasn't really doing anything there so now he just lets me come home instead."

I called the advocate. "In the first place," I told him, "I don't agree with letting him drop art. He has to work out his problems with his teacher. But in the second place, Mickey got two 'F's' last quarter! How come you’re letting him cut out of school?"

"What are you worried about?" the advocate, also a tribal member, responded, "He's got three years of school left. He's got time to catch up."

About ready to blow up and getting nowhere with this man, I called the principal, who agreed Mickey shouldn't be leaving school early. It was too late to get Mickey back into the art class, so placed him into the real study hall. Unfortunately, the principal didn't have the cojones to fire the advocate for being the idiot he was.

Later, Mickey confided that the Indian advocate had told him the following day, "Don't listen to Beth, all white people talk like that."

'What a jerk,' I thought angrily, 'why isn't that so-called advocate helping Mickey apply himself? Don't they think an Indian kid can be expected to work hard? Do they lookl down on Indian kids that much? If anybody dares treat Andrew that way when he gets to school, expecting less of him just because he's Indian, I'll knock em to the moon!

Many places do still treat kids of tribal heritage with lower expectations. Worse, the attitude is encouraged and propagandized by tribal government itself.

One tribal attorney in an Arkansas court just 3 yrs ago - while fighting to take 2 children from a safe, loving home where they were well-cared for and place them in an overcrowded, troubled (documented issues) home that had connection to the tribe - said that Indian children shouldn't be expected to live by "European standards." He said Indian children are used to sleeping on floors - and that was okay.

Who is he kidding? Why is tribal government allowed to make racist statements like that? I can tell you with absolute certainty that given the choice, every single child I raised, as well as every relative child that I know, would choose a good bed over a floor. What a bunch of garbage.

The propaganda that children of heritage are somehow different than other kids is in effort, we believe, to keep jurisdiction (and power) over them. The idea put forward is that kids of heritage have an intrinsic attachment to the reservation and will be spiritually destroyed if detached from it.

An article ten years ago said something about looking into the eyes of an Indian child and seeing 'past generations.' Was that writer able to look into the eyes of children of other heritages and see the same thing? Why not?

It's so easy to put one's own expectations and romanticisms onto a child. People do it all the time. And in doing so - they neglect who the child really is - his/her individuality.

I'm very tired of what boils down to racist rhetoric.

Personally, I looked into the eyes of the nine I raised and saw THEM. I want the 'powers that be' to quit pretending these kids are somehow different than others. It’s an excuse to control them as if they are chattel.

This brings us to the Indian Child Welfare Act. It’s a terrible law. Current laws governing placement of children of other heritages already cover the need to keep families connected if possible. At the same time, they protect children from being subjected to abusive and neglectful family, which is something the ICWA does NOT do well because it gives tribal governments the right to decide placement, and they have a conflict of interest. I have seen children placed in inadequate, if not downright terrible situations for the sake of keeping the kids within the system,

The real purpose of ICWA as far as we can tell has nothing to do with the ‘welfare’ of children. It has everything to do with the ‘welfare’ of tribal government. The last census showed that a majority of enrollable people now live off the reservation. Some are still connected, but many no longer choose to be part of the system. But as people move away and don't enroll their kids in the tribe, tribal governments lose federal money. They also lose people over whom they can rule. That's the bottom line for ICWA.

This is why the ICWA includes language that claims jurisdiction over "enrollable" children, not just "enrolled" children. They are also free to decide their own membership criteria. For the Cherokee tribe, all that is required is a direct line to the Dawes rolls.

Put those two facts together, and federal government has created a terrible situation for children. Example: Six years ago, a firefighter in Texas, with his wife, took in a newborn baby boy to adopt. After a few weeks, during the process of adoption, it was discovered the child had less than 2% heritage in the Cherokee tribe. The tribe then decided it wants the child, who is more than 98% non-tribal. The child is still unadopted as of today, and the family has spent years and tens of thousands of dollars fighting for him. We have many stories like that.

It's a genuine crime against these kids.

For more info:

Read Letters from Families: http://www.caicw.org/familystories.html

ICWA Case Law: http://www.caicw.org/caselaw.html

CAICW Facebook 'Cause' page: (Advocacy, Petition, support for families) http://www.causes.com/causes/537834

The “Fund Attorney Retainers for 10 Families” Drive began on National Adoption Day, November 20, 2010 ~ and ends on December 31, 2010.~ The Fund website can be found through FirstGiving.com at ~ http://www.firstgiving.com/caicw/Event/AdoptionRetainerFund

Follow CAICW on TWITTER:   http://twitter.com/CAICW

EMAIL: writeus@caicw.org

CAICW - Christian Evangelism and Ministry - Gal. 2:10, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."

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Dying in Indian Country: A True Story

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The True story of a family Living and Dying in Indian Country in the 1980's-90's.

What made a full-blooded American Indian want to work against Tribal government and federal Indian Policy?

Need a close-to-home example of how socialist policies within our government currently affect U.S. citizens? Read Roland Morris' story. Read about his family: A beautiful 16-year-old niece who hanged herself in a closet, another dying of a drug overdose in a public bathroom. A brother was stabbed to death on the reservation, a 4-yr-old was left alone for a whole night at a dangerous inner city park while her Dad drank, and a 2-yr old was beaten to death by her mother. Those examples are just starters. Find out why this tribal elder traveled to DC over and over again to fight tribal jurisdiction over his family – as well as the well-compensated Congressmen who support it.

Roland J. Morris Sr. kept his tribal culture at heart as he taught his children about wild ricing, hunting, fishing, family history and some Ojibwa language. He did this, despite having lost all trust in the reservation system. He’d watched too many family members die tragic, violent deaths and had come to believe that current federal Indian policy and the reservation system itself was responsible.

Tribal leaders tell the public that the reservation system must be maintained or all will be lost. They claim that no one understands Indians, and this system has to be preserved as the only viable way for tribal members to exist in happiness. While they are saying this, violence, crime, child neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, and Fetal Alcohol effects are epidemic on the reservations. Further, at the hands of their own governments, tribal members experience denial of civil rights: freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly. They experience cohortion, manipulation, cronyism, nepotism, criminal fraud, ballot box stuffing and have even been robbed of their own children.

We are all aware this is happening, but refuse to admit out loud. For some reason, it's much easier to blame white America, history, and poverty for the problems.

Many tribal members continue in this life, complaining in private but not willing to protest. They keep silent in part because of they have tribal jobs or housing - and rocking the boat will affect not just them, but extended family. Those that do speak up are vilified. In addition, for the most part, tribal members don’t like to discuss reservation problems with outsiders. They may be dying, but they are dying compliantly.

Read Dying in Indian Country - A Family Story - http://dyinginindiancountry.blogspot.com/
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Dying In Indian Country

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Roland J. Morris Sr. kept his tribal culture at heart as he taught his children about wild ricing, hunting, fishing, family history and some Ojibwa language. He did this, despite having lost all trust in the reservation system. He’d watched too many family members die tragic, violent deaths and had come to believe that current federal Indian policy and the reservation system itself was responsible.

Tribal leaders tell the public that the reservation system must be maintained or all will be lost. They claim that no one understands Indians, and this system has to be preserved as the only viable way for tribal members to exist in happiness. While they are saying this, violence, crime, child neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, and Fetal Alcohol effects are epidemic on the reservations. Further, at the hands of their own governments, tribal members experience denial of civil rights: freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly. They experience cohortion, manipulation, cronyism, nepotism, criminal fraud, ballot box stuffing and have even been robbed of their own children.

We are all aware this is happening, but refuse to admit out loud. For some reason, it's much easier to blame white America, history, and poverty for the problems.

Need a close-to-home example of how liberal, socialist policies within our government currently affect U.S. citizens?  Read Roland Morris's story. Read about his family - a beautiful 16-year-old niece hanging herself in a closet, another dying of a drug overdose in a public bathroom, a brother stabbed to death on the reservation, a four-yr-old left alone for a whole night at an inner city park, a two-yr old beaten to death by his mother, and more - and find out why this tribal elder traveled to DC over and over again to fight tribal sovereignty and the well-compensated Congressmen who support it.

Dying in Indian Country - A Family Story - http://dyinginindiancountry.blogspot.com/
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Federal Indian Policy Says THIS is BEST for children?

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Many Families of American Indian Heritage do NOT want their children raised on or near Reservations.  Ours is one of them.  Here are the facts. 

- Federal statistics have shown that for years that children that live on or near reservations die at about twice the national rate. Quoted in a Dec. 7th edition of the Oregonian, Jon Perez, a director of behavioral health at the federal Indian Health Service, stated, “What you have are developing countries right in the heart of the United States. Each has a history of neglect and a legacy of trauma that explains these disparities. We need this history not as excuses for the disparities but as a need to intervene.”


Yet, Federal Indian policy and tribal governments keep telling everyone that the reservations are the best places for children of tribal heritage, and mandates that tribal government has juridiction over children in cases where they are in need of care.  Why?  Are their lives less important than other children's?

The Minneapolis Star and Tribune, on April 25, 2004, offered the following statistics for one Reservation county:

*Cass County, where most of the reservation's people live, ranked last among 77 Minnesota counties in a 1999 government study that measured the health and safety of children.


*In 2002, Cass County had the state's highest percentage of children living in foster homes and other county-supervised care. Most of them were Indians from the reservation, taken away from their parents, or given up by them, because of abuse, neglect or delinquency.


*A statewide study of ninth-graders in the mid-1990s found that Cass County had the highest rate of heavy drug and alcohol use and the highest.

Yet, in 2009, a baby boy was taken by the government from his safe, loving adoptive home in Utah and placed into the care of this very reservation.  Why?  Who benefited from that move?  Certainly not the little boy! 

And if a child's heritage is as important as tribal governments keep claiming it is, why does the federal government believe that only a child's tribal heritage is important?  Most enrollable children are less than 50% Indian heritage!  Why does the tribe have a right to interfere with children that are living in homes that better reflect their full heritage?

The statistics, after ten years, must be even greater now for interracial marriage...and interracial co-habitation and interracial flings....

But this isn't about drawing a line to decide how much pedigree is necessary for tribal government to lay claim in a child.  Any American citizen, no matter what percentage of tribal heritage, has a right to say "no" and choose not to be involved in the reservation system.  Blood Quantum should not rob anyone of that right.

Roland John Morris, (passed away) was 100% Minnesota Chippewa, but did NOT believe in the Reservation system or federal Indian policy.  He believed the reservation is killing people, emotionally, spiritually, and through that - physically. Drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse, etc.

He believed Men need to feel needed by their families, and as long as government taking care of everyone - helplessness and despair reign.  

He DID fight system politically. He spoke out against federal Indian policy, the reservation system, and in particular, the Indian Child Welfare Act.  For that, he was called a racist.

- The 2000 census told us that there were 4,119,301 American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States and 562 federally funded tribes. Approximately 75% live outside the reservation, with about 55%  residing in metropolitan areas. Only about 25% of tribal members live on reservations. Most have chosen to leave.


- Further, reservations are not populated by just tribal members. As of the 2000 Census, as much as 45% of reservation residents are non-Indian. In fact, on 30% of the reservations, the number of non-members is equal to or greater than the number of tribal members. The incidence of inter-racial marriage is high. The Montana Supreme Court, in Skillen v. Menz, wrote, "…interracial marriages are a fact of life, and, as with other marriages, so are interracial divorces and custody disputes over the children of those marriages.

The Indian Child Welfare Act is a travesty of Justice and needs to be rescinded.

Visit  Independent Indian Press - Conservative tribal members, speaking their minds
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Independent Indian - Independent Thinking

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A new website is offering conservative tribal members the opportunity to speak up and speak out about how they really feel, without danger of tribal government finding out who they are.

The Independent Indian Press went online in April 2010 and is already getting attention.

Unfortunately, there are few Indian papers that people can write conservative thoughts freely in.  Most local Indian papers are owned or run by Tribal governments that only allow things to be printed that make them look good.  There are some that are independent, but if they get funds from the tribal government, they also toe the line and don't say much that the tribal council wouldn't like. 

Up until last year, people were able to speak up freely in the Native American Press / Ojibwe News out of Bemidji, Minnesota. The owner/editor, Bill Lawrence, understood the pressures people had on them to remain silent about things going on in Indian Country, so he allowed people to be printed anonymous.  He ususally knew who they were, and why they had to hide their names.  By doing that, he enabled people to come forward with their stories of tribal government corruption and opression. He encouraged them to bring documentation with them, which he happily copied and printed in the paper.

According to the Star & Tribune in 2009,

"Former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota David Lillehaug led a wide-ranging prosecution of tribal leaders in the 1990s, which culminated in prison terms for White Earth Chairman Darryl (Chip) Wadena, Leech Lake Chairman Alfred (Tig) Pemberton and former Leech Lake attorney and State Sen. Harold (Skip) Finn. All three were targets of Lawrence’s reporting.
“Bill Lawrence and the Native American Press performed a valuable service in identifying corruption in tribal government,” Lillehaug said. “Some of his stories provided leads for federal law enforcement, others were dry holes. But when he was right, he was really right.”

"In 2003, the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded Lawrence its Freedom of Information Award for his legal effort to make public audits of Indian casinos, which Lawrence called “state-sanctioned monopolies that should be monitored, open and accountable.”

"Lillehaug called him “a force for transparency in tribal government.”

However, Bill became ill with cancer and after 21 years of publishing, had to close it down.  He passed away February, 2010, in Idaho.

Many were saddened losing Bill. He was a rare, wonderful gem as a human being.  We've also been saddened by the loss of one of the few outlets for free speach in Indian Country.

Bill Lawrence has passed on. The Native American Press / Ojibwe News has printed its final edition. But their legacy and what they taught lives on. 

Bill didn't want anyone to reproduce the paper. He said it was too hard to make any money from it, and with the Newspaper industry on the decline, it will only get worse.

So the Independent Indian Press has gone online, instead, to hopefully fill the hole left behind.  The point isn't to make money, but to provide an outlet for people to speak freely and honestly.
This site is "open to the writings of Tribal Members and those that love them for the purpose of standing up for Conservative Values, the US Constitution and freedom from over-reaching government."

You can visit it, and submit writing, at Independent Indian Press
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Tribe pretends to care about buried little boy

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Make me sick. A stupid, selfish mother suffocated her baby, not once, but twice, because she didn't want to take care of him. Forget any of the excuses she or the tribe tries to give for what happened. This horrible woman purposeflully suffocated her baby - twice.

Coincidentally, her little baby has the same name as my 2-year old grandson; Ty.

Now the tribal government is standing up and using this poor baby for another propoganda opportunity. Tribal Gov. Ivan Pino said the tribe wants baby Ty's body to be returned to the pueblo for burial. People living near the park raised about $4,000 for a funeral for the boy, but he says, "Let the Pueblo of Zia go through its healing process right now. Give us the respect to go through our mourning at this point."

Now I'm going to throw up. The people living near the park cared enough to raise $4000 from their own pockets, and were interested in mourning the little boy as a community - which would include everyone and anyone that cared to show up. The tribe, on the other hand, will use government money for the burial, and are trying to exclude people that care. Why does Gov. Ivan Pino not want anyone else around to mourn the baby? What's up with that? I've been to plenty of tribal funerals. I've never heard of people being excluded before.

And give them respect to bury the baby? Why? Where were they when the little boy was homeless? What are they currently doing about any of the other homeless children enrollable with their tribe? Do they even keep track of them? What about the ones that are being abused? Or the children that are left alone all night while their parents are partying?

I once chased a guy off a ten-year old girl while I was visiting on one rez. I've found many children in many horrible situations. What do I see the tribe doing about it? Nothing. Why should tribes that turn their backs on enrollable children be given any kind of respect?

Claiming to want "respect to go through our mourning" is just another tribal government power push, and it has nothing at all to do with actually mourning this little guy. It's all about showing who's the boss - who's in control again. They are in control, but that doesn't mean that they are doing anything with that control to actually help their membership.



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Reality - Kids are being put just anywhere -

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Several of the tribes don't really care whether they place the kids in bad homes. They do it all the time.

You can't tell me any different - I've seen it first hand. I wouldn't leave my dog in some of the homes I've seen the tribe place children in.

Further, they placed four children with us for a good year or more before they bothered to come out and do a home visit. They never once even spoke to us prior to or during the interim before that one visit. They didn't bother to ask any other social services to check on us. They had no clue how we were handling the kids, and they really didn't care.

Finally, they came out for a visit. The two social workers flew in because we were in a different state. They were supposed to be there for a two day visit. They spent about an hour or so with us. We talked in the Upholstery shop. They walked through the first floor of our apartment. Didn't look at any bedrooms. Didn't talk to any kids. Then they asked us where to go in the valley for sight seeing. That was the last we saw of them for that two day visit.

And we've never had a social worker come visit again. That was 12 years ago. We still have two of the kids in our home, and the tribe still has no clue how we're handling them.

Fortunately, we are a good home. But I have seen so many bad homes in our extended family that it's sickening.

Those that say that kids of heritage are better off within the tribal system simply because they have a small amount of heritage, or even if they are 100% tribal, are nothing but racists more concerned about tribal funds then they are about the kids.

And that's reality.
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"ICWA for Dummies" - Illegality of ICWA for Those That Can't Think

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Okay, some people can't wrap their brains around why what happened last week to the tiny baby who was taken away from a safe and loving home, the adoptive home of Clint and Heather Larson, and given to a foster family on the dysfunctional and dangerous Leech Lake Reservation was totally and utterly wrong.

Let me say it very slowly and clearly for those with brain dysfunction....

My husband's family is from Cass Lake, a major town on the Leech Lake Reservation. Leech Lake is very, very Dangerous to live in.

The Tribal Government ...(Get ready for this) ...Does Not Own My Children.
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Thus, this related concept:
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The Tribal Government ...(Get ready for this) ...Does Not Own Anyone's Children.
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Now, I know that many have missed the news over the last couple years. But some might still remember names and issues in the back of their heads. Names like... Abramoff and Conrad Burns, and others that, along with Illinois Governor Blagojevich, believe in the "Pay to Play" concept.
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Okay, so now I'll say this slowly.
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Tribal Governments... Get More Money Per Head. (I will post some of the many federal programs tied to tribal census figures later.)
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Thus, they Want More Heads.
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The Last Census Indicates that Many Enrollable Families are Moving AWAY From the Reservations.
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MEANING - Tribal Governments NEED Bodies in order to have Their "Sovereign Nation." If Bodies move away, they Need Some Way to Regain their Population.
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Tribal Governments...(Are you Ready?) have been spending more and more on buying Senators over the last thirty years, and currently Contribute Millions of Dollars to Federal Campaigns. (See the Open Secrets web site for documentation)
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Tribal Governments have contributed large amounts of money to federal campaigns, including those of several on the Senate Committee for Indian Affairs. Former Senator Conrad Burns is one great example of a corrupt Senator changing his mind for a price. In the 1990's, the tribes considered him one of their opponents as he rightly tried to introduce legislation to limit tribal jurisdiction over non-members. He supported our stand on ICWA. He also tried to keep the National Bison Range as a national jewel, where people of every race would have opportunity for employment.
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However, after the tribes derided and embarrassed him over the jurisdiction issue at a Billings meeting, he changed his mind. He began taking money from the tribes and was involved with Abramoff. He did a total Flip Flop on the Bison Range issue. When we went back to him about ICWA, his staff said he would never support new Indian policy legislation unless all 500 tribes agreed to it.
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We lived in Montana at the time and helped to vote him out of office, but not before he'd done damage. At any rate, he's just one example of one of our great Senators who loved money a little too much. There are many more.
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And The Tribes Have Lots of Money to Give. Research Tribal Campaign Contributions.

Now, ask yourself two questions:
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#1) WHY have so many enrollable members moved off the reservation? As for our family and many of our relatives, the answer is that The Reservation Is No Place to Safely Raise Your Children.

Some will try figure out some way to blame it on the "white man." Only trouble is, MOST Enrollable members are more white than Indian. Can you Understand that? It's easy math. Most tribes require only 1/4 blood quantum to be enrollable. SOME TRIBES have much LESS. And the Cherokee Tribe has NO required blood quantum. We have a case where tribes has been interfering with an adoption of a child with less than 2% blood quantum. (http://www.caicw.org/familystories.html)
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#2) If the Tribes have so much money to pay Congressmen with, as well as attorneys to chase children down with, why aren't they instead spending that same money on infrastructure and job growth on the reservation? What are the true priorities? Why not just develop resources and make an honest effort to move away from the federal dole? If the reservations were cleaned up, wouldn't more people want to stay there and live? How can a government call itself Sovereign when it is constantly running to the US Congress and demanding more money? Sounds like a bunch of teenagers!
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So, let me wrap this little lesson up by pointing out the obvious to those that don't understand the obvious. I will use my family as an example in order to get the point across.
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The Tribe Does NOT Own My Family - and in Particular, MY Children.
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My Children are 50% Minnesota Chippewa, but they are also 1/4 German, Jewish, and a spattering pf Irish Catholic. They have OTHER relatives than just those on the reservation.
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MOST enrollable children have relatives of other heritage.
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In fact, my enrollable children have German Jewish relatives that died at Auschwitz.
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So tell me Brainiacs. why my children's Native American heritage is more important than their Jewish, Irish, or Scottish heritage. Tell me why in the world the state of Minnesota has passed a law last year that says that suggests tribal heritage is more important, and that the Minnesota tribes have jurisdiction over any enrollable child, even if the child and his family don't want to be involved with the tribe and has never had any contact or relationship with the tribe.
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That law affects not only my children but my grandchildren, who will all be at least 1/4 Minnesota Chippewa.
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For every non-Indian screaming about how we have to honor Leech Lake's tribal sovereignty...why don't you move your families to Cass Lake, Minnesota. Enroll your kids in school there. Encourage them to go play at the housing tracts.
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Go ahead, hypocrites. You know darn well you wouldn't' want your children raised there. So get your nose out of my family, and quit making stupid statements as well as laws that state that MY Children belong there.
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A commenter had the nerve in an earlier post to suggest the Larson's had "kidnapped" this baby. Excuse me? Who the heck are the ones doing the kidnapping, but the tribes themselves that push federal and state legislators to give them all the rights to Our Children!
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Possible Incentives for ICWA -

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Tribal Government Funding?

Ms. Scott Kayla Morrison, a member of the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe as well as an attorney specializing in Indian law, wrote in 1998, “ICWA is a money-driven program for the tribes from three perspectives: 1) federal funds generated by tribal membership; 2) federal income to fund program jobs; and 3) federal funds to administer courts adjudicating ICWA cases.

- "First, each tribal member generates $5,000 (1992) for the tribal administration from the thirteen federal agencies funding Indian programs. The more members, the more federal funds. With no blood quantum [required], [some tribes allow] a person with as little as 1/2000th (to) be enrolled as an Indian. If an Indian child is adopted by non-Indians, the tribe loses $5,000 a year for the lifespan of the child.

- “Second, federal dollars fund the ICWA program for the tribe. This generates jobs for tribal administration directly through program funds and indirectly through administrative costs. Of every federal dollar allocated by Congress, 89 cents goes to administer the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The remaining 11 cents goes to tribal administration. The Choctaw administration is allowed to take 46%, almost half or 5.5 cents, for administrative indirect costs. The remaining 5.5 cents are used to administer programs like ICWA. The more membership to serve, the more money the tribe requests that generates more jobs and more indirect costs. Allowing adoption outside the tribe cuts into the pocketbook of tribal administration.

- “Third, one purpose of a tribal court or a Code of Federal Register (CFR) Court is to adjudicate ICWA cases. The amount of federal funds allocated to the court is based on the number of cases served by the ICWA
program. The court program funds generate indirect costs and jobs.”

Ms. Morrison was correct. As a matter of fact -

- According to ACF Administration For Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 9, 2007, Child Care Bureau, Office of Family Assistance -

“Tribal Child Counts: For funds that become available in FY 2008, ACF will calculate grant awards based on the number of children under age 13. A Tribe must submit a self-certified Child Count Declaration for children under age 13 (not age 13 and under), in order to receive FY 2008 CCDF funds.

“ - Tribal Lead Agencies are reminded that CCDF funds are allocated based on child counts of children from Federally recognized Indian Tribes, consistent with the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act’s definition of Indian Tribe.”

- According to Aneva J. Yazzie, Chief Executive Officer, Navajo Housing Authority
In her testimony before the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, on Reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, July 18th, 2007, Washington, DC

“The most contentious issue facing Indian housing in the last few years has been the use of Census data to determine funding allocations. NHA has been heavily involved in this discussion because we believe this is not just a debate about how funds are allocated; it is fundamental to NAHASDA and to all Indian programs. Tribal housing must remain for tribal members and tribal members should be counted when determining funding allocations.

“…We support the use of tribal enrollment data, not Census data, to determine need under NAHASDA. Until terms of verifiable enrollment data can be agreed upon by federal government and tribal representatives, NHA urges a return to the use of single-race Census data because, while imperfect, it is the better approximation of tribal enrollment numbers.

(NOTE from Blog Author: Census data shows that NOT ALL ENROLLED MEMBERS are LIVING on the RESERVATION. Tribes would only recieve funds for members actually living on the reservation. Therefore, Tribes perfer Enrollement Numbers because THEY INCLUDE MANY WHO HAVE MOVED AWAY and who, like our family, have NO INTEREST in using tribal funds or programs.)

“… One change in federal law we would like the Committee to consider would be the elimination of the prohibition from using Indian Health Service funds in concert with NAHASDA funds… The concern that the lack of available funds means we should keep these funding streams separate may be well-intended, but it flies in the face of
Tribal self-determination.”

- According to the 2003 DOI-BIA Indian Population and Labor Force Report, mandated by order of Public law 102-477, “The Indian Employment, Training, and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992:

- Total number of enrolled tribal members and members from other tribes who live on or near the reservation and are eligible to use the tribe’s Bureau of Indian Affairs funded services – Total 2003 Tribal enrollment - 1,923,650. 5.9% increase from 2001 labor force report, 34.7% from 1995. The 2003 increase is attributed to updated tribal rolls, improved record keeping procedures, and revisions to tribal enrollment criteria.
- Total 2003 Service population 1,587,519. 4.2% increase from 2001 labor force report. 26.0% from 1995. It is also a 216% increase over the Total Service Population reported in 1982. The 2003 Service Population increase is attributed to increased record keeping and improved data collection methods, as well as eligible Indian individuals and families who came to reside in the tribe’s service area to benefit from opportunities and services unavailable to them in off-reservation
communities.
- 562 Federally recognized tribes

- Several corporate and “at-large” Alaska tribal entities formed by the 1971 ANCS Act.

- From Indianz.com, “House panel boosts funds for Indian Programs”, Monday, June 11, 2007. accessed Aug. 30, 2007 –

- Indian Education, urban health clinics, law enforcement, and language preservation will see boosts in funding under bills advanced by the House Appropriations committee last week.
- At a markup on Thursday, the committee approved 5,7 billion for Indian programs at the Interior Department and related agencies, including the Indian Health Service….
- The bill “honors our obligations to Native American communities, making investments into better education and healthcare,” the committee said of the overall $27.6 billion package, an increase of 4.3 percent over current levels.”

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