1 / 17

COMMON GROUND: PRESERVING INDIAN FAMILIES AND TRIBES

COMMON GROUND: PRESERVING INDIAN FAMILIES AND TRIBES. TRIBES DEVELOP CONFIDENCE REGARDING THEIR CHILD REARING TRADITIONS. INDIAN TRADITIONS VALIDITY AND RECOGNITION. MANY TRIBAL MEMBERS LACK INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR OWN HISTORY AND TRADITIONS REBUILDING INDIAN NATIONS.

monita
Download Presentation

COMMON GROUND: PRESERVING INDIAN FAMILIES AND TRIBES

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. COMMON GROUND: PRESERVING INDIAN FAMILIES AND TRIBES

  2. TRIBES DEVELOP CONFIDENCE REGARDING THEIR CHILD REARING TRADITIONS

  3. INDIAN TRADITIONS VALIDITY AND RECOGNITION

  4. MANY TRIBAL MEMBERS LACK INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR OWN HISTORY AND TRADITIONS REBUILDING INDIAN NATIONS

  5. THE WHITE EARTH INDIAN RESERVATION • Established by Treaty in 1867 • 19,629 enrolled members of those approx 2,710 under age of 16 • 9,188 on reservation residents • Roughly 5,000 tribal members on reservation • 2007- 175 child protection cases filed • 2006-197 child protection cases filed

  6. THE WHITE EARTH TRIBAL COURT GETTING STARTED • We started with a blank slate and decided we needed some laws to follow • White Earth Judicial Code enacted in 1997 • Child/Family Protection Code • Customary Adoption Code adopted many years later-it had been a custom but never written

  7. CUSTOMARY ADOPTIONS WHAT WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE • More than 250 customary adoptions completed in White Earth Tribal Court • We complete adoptions for many different tribes • Our customary adoptions are recognized by all federal, state and local agencies and the adoptive parents receive adoption subsidies if they qualify-but this was not always the case • Addressing permanency for many tribes

  8. WHAT IS THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE INDIAN CHILD: “MARY’S” STORY

  9. BEST INTERESTS OF AN INDIAN CHILD • stable, satisfactory environment and the desirability of maintaining continuity • the permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed adoptive home • the mental and physical health of all individuals involved; • the capacity and disposition of the parties to give the child love, affection, guidance and to continue educating the child in the child’s tribal culture and heritage.

  10. BEST INTERESTS OF THE TRIBE • The ability of the tribe and its members to provide for the child; • the ability of the tribe and its members to provide for the continuation of the tribe’s culture, language, history, religion, traditions and values through its children if those children are taken away and not taught these things throughout their daily lives • Tribal survival

  11. BEST INTERESTS OF THE TRIBE • The ability of the Tribe to continue as a viable cultural entity throughout their daily lives. • The ability of the Tribe to continue as a viable cultural entity will be hindered by the loss of its children. • Our elder’s tell us that every child is a gift from the creator and is viewed by the Tribe as crucial to the future of the tribe as a whole.

  12. SUSPENSIONS OF PARENTAL RIGHTS: NOT TERMINATIONS • Always include a contact agreement • May be reviewed by the court if one of the following occurs: • if there is no final permanency order in effect after a period of one (1) year after the entry of the final order suspending parental rights; • the adoption of the child fails; • or the adoptive parent is deceased.

  13. FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDER • We knew we had a problem-but really how bad was it? • We had no comprehensive way to measure the impact of FASD within our reservation • So we decided we needed to apply for a grant to find out how bad our problem is-thanks to our good friend Dr. Larry Burd at UND we formed the: • White Earth Reservation Tribal Court FASD Diagnosis and Intervention Initiative • Juvenile Delinquency statistics • Jail Population

  14. SOME OTHER DISTRESSING STATISTICS FOR THE WHITE EARTH RESERVATION • 2005 Teen Birth rate 34 per 1000 • State of MN is 13 per 1000 • Juvenile arrests increased 259% on reservation from 1990 to 2004 • 2004 poverty rate under age 18 is 22% on reservation • 10.6% State of MN • Free Reduced Lunch Program: • 70.2% on Reservation • 30% State of MN

  15. FAMILY DEPENDENCY TREATMENT • Drug Court model • Applies to child protection cases • voluntary • Many young women have substantial child protection histories and are ready to permanently lose their children • This is their last chance to reunify with their children • 18 month long court involvement • Intensive services and monitoring 3-6 UA’s per week, court meets weekly

  16. CHAIRWOMAN ERMA VIZENOR I always believe that I am here in this particular position, place and time for a reason as a part of God’s great plan for me and those around me. I don’t know what tomorrow brings, no one does. So I pray. My mom prays for me. I call her when I am driving home late at night and before I hang up she prays for me. I come home, play phone messages and my mom is on the answering machine, praying in Indian.

  17. HISTORICAL TRAUMA: CHAIRWOMAN ERMA VIZENOR Healing has to take place among our people, causes of social problems, self-destruction, violence, anger and poverty are rooted in historical trauma, the holocaust of history. The white people and many Indian people don’t get it, that dealing with loss of land, children taken away, families broken, loss of culture, tradition and language, constant oppression and discrimination are the historical pain and anger carried from one generation to the next.

More Related