Another View: Beware of Indian Child Welfare Act
Winding its way through the legislature is SB 86, the Montana ICWA bill. As the mother of five tribally enrolled children and legal custodian of four others, I have to wonder if the people of America really understand what the federal Indian Child Welfare Act is really doing.
My husband and I have both fought ICWA knowing that should anything happen to us, our children would be forced to live in a community foreign to their upbringing. And not just foreign, but dangerous.
My husband, a tribal member of 100 percent heritage, grew up on the Rez and watched many siblings, nephews and nieces die tragically — their deaths all related to the alcohol, drugs and violence. He didn't want our children to ever live there, nor among relatives in the South Minneapolis tribal community, which is also sick with violence and drugs. He was adamant about this, and one of the final things he did prior to his passing this last June was to go again to Washington, D.C. and tell Congressmen how wrong ICWA is.
For example: the Federal ICWA requires that "the prevailing social and cultural standards of the Indian community in which extended family resides be applied in placement preferences."
In other words, it doesn't matter where the parents were living or if they chose to be involved with the tribal community. What matters is where a second cousin might reside and the life choices that second cousin has made. This prohibits parents the right to choose where and how they want their children raised.
Further, both Montana SB 86 and the federal ICWA defines a "Qualified Expert Witness" as one who, is recognized by the "tribal community" as knowledgeable in "tribal customs" and has significant knowledge of and experience with Indian culture, family structure, and child-rearing practices in general.
Does "where and how" the child has been raised to this point have any bearing?
If a child is half-Hispanic and has been raised in a Hispanic community, speaking Spanish, does the prevailing social and cultural standards of the tribal community still take precedence in the placement of that child? Apparently so.
A small boy named Jose was nearly beaten to death this last fall after being removed from his Hispanic paternal grandmother and placed with a maternal grandmother on the Rez, solely on the basis of ICWA.
What if the child is half-Jewish? Where would political correctness stand in that case? My children are part Jewish, being raised Christian. Should the culture and customs of the Leech Lake Reservation apply to them?
Wouldn't a witness be more qualified and expert in the well-being of the child if the witness understood the community in which the child has been raised and the community within which the family exists, rather than the community in which the tribe exists? Who is the expert witness testifying for?
What if the child is three-quarters tribal, but his parents simply chose to raise him in an alternate community with alternate standards and customs? Is that okay?
The bottom line is: Humans desire choice and have time and again fought for the freedom to make those choices. That is just as true today as it has been any other time in the history. Tribal members are human beings and desire choice just as much as anyone else. In America, we are proud of our democracy, equality, and the right that all citizens have to make individual choices and live life to their fullest. We try to help other countries achieve the same. Are citizens of Native American heritage allowed less?
In addition to advocating for the rights of parents and families to choose their own lifestyle, my husband also felt, from what he had witnessed, that ICWA prevented Indian children from getting protection equal to that of children of other heritages. As one social worker told us when we received the four children into our home, "if they had been white or black, they would have been removed from harm a lot sooner." Is this acceptable to America?
ICWA is really for the benefit of tribal government, not for the welfare of children.