ICWA provisions help Indian children

Editor,

Lisa Morris insists we should all beware of the Indian Child Welfare Act because it could abduct her tribally enrolled children and forcibly place them in a dangerous environment. Her concerns are greatly overstated.

The intent of the ICWA must be understood. With the reinvention of Indian self-determination in the 1970s, it became clear that widespread separation of Indian children from their families and tribes was occurring in state courts, through adoption or removal to foster care. Social workers and judges, well-meaning but untrained in Indian cultural perspectives, made judgments on child placement based on white, middle class values.

Surveys in 1969 and 1974 by the Association on American Indian Affairs revealed nearly a third of all Indian children were separated from their families and culture and placed in foster care of other institutions.

The ICWA was an important reform measure intended to combat such widespread separation of Indian children from their families and culture. Morris' statement that "the ICWA is really for the benefit of tribal government, not the welfare of children" is patently false.

The bill before the state legislature that Morris referenced (SB 86) is merely an effort to clarify definitions in the implementation of the federal ICWA in Montana. It was requested by the State Department of Public Health and Human Services and passed the Senate 50-0.

It is appropriate for Morris to have concerns for her children, but the ICWA is not one of them. Indian children must already be in the welfare system before ICWA takes effect. The placement and care of her children would never be contrary to her personal request as long as abuse or neglect is not the case.

W. Bennington

Polson