A Call to Action...for Cherokee Children & All Native Youth

All Cherokee children have their own special place in the Cherokee Nation – our Cherokee children hold the future of our people in their hands. When a child is removed from her family, her community and her tribe it doesn’t just change her life – it changes the future of her entire Nation. Do you want to help the Cherokee Nation keep our children safe and our families and communities strong? Here’s how you can help!

Do you have five minutes?

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has taken a bold step: it has proposed the first-ever set of substantive Indian Child Welfare Act regulations that will create more protection for Native children and families. With just a few keystrokes, you can email comments@bia.gov and share your own thoughts about the ICWA regulations and the overall importance of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Not sure what to say? View our sample comments below. 

Do you have ten minutes?

So you’ve submitted a written comment, and you’d like to do more? Why not take a few minutes and share this information with your family and friends? Re-post, tweet, and let people know that preserving our Nation’s culture and protecting our children is important to you. If you have a minute or two left, learn more about the new regulations at http://www.nicwa.org/government/ICWA_Regs_Resources.asp

You still want to do more?

We appreciate you! On May 14, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be holding a public meeting at the Tulsa Marriott Southern Hills, 1902 East 71^st Street, Tulsa, OK 74136. We would love to see you there. It’s your chance to share a personal story, make a short general comment in favor of the regulations, or just support other commenters with your presence. Standing up for our children is a great way to spend an afternoon!

SAMPLE COMMENTS:

1.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new definition for ”active efforts” makes it clear to state courts that efforts above and beyond “reasonable efforts” must be made to maintain and reunite an Indian child with his or her family and tribal community. Engaging extended family, keeping siblings together, helping a parent overcome obstacles – these are the things that our Indian children and families need and deserve.

2.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new definition of “active efforts” specifically lists some things that the parties involved in a case can do to keep families together, including offering culturally appropriate family preservation strategies and taking into account the Indian child’s tribe’s cultural conditions and way of life when selecting reunification services. Since many state courts have little contact with Indian tribes and people, it’s good that the regulations highlight the importance of honoring tribal cultural practices.

3.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new definition of “custody” emphasizes that a parent’s custody may be physical and/or legal and may exist under tribal law, tribal custom or state law. This regulation acknowledges that child custody may be viewed differently under tribal law, tribal custom or state law, and I think that requiring state courts to look at custody with these different laws and customs in mind will lead to better, more informed decisions by state courts.

4.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new definition of “imminent physical damage or harm” is in line with other state laws and regulations which keep a child in his or her home unless the child is in need of immediate protection due to an imminent safety threat. No child should be removed from home without a good reason. We know that Indian children are overrepresented in foster care all over the Unites States, and I feel that this regulation will ensure that state courts are always asking for that “good reason” if they have an Indian child in custody.

5.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new regulations make it clear that there is no exception to the application of the ICWA based on the so-called “existing Indian family doctrine.” State courts should not be in the business of deciding what an Indian family is, or whether that family is worth protecting. A person’s blood quantum, record of voting in tribal elections and his or her subscriptions to tribal newsletters say little about that person’s essential family and tribal relationships. I think it’s good that the regulations keep state courts from considering such extraneous details.

6.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. To protect an Indian child, the state courts must be able to identify an Indian child. The new regulations require state courts to ask EVERY party, on the record, whether there is reason to believe the child is an Indian child – even guardians ad litem and agency representatives. In the Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case, several parties knew that Veronica was an Indian child, but did not put that information down on required forms. I don’t want to see that happen again, so I think it’s great that the new regulations will require every party to let the court know if the child is, or even could be, an Indian child.

7.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. I know that state court proceedings can be time-consuming, but why should a child wait to be protected? Under the new regulations, if there is any reason to believe a child is an Indian child then everyone involved treats that child as if he or she is an Indian child until the state court can make a final determination. This is a much better practice than making an Indian child sit in a non-relative, non-Indian foster home for weeks or months. I’m glad the regulations will require state courts to protect Indian children from the first day of a child custody proceeding.

8.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. The new regulations require the parties to send notice of child custody proceedings to Indian tribes whether the proceeding is voluntary or involuntary. Parents may voluntarily decide to place kids into guardianships or for adoption, but kids don’t “volunteer” to be the subject of these types of proceedings and deserve and need the oversight and protection that their tribal governments can provide. If tribes don’t have notice then they can’t intervene in child custody proceedings, so I think this regulation is necessary and very helpful.

9.            Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. I never want to see another child have to face the difficulties that Veronica faced in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children was supposed to prevent Indian children from being removed from the state until the tribe was notified, but that didn’t happen in her case. That’s why I’m glad that the new regulations require both the sending and receiving states to provide notice to the child’s tribe and seek to verify whether the child is an Indian child. With this new regulation, I know Indian tribes will receive notice if someone wants to send an Indian child between states.

10.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. I think it’s great that the new regulations encourage tribes and the families of Indian children to participate via phone, videoconferencing, or by other methods. Many tribes, including the Cherokee Nation, have citizens living in nearly every state in the country. If tribal attorneys, social workers and family members are permitted to appear in the courts of other states via phone or video, it means that better protection for our Indian children.

11.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. I think there are a lot of myths surrounding tribal courts, especially in states where there are few Indian tribes. State courts may feel that the child isn’t ”Indian enough” to qualify for tribal jurisdiction. State courts may not feel that tribal courts are trustworthy, or fear that the tribal court judge will make a different decision than the one the state court judge would make. This type of fear and ignorance shouldn’t keep children out of the tribal courts. I’m glad that the new regulations prevent state courts from refusing to transfer a child to tribal courts on these grounds.

  

12.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. I believe that Indian children need to be placed with their families, whenever possible. When no family is available, then the child should be in a home within his or her tribe. The regulations acknowledge that placing a child in accordance with the placement preferences in the ICWA is in every Indian child’s best interest, and I’m glad that state courts will be required to place children with family and within the child’s tribe. A short stay in a foster home should not turn into a permanent placement away from the child’s family and tribal community.

13.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. Many people in the country were shocked and saddened by the difficulties that Veronica, the child from the Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case, lived through in the past two years. I’m sure that no one would like to see another child have to face the same difficulties. I feel that the new ICWA regulations are a great step toward making the foster care and adoptive systems safer and more humane places for our Indian children, and I’m glad the BIA took this step.

14.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. There’s no doubt about it: there are people who make a lot of money in the adoption industry. Adoption can be beautiful and life-affirming when everyone involved is working together to give a child a new home. But when participants are untruthful with the court, or hide information from the biological and adoptive parents, or put money before family relationships, it can be a disaster. We want responsible adoption in Indian country, and these regulations do a lot of help keep the adoption process all about children and not about money.

15.          Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed ICWA regulations. As a tribal citizen, I know first-hand how foster care and adoption can affect a tribal community. Our language, our culture, and our future all depend upon the children in our tribe today. These new regulations will help protect against unlawful removal from of children from their homes, which often turns into placement away from tribal communities. Even today, the history of boarding schools and the Indian Adoption Project affect our communities. I believe the BIA is taking a positive step forward, and I urge you to adopt the proposed regulations.