Native Children and Foster Care Money

[yaahl]

We're holding our breath here in Alberta, a supervisor for foster care has been charged with possessin and distributing child porn. We've been told so far that there is no evidence that any child from his office is involved... but we'll see as the investigation proceeds.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/12/05/edmonton-lac-la-biche-stoesz-court.html

[subeeds]

I'm glad to hear the ACLU is looking into this. rights have certainly been violated in many ways. As to the second story, that just breaks my heart.

[AmigoKumeyaay]

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Church-sex-abuse-victims-sue-DSHS--134365163.html

Church sex abuse victims sue DSHS . by ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News
KING5.com
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 5:40 PM

Updated yesterday at 5:41 PM

They say they suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of a pedophile priest. Half a century later, they aren't suing the church -- they're suing the state.

It has been a long, painful - often ugly - road for Kathy Mendez.

"Sometimes you become physically ill to your stomach when you start remembering things," she said, pensively walking the streets of downtown Seattle.

Sent by her parents to live at Saint Mary's Mission School in Omak when she was just 11 years old, Mendez says she was routinely molested for over 2 years.

Holding back tears she says, "Father Morse's face is what I remember. Not the other kids. Not my teachers. Just his face."

Father John Morse is accused of molesting at least 75 foster children at the school over the course of some 3 decades. Others at St. Mary's are belived to have abused nearly 400 more. All of them were under DSHS supervision.

Morse denies molesting children. He was never prosecuted for any crime because the statute of limitations has run out. He currently lives in a Jesuit retirement home in Spokane, under 24 hour supervision. A settlement with other victims earlier this year bankrupted the Northwest Jesuit Order.

With no money further way to punish the church, Mendez and seven other Native American accusers are focusing on DSHS. They all share eerily similar stories.

The physical abuse started from the time I was in the first grade," said Dwayne Paul.

"I lived with the shame and the pain for all these years," added Mendez.

"We were told not to ever talk about it," said Theresa Bessette, as she wept.

They're suing DSHS, saying the agency should have known St. Mary's School was no place for children. Dwayne Paul, now 53, says he told his school counselor about the abuse when his started at age 5.

"She wouldn't ask me what was going on when I told her bad things were happening at St. Mary's," he said. "They told me to stop making up stories."

These are admittedly badly broken people.

Fifty years after the abuse, they sit like timid little children as they tell their stories in the office of attorney Blaine Tamaki. They all say they've lived in fear of the monster coming out in them -- so much so -- they've had a hard time simply hugging their own children.

"I held my children back from me, away from me," said Mendez. "I didn't want to touch them in anyway that would harm them."

As Mendez steps out of her lawyer's office and back onto the cold, wet Seattle street, she says the hardest part is realizing the road she walks is her's forever. No matter where she turns the road will follow her. "There's no way to fix it, to ever make it right."

[AmigoKumeyaay]

http://www.aclusd.org/indian-child-welfare-act-violations-prompts-aclu-investigation-into-south-dakota-foster-care-system.html

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INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT VIOLATIONS PROMPTS ACLU INVESTIGATION INTO SOUTH DAKOTA FOSTER CARE SYSTEM

ACLU Seeks Input from American Indian Families With Children in DSS

SIOUX FALLS, SD - The appalling treatment of American Indian children, family, and tribes by the South Dakota Department of Social Services as described in recent NPR News reports has prompted the ACLU of South Dakota to investigate the actions as violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

The NPR News series, "Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families," explains how American Indian children represent more than half of all children in foster care, yet account for less than 15 percent of the state's total child population. The report also features interviews from tribal members who recall DSS officials driving onto the reservation, removing children from homes, and preventing contact with family.

The report describes several instances of ICWA violations, as well as blatant disregard of fundamental Constitutional norms and international human rights as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to Robert Doody Esq., Executive Director of the ACLU of South Dakota.

"The ACLU is firmly committed to addressing this most recent manifestation of racism and colonization in our state," Doody said. "It is shocking to see politicians and members of the government, who hold themselves out as "pro-family," react in utter contempt and callous disregard to the legitimate grievances of American Indians."

The ACLU of South Dakota wants to hear from American Indians who recently had children removed by DSS in order to ascertain the depth and breadth of the problem. Any American Indian with concerns regarding their experiences with or treatment by DSS should contact the ACLU at (605) 332-2508 or email [email protected].

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Please direct media inquiries to Taté Walker, ACLU of South Dakota Communications Director: (605) 332-2508, (646) 421-9387 or [email protected]. For more information about the ACLU of South Dakota, visit www.aclusd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

[Zeke]

A study conducted by the Association on American Indian Affairs in 1969 found that in states with a large Native American population 25-35% of all Native American children were removed from their families. In Minnesota alone from 1971-72 nearly one in four infants under the age of one were placed for adoption and 90% of those adoptions were to non-Native American homes.

If the kids were placed in better situations, who gives a damn?

I'll tell you RIGHT NOW that Native kids born in the State of Minnesota who required being removed during the year I was born (as noted) were probably best served by being placed in improved situations.

And?

I don't see a problem.

[AmigoKumeyaay]

http://www.srwoodbridge.com/wordpress/?cat=5

Indian Adoption Project

Saturday, October 7th in Native American, Laws


Between 1958 and 1967, CWLA cooperated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, under a federal contract, to facilitate an experiment in which 395 Indian children were removed from their tribes and cultures for adoption by non-Indian families. Throuought this project, BIA and CWLA actively encouraged states to continue and to expand the proctice of “rescuing” Native children from their own cultures.

The experiment referred to above was called the Indian Adoption Project and although the numbers of children placed by this project seemed small it was extremely influential. It led to an increased demand from non-Native American families for Native American children and that need was met by state and county social services departments. The assumption was that an Indian child was better off being placed away from the reservation in areas that had less prejudice against Native Americans and with non-Native American families.

A study conducted by the Association on American Indian Affairs in 1969 found that in states with a large Native American population 25-35% of all Native American children were removed from their families. In Minnesota alone from 1971-72 nearly one in four infants under the age of one were placed for adoption and 90% of those adoptions were to non-Native American homes.

As one tribe member put it in explaining to congress the need for this law “culturally, the chances of Indian survival are significantly reduced if our children, the only real means for the transmission of the tribal heritage, are to be raised in non-Indian homes and denied exposure to their people” from Children and the Law

These studies brought about the Indian Child Welfare act of 1978. This act was designed to place child custody back in the hands of the tribal courts. The mandate was to attempt to place Native American children needing a new home first with family member, second with other member of the child’s tribe and third with other Native American families.

Activities

The Indian Adoption Project was not the only time in American history when there was an attempt to “take the Indian out of the Indian”. There was an earlier time period from the 1880s to the 1920s sometimes known as the Boarding School era.

[Zeke]

You may have an opinion on the way our people have handled the matter, but it counts for little on the larger scale of things.

Beyond recognizing the distilled essence of the entire situation?

[yaahl]

And, of course, if Native folks took care of their children -- or didn't have them in squalor -- we wouldn't HAVE this issue.

Zeke, you are confusing the above video's content of Residential Schools with adoptions/apprehension issues. In Canada, the two issues are very different. A man called Duncan Campbell Scott, created the residential school assimilation program. In literary circles, he is applauded for his skill in authoring rhyme. Your lack of ability to understand that there is a very different experience in Canada to that of the American First Nation person is showing again. Squalor and lack of care had absolutely nothing to do with the residential school legislation contained in the Indian Act. The apology from the GOC to First Nations in Canada concerning the Residential Schools and their effect on entire communities over several generations (1878 until 1988)has lead to a billions of dollars being set aside to attempt to make things right.

As an American, you really don't have much say in any of this. You may have an opinion on the way our people have handled the matter, but it counts for little on the larger scale of things.

[Zeke]

And, of course, if Native folks took care of their children -- or didn't have them in squalor -- we wouldn't HAVE this issue.

[AmigoKumeyaay]

Here's the Canada connection:

"RelRaine" of the YouTube channel describes herself -

I should be GiskaastWoman, which means Killerwhale woman. LOL!

About Me:

I'm a mom of four/Gigi to one, I'm Tsimshian, Nisga'a, and Gitksan. I belong to two houses. We come from a Matrilineal/Matriachal society on the Northcoast of British Columbia.




She combined Archie's song with images from Canada's history, resulting in an amazing video that needs to be promoted EVERYWHERE.

[AmigoKumeyaay]

[AmigoKumeyaay]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-Proof_Fence_(film)
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.Set in Western Australia during the 1930s, the film begins in the remote town of Jigalong where three children, sisters Molly Craig (Everlyn Sampi), 14, and Daisy Kadibil (Tianna Sansbury), 8, live with their mother and grandmother, and their cousin Gracie Fields (Laura Monaghan), 10. The town lies along the northern part of Australia's rabbit-proof fence, which runs for several thousand miles.
Thousands of miles away, the 'protector' of Western Australian Aborigines, A. O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), signs an order to relocate the three girls to his re-education camp. The children are referred to by Neville as "half-castes", having one white and one aboriginal parent. Neville's reasoning is portrayed as being that the Aboriginal peoples of Australia are a danger to themselves, & that the "half-castes" must be bred out of existence. The children are forcibly taken from Jigalong & taken to the camp at Moore River to the south. Half-castes that are of a certain age live at the camps and are taught to become servants for the whites living in Australia.

Molly, Gracie, and Daisy decide to escape the camp and walk back home to Jigalong. An Aboriginal tracker, Moodoo (David Gulpilil), is called in to find them. However, the girls are well versed in disguising their tracks. They evade Moodoo several times, receiving aid from strangers in the harsh Australian country they travel. They eventually find the rabbit-proof fence, knowing that they can follow it north to Jigalong. Neville soon figures out their strategy and sends Moodoo and a local constable, Riggs, after them. Although he is an experienced tracker, Moodoo is unable to find them.
Neville spreads word that Gracie's mother is waiting for her in the tower of Wiluna. The information finds its way to a man who 'helps' the girls. He tells Gracie about her mother and that they can get to Wiluna by train, causing her to break off from the group and attempt to catch a train to Wiluna. Molly and Daisy soon walk after her, finding her at a train station. They are not reunited, however, as Riggs appears and Gracie is re-captured. Knowing they are helpless to aid her, Molly and Daisy continue on. In the end the two sister make it home and go into hiding in the desert with their mother and grandmother.
The epilogue of the film shows recent footage of Molly and Daisy. Molly explains that Gracie had died and that she never returned to Jigalong. Molly also tells us of her own two daughters and that the three of them were taken, from Jigalong, back to Moore River. She managed to escape with one daughter, Annabelle, and once again, she walked the length of the fence back home. However, when Annabelle was 3 years old, she was taken away and Molly never saw her again. In closing, Molly says that she and Daisy "...Will never go back to Moore River. Never."

[AmigoKumeyaay]

Archie Roach of Australia


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After a long absence, Archie Roach returns with a sublime but powerful new album - Journey.

'I thought writing the song Took The Children Away was, in part, a way of telling people that taking children from their families was not necessarily the best or only so-called solution concerning the child or their family's well being. I was wrong.
We thought the Bringing Them Home report would see measures taken to ensure it should never happen again. We were wrong.
We thought the Deaths in Custody report would help prevent such things happening. We were wrong.
The songs from Journey are a reaffirmation of identity, country, beliefs and spirit and how no-one listened to our recommendations on stolen kids or people dying in jails. So it continues.... but we are still watching and definitely taking note.'
Archie Roach. 2007

Produced by Shane Howard and Engineered and Co-produced by Nash Chambers, the new album Journey was a long time in the creation and preparation and a short time in the recording. Recorded live in Melbourne's Sing Sing studios after a journey that took Archie from the spiritual Ngurrarra paintings, south of Fitzroy Crossing, to the deaths in custody in the jails of Roebourne and Fremantle. It continued through the desert country of Central Australia and the inevitable connection back to Archie's home country of the Gunditjmara/Kirrae Whurrong of South West Victoria.
Journey is a companion piece to the recently released Liyarn Ngarn DVD, a compelling tale of racism and a plea for a new future in black/white relations in Australia.
Archie Roach has seen a lot, some would say too much hurt, but still these holy songs reach out to bridge the divide between black and white. They are prayers for forgiveness and understanding. Archie Roach turns suffering into hope....and art.
Australia needs these songs right now. Black and white. We all need to be healed and reassured by one of Australia's great songwriters and singers. And Archie Roach is a unique voice in the league of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker or George Jones.
This album soars. It also stills you in the eternal moment of dreaming. Songs of pain, loss, racism, redemption and hope. These songs are a marriage of Aboriginal and Western philosophy from the heart and mind of an extraordinary writer and singer.
An elder statesman of Aboriginal music, Archie takes us on a journey of epic dimensions but the music and the message are absolutely clear and uncomplicated.

Journey due for release late 2007 features special guest appearances by Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley, Paul Kelly, David Bridie, Shane Howard and The Pigram Brothers

[Zeke]

It sounds like Robbie Robertson stuff from 12-13 years ago (Contact from the Underworld of Redboy).

[subeeds]

What a haunting song that is .