California courts hear more Indian Child Welfare Act cases than any other state in the country, because the state social workers are not complying with the ICWA notification provision, according to a study presented last October at the American Indian Identity Conference held at Michigan State University. The study was the topic of a recent blog post on Turtle Talk. The author of the study, Kathryn Fort, found that California is doing a poor job of notifying Indian tribes that Indian children have entered the court system. Among other things, the study suggests that social workers do not have a sufficient understanding of ICWA or tribal membership requirements. Also noted in the post was another paper by Matthew Fletcher on the legislative history of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
I would like to inform you of the collaberative work which is currently being done to increase the knowledge & importance around ICWA amoung the social workers in Los Angeles County. The American Indian Children's Council (AICC) along with the National Indian Child Welfare Assoication(NICWA),Deparment of Child and Family Services (DCFS) and the Inter University Consorsium (IUC) have developed an improved/enhanced ICWA training curriculm which highlights the importance of ICWA and Cross Cultural Skills. This training is currently in process and will continue to be ongoing to new and exisiting social workers. This training is unique as it includes a Tribal community trainer who co faciliates with a IUC & DCFS trainer. This training is a direct result of AICC ICWA taskforce. Although the article speaks on the state of California in general,the Los Angeles area is working hard to educate social workers and create a better understanding of the importance of this Act for our future generations.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Avril Cordova-Taos Pueblo/Oglala Lakota
AICC Co-Convener
avrilcordova@hotmail.com
Perhaps compliance is difficult because the law itself is unjust, and caring people don't like to see children subjected to not only unjust, but dangerous law.
ReplyDeleteAnd under the single criterion that a home be ICWA eligable, kids are continually being placed into horrible situations with the blessing of both the federal and tribal governments.
And not just kids of tribal heritage - but children of every heritage, because a child doesn't need to be 100% tribal to for a tribe to have jurisdiction over them through ICWA. Most tribes require only 1/4 blood quantum, meaning the child has an even greater heritage somewhere else. Some tribes require even less to claim a child. For example, a child in Texas has less than 2% tribal heritage, but the tribe is trying to claim him.
The law itself is a crime, and as long as it stays that way, there will be difficulty in getting compassionate people to comply.
http://icwaishurtingfamilies.blogspot.com
Great to know about this..
ReplyDelete___________________
Andrew
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