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Monday Mini: The Indian Child Welfare Act · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm not talking to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Stepman ever told your protection of I Heart Radio. Yes,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and welcome to another Monday. Many Today is actually a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more serious than the typical topics that I've
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: been bringing as we talked about games as such. So
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I do want to go ahead and put a content warning. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: we are going to be talking about adoption and foster
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  Speaker 1: care uh and not necessarily in the most positive light,
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  Speaker 1: as well as abuse against the indigenous communities and very
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  Speaker 1: very outdated language. So please understand if we are using
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  Speaker 1: terms that you're like, oh, you're not supposed to say
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that anymore. You are correct, but we're either quoting or
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  Speaker 1: talking about specific x and or something that is being
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  Speaker 1: said directly about a committee that has been named back
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  Speaker 1: in the early in mid nineteen century, which by the way,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds like so long ago, but it really wasn't.
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  Speaker 1: It really wasn't anyway back to that. So go ahead
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  Speaker 1: and put that in your head as we talk about
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  Speaker 1: our topic today. And um, there's a lot of up
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  Speaker 1: people within our justice system as the current Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: has taken some i'll say unprecedented but probably not in
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  Speaker 1: all honesty, as well as the fact predicted almost steps
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  Speaker 1: in overturning a lot of policies and constitutional rights these
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  Speaker 1: last few months, and we couldn't pass by without mentioning
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  Speaker 1: the continued stripping of the tribal sovereignty of the indigenous
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  Speaker 1: community here in the US. And I think it's really
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  Speaker 1: important that we talked about this because, yes, um, while
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  Speaker 1: we're not specifically talking about I guess feminist level of conversations,
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  Speaker 1: we are talking about how this does come down to
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  Speaker 1: affecting the women and children of this community as well
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  Speaker 1: as a non binary or two spirit and I think
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  Speaker 1: it's really important that we talk about it and make
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  Speaker 1: or that we are keeping tabs and what is happening
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  Speaker 1: with this community. As we talked about in our past
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  Speaker 1: episode when it comes to politics, the Indigenous communities are
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  Speaker 1: one of the most underrepresented communities around the world, as
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  Speaker 1: new studies and discoveries continue to show the persecutions and
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  Speaker 1: overall genocide of the Indigenous community, including the discoveries of
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  Speaker 1: mass graves at past boarding schools uh that Native children
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  Speaker 1: were forced into, which we're gonna talk a little bit more. Again,
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  Speaker 1: we're not gonna go into too deep about these specific things,
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  Speaker 1: but kind of wanted to make sure that we are
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  Speaker 1: keeping tabs. But recently the Supreme Court hasn't reversed some
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  Speaker 1: of the autonomy that Native communities have worked so hard
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  Speaker 1: to try to regain. And y'all, we're not talking in
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  Speaker 1: the last two hundred years. We're talking about the last
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  Speaker 1: fifty sixty seventy years that's been happening. That's relatively young.
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  Speaker 1: Just recently, the Supreme Court ruled to expand state authority
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  Speaker 1: to allow for prosecution of some crimes uh in the
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  Speaker 1: Native American land. As before, the tribes had the right
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  Speaker 1: to govern their own land, but with this new court
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  Speaker 1: ruling has given leeway to the state to be more
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  Speaker 1: involved than On top of that fact, on the federal level,
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  Speaker 1: the U. S Government have always had authority in Native
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  Speaker 1: lands to prosecute if they felt there was a need.
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  Speaker 1: So there's a possible ability that a Native person could
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  Speaker 1: be prosecuted three times for one crime. So it's really
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  Speaker 1: really dangerous. It is obviously very intentional, I guess the
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  Speaker 1: best way to say it, um. And then with this
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  Speaker 1: type of ruling they have as just as Gorseius wrote
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  Speaker 1: in his dissension, failed to honor the nation's promises, which
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  Speaker 1: we know has been a long time in conversation and
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  Speaker 1: trying to write those so many wrongs against the Native community.
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  Speaker 1: But other acts are up to be possibly overturned by
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  Speaker 1: the current Supreme Court, including the Indian Child Welfare Act
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  Speaker 1: are the i c w A. The i c w
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  Speaker 1: A was acted in after research showed a federal push
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  Speaker 1: to assimilate Native Americans to white culture. The i c
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  Speaker 1: w A was a call to correct the unforgivable agenda
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  Speaker 1: placed by white supremacist According to the data collected by
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  Speaker 1: lawyers and Indigenous activists, the overall push to wipe out
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  Speaker 1: the Native people use the welfare system to assimilate Native
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  Speaker 1: children to white culture. Though we aren't going to go
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  Speaker 1: too deep into the horrific history today, that is something
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  Speaker 1: for us to to come back and visit. For sure.
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  Speaker 1: We'll we'll do a quick summary of how we got
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  Speaker 1: here today. So with the ugly history of colonization of
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  Speaker 1: the United States, there is a lot of information we
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  Speaker 1: are still lacking, but the things we know are not
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  Speaker 1: pretty to say the least. And after the massacre and
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  Speaker 1: uprooting of the Native people's, other forms of isolation were
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  Speaker 1: used to try to destroy the Native legacy, including boarding schools.
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  Speaker 1: One of the founders of a school in Oklahoma even said,
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  Speaker 1: a great general has said that the only good Indian
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  Speaker 1: is a dead one, and the high sanction of his
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  Speaker 1: destruction has been an enormous factor in promote Indian massacres.
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  Speaker 1: In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only
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  Speaker 1: in this that all the Indian there is in the
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  Speaker 1: race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, save
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  Speaker 1: the man. And that sentiment has continued, which is gross
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  Speaker 1: now discovering or perhaps now paying more attention to this fact.
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  Speaker 1: Um the the many unmarked graves and grave sites of
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  Speaker 1: the Native children, many have acknowledged how these schools were
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  Speaker 1: a part of the problem and never the solution. But
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't just the schools. Many Native women were pushed
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  Speaker 1: and oftentimes forced against their will, into sterilization in a
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  Speaker 1: government funded service. Over three thousand Native women were forced
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  Speaker 1: to be given in voluntary serialization in the seventies, hiding
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  Speaker 1: behind the narrative that they were offering health care and assistance.
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  Speaker 1: And this practice was done to many marginalized women at
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  Speaker 1: that time. But um, that wasn't enough. At the time,
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  Speaker 1: Christian missionaries would come into homes, offering services to help
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  Speaker 1: care for children at different children's homes while the family
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  Speaker 1: tried to better their situation with the promise that the
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  Speaker 1: children would return home, but oftentimes that would not happen,
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  Speaker 1: but they would be told that the children were better
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  Speaker 1: off at the home of another family, often a white family. Right,
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  Speaker 1: the Native activists and people have been working to correct
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  Speaker 1: the mass atrocities against their community UM and for those
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  Speaker 1: who were working with the Indigenous community at the time,
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  Speaker 1: they could not ignore the fact that children were being
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  Speaker 1: ripped from their home and their community more than any
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  Speaker 1: other group of children at the time, and as many
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  Speaker 1: as thirty of the Native children were being taken out
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  Speaker 1: of their home and more than five percent of them
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  Speaker 1: were being sent to non native homes. UH. Native children
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  Speaker 1: are still more likely to be placed in a non
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  Speaker 1: native foster home than not and are more likely to
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  Speaker 1: be removed from a home than white children. So it's
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  Speaker 1: really important that we understand these statistics about who are
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  Speaker 1: being targeted and how UM. In nineteen after research and
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  Speaker 1: two audits and twenty eight days of hearing, the i
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  Speaker 1: c w A was passed UM. It was during this
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  Speaker 1: hearing one congressman argued quote. The Federal government, for its part,
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  Speaker 1: has been conspicuous by its lack of action, has chosen
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  Speaker 1: to allow the agencies to strike at the heart of
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  Speaker 1: Indian communities by literally stilling Indian children. This course can
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  Speaker 1: only weaken rather than strengthen the Indian child, the family,
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  Speaker 1: and the community. This at a time when the federal
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  Speaker 1: government purports to be working to help strengthen Indian communities.
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  Speaker 1: It has been called cultural genocide. So I think it's
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  Speaker 1: really important what they were fighting for. They understood that
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  Speaker 1: they were taking apart the native community, and it was
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  Speaker 1: originated from the idea of that killed the Indian, not
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  Speaker 1: the man Uh perspective, and it was still being practiced
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  Speaker 1: in the late nineties seventies when they were trying to
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  Speaker 1: have a conversation about what has been allowed throughout history.
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  Speaker 1: Um So, the i c w A did pass at
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  Speaker 1: that time and added protection for Native families and gave
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  Speaker 1: specific regulations for case workers who are working these cases,
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  Speaker 1: including some of the following, providing active efforts to the
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  Speaker 1: family identifying a placement that that's under the i c
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  Speaker 1: w A preference provisions notifying the child's tribe and the
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  Speaker 1: child's parents of the child custody proceeding and working actively
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  Speaker 1: to involve the child's tribe and the child's parents in
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  Speaker 1: these proceedings, which, by the way, when we do it,
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  Speaker 1: when I was a case worker, as of as a
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  Speaker 1: defect worker or as a child welfare worker, that was
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  Speaker 1: actually stated for us for any family, not necessarily the
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  Speaker 1: tribal but trying to find someone within their own family
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  Speaker 1: and or community. And I think it's something that should
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  Speaker 1: have been done a long time ago, and it should
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  Speaker 1: still being happening. I don't know if it is. We
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  Speaker 1: don't know because I'm not a part of that industry anymore. However,
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  Speaker 1: it is something to know that this has had long
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  Speaker 1: reprogressions UH in most children's life UM. And though it's
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  Speaker 1: been in place for decades. UH, there isn't much data
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  Speaker 1: as to whether a governments are upholding this act or
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  Speaker 1: be if it's been effective. And it isn't surprising to
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  Speaker 1: know that many have tried to undermine the effectiveness of
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  Speaker 1: this act or even getting data to ensure that it
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  Speaker 1: is being enforced. So a lot of the conversations that
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  Speaker 1: we're having around any of these native acts, it's not
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  Speaker 1: being enforced to the full degree, and so it's being
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  Speaker 1: ripped apart. Now what's happening is that it is being
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  Speaker 1: challenged under the Supreme Court to file a ruling because
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  Speaker 1: it has been challenged in the Bracken fee Holland case
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  Speaker 1: and the plaintiffs included six foster parents led by Chat
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  Speaker 1: and Jennifer Bracan, who are non native foster parents in
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  Speaker 1: Texas and they're trying to adopt a child and feel
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  Speaker 1: that this has been unconstitutional. So this filing with them
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  Speaker 1: at the Helm has also been filed by the New
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  Speaker 1: Civil Liberties Alliance, which are a conservative nonprofit working to
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  Speaker 1: challenge a lot of the laws that have already been
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  Speaker 1: passed and or they feel that have violated their civil rights,
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  Speaker 1: including you know, past COVID mandates. So if you want
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  Speaker 1: to know who they are, and in this conversation, in
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  Speaker 1: this fight, they are challenging the i c w A
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  Speaker 1: as being unconstitutional and say that it is actually racist
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  Speaker 1: against them and their rights to being able to adopt
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  Speaker 1: a Native child. There's a lot we have to watch
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  Speaker 1: with this because once again this it's undermining and bringing
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  Speaker 1: on the declamation of sovereignty and travel sovereignty which has
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  Speaker 1: taken which has not even been that effective. Let's just
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  Speaker 1: be really honest. The government has not done much when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to protecting Native rights UM and then little
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  Speaker 1: that has happened is suddenly coming at the table of
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  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, who are doing some things that made
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  Speaker 1: me question a lot about our country. Maybe I shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: say it like that, but whatever, I guess. So, the
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  Speaker 1: director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association actually stated
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  Speaker 1: that those kids and families would lose the protections that
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  Speaker 1: they have right now that help them stay connected to family,
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  Speaker 1: community and culture. That helped to ensure the Native children
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  Speaker 1: grow up knowing who they are, who their families are,
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  Speaker 1: and who they are connected to. And as we were
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  Speaker 1: talking about before about the cultural genocide, there's a conversation
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  Speaker 1: about one specific Chibe in Wabanaki in twenty fifteen that
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  Speaker 1: they looked at some of the things that were happening
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  Speaker 1: on their lands, what was happening with their community, and
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  Speaker 1: they have talked about the fact that they are still
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  Speaker 1: undergoing cultural genocide thanks to a lot of conversations like this,
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  Speaker 1: like a lot of these acts like this that continue
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  Speaker 1: to strip away the rights of individuals. UM. As a
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  Speaker 1: case worker, I have seen cases where we've had to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that we are alerting travel communities specifically when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to someone who is registered as a specific
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  Speaker 1: tribal member, and making sure that they are aware of
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  Speaker 1: what's happening, because as we have seen, as we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about before in many episodes, when it comes to adoptions,
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to surrogacy, there is a fine line
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  Speaker 1: between um, adopting and caring for a child versus actually
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  Speaker 1: selling and trafficking children. UM. And when you look at
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  Speaker 1: the history such as the history of the Native people,
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  Speaker 1: it is all about white supremacy and and trying to
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  Speaker 1: decimate a tribe of race, a community of people. And
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  Speaker 1: we have to make sure that we are continuing to
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  Speaker 1: talk about this because as much as that we won't
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  Speaker 1: hear the conversation of being prosecution or discrimination against this
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  Speaker 1: white couple versus okay, but who what are we really
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  Speaker 1: doing and who is there? Um, And there's that bigger
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  Speaker 1: conversation that there is a grandmother present who is caretaking
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  Speaker 1: of another child who maybe I believe as a sibling
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  Speaker 1: in that case, and the whether or not that she
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  Speaker 1: should have UH guardianship over this child. And then yes,
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  Speaker 1: the bigger conversation and I've heard it, and I've heard
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  Speaker 1: it so many times. I've had people personally involved that
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  Speaker 1: these these children that are in these non native homes
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  Speaker 1: have did with these parents. Yes, I agree with that,
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  Speaker 1: I understand that, and that is important, but also you
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  Speaker 1: we are not looking at the bigger picture of what
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  Speaker 1: is happening and who has allowed this to happen to
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  Speaker 1: begin with when it shouldn't have been It should have
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  Speaker 1: been a family placement from jump um. And yeah, that's
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  Speaker 1: the bigger conversation about the sterilization of the Native women
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  Speaker 1: as well as tricking families in taking the children away,
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  Speaker 1: which has happened, which has happened not just in the
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  Speaker 1: Native communities, but has more so been targeted towards communities
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  Speaker 1: like the Native communities, and we need to be very
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  Speaker 1: aware of that and make sure we understand what's happening. So,
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  Speaker 1: from what I understand, this was supposed to be heard
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  Speaker 1: in front of the Supreme Court, possibly in May, but
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  Speaker 1: it has been pushed to October. UM. But we definitely
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  Speaker 1: need to keep an eye out and what is happening
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: as they are decimating the rights of a community. Yes, yes, absolutely, um,
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  Speaker 1: and we will UM and as always, listeners if you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: have any resources for us or things we should be
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: paying attention to, we always love getting that from you.
• 14:01
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• 14:02
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• 14:04
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• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as always to our
• 14:08
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• 14:11
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