By Elisia Manuel | Project Founder
The Law on ICWA that was passed in 1978, the law sets requirements for what states must do when an American Indian kid comes into contact with the child welfare system. It says that Native American children should be placed with Native foster and adoptive families whenever possible, and before that, states need to make “active efforts” to keep Native children with their biological parents in the first place. Created to protect Native American families and preserve their heritage following centuries of policies aimed at forcibly assimilating Indian children into white culture, the law has become increasingly controversial as special interest groups have argued that it actually prioritizes the tribes over the best interests of the children it is meant to help.
Since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978, between 25 and 35% of all Native children had been removed from their parents, according to research done by the Association on American Indian Affairs. And 85 to 95% of those children, Jacobs says, were living in non-Native homes.
Keeping Indian children in their communities can have both immediate and lasting effects.
https://time.com/longform/native-american-adoptions/
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