A federal law that was enacted in the 70s to protect Native American children and culture is now under threat. The Indian Child Welfare Act, shorten to ICWA, is currently being challenged in Haaland vs. Brackeen, and its possible overturning would be detrimental to Native American communities throughout the US. The ICWA was originally enacted in 1978 to protect Native American children from being forcibly removed from their tribes via adoption. With the long history of white colonizers and the American government purposefully abducting children from their cultures in an effort to erase and destroy their traditions and tribes, this is the bare minimum for protecting the identity and histories of many people.
The case that started all of this was Haaland v. Brackeen, originally brought to court on November 9 by the Brackeens, a white couple trying to adopt a Native American child. The Brackeens were in an adoption dispute with the extended family of the child, and the Brackeens said ICWA was ‘unconstitutional’ because it favored keeping the child within their family’s tribe. If the courts rule in favor of the Brackeens, it will destroy the protections ICWA offered for keeping the children connected to their tribes and also have a significant impact on tribal sovereignty.
Since 2022, ICWA has been in limbo with the conservative majority Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in favor of overturning it. This is not unexpected due to the rise in Christian nationalism, which cannot be untangled from the history of Christian churches role in residential schools, the forced assimilation to Christian practices, and intolerance towards Native American religions and practices. The rising fear of the ICWA being overturned has caused many to speak out, calling for the government to stop the blatant attack on Native American rights and tribal sovereignty. Sadly, many outside of the community are not reporting on it, and the overwhelming amount of silence is deafening.
“nearly 60 percent of police departments either did not respond to the request, or returned partial or compromised data—with some cities reporting an inability to identify Native victims, and others relying exclusively on human memory.”
– the Urban Indian Health Institute, find it here
This is not the first time Native American communities have been ignored. Frequently, Native American women go missing or are found dead. According to the National Crime Information Center, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing Native American and Native Alaskan women and girls, but NamUs (the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) only logged 116 of the cases. A report from the Urban Indian Health Institute found that when UIHI requested information about the missing person cases,”nearly 60 percent of police departments either did not respond to the request, or returned partial or compromised data—with some cities reporting an inability to identify Native victims, and others relying exclusively on human memory.” This means many cases are left unsolved, never finding justice for the missing women and children.
“An estimated one in 10 Indigenous Americans lack access to safe tap water or basic sanitation—without which a host of health conditions including Covid-19, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disease are more likely.”
-Nina Lakhani, The Guardian
These are not the only problems; there are other important and pressing concerns for Native American communities, like having access to clean water. A quote from Nina Lakhani in The Guardian says, “An estimated one in 10 Indigenous Americans lack access to safe tap water or basic sanitation—without which a host of health conditions including Covid-19, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disease are more likely.” Many activists have been fighting for years for the government to step in and help, yet we can see from the reports that little, if anything, is ever done. This is an outrageous amount of failures the US government has committed against these communities; why are so many people not talking about this? One reason is that the colonist legacies of North America have never truly left.
Here are further readings into these issues and news stories:
Native Families’ Right to Stay Together is at Stake at the Supreme Court- ACLU
What Happens if the Indian Child Welfare Act is Overturned?- Circling Eagle Law
Indian Child Welfare Act- Native American Rights Fund
The Supreme Court and the Indian Child Welfare Act: What’s at Stake in Brackeen Case- Teen Vogue
Journalism 2.0 