New research shows Indigenous youth comprise more than a third of the children in Montana's foster care system, despite making up a far smaller segment of the state's overall population.

Researchers said addressing the problem is challenging. Data from the National Center for Juvenile Justice show the number of Indigenous youth comprise 30% of the children in foster care, despite making up just 10% of the Montana population.

Deana Around Him, Indigenous children, youth and families researcher for the organization Child Trends and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, said a combination of factors is driving the disparity, but it often comes down to a lack of child oversight.

"Child neglect can lead a family to be engaged with the child welfare system and result in a child being removed from a home," Around Him explained. "We wonder if that is more of a question about the resources available to families and if the solution should be different than removal."

Around Him acknowledged solutions have been hard to achieve in Montana but researchers are exploring kinship and other family-based support systems that have shown hints of success in the past. A 10-year data analysis by the Montana Free Press showed Native children are placed in foster care at roughly five times the rate of white children.

The Juvenile Justice data showed Native American children in Montana far outpace any other racial group in the child welfare system. Around Him noted in addition to family-based solutions, making resources available to struggling families is also important so they can make what would seem like easy decisions.

"Getting a job may not be so simple as like 'yes, take the job'" Around Him asserted. "Because it offers greater income for your family but if taking that job requires you to find child care, and if there's limited child care available in the community, who are you leaving our child with?"

There has been a national effort in recent years to keep children in their home when it's safe to do so but despite those efforts, the number of Indigenous children in the Montana foster care system has continued to grow.


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Historic inequities have left many tribal nations behind the rest of the country but a new Arizona State University program is designed to launch them into the digital future.

The university's Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty is designed to help Native Americans plan and develop their digital footprint. The project is a joint effort between The American Indian Policy Institute at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and the National Congress of American Indians.

Tracy Morris, executive director of the institute, said it is all about providing full access to the digital universe.

"Tribal digital sovereignty is the exercise of self-determination of all digital aspects in a tribe, that the tribe itself controls," Morris outlined. "That could be the infrastructure, it could be the data, it could be the physical networks, it could be their cloud or whatever."

Morris argued developing a platform for digital information is critical to tribal autonomy. The program will support tribes in Arizona and across the U.S. in achieving equal access to the governance, social and economic advantages of broadband and other technologies.

Morris pointed out digital sovereignty encompasses all aspects of a tribal nation's digital plan and footprint, such as tribal codes, managing data protection, digital equity, network infrastructure, development of funding sources and capacity building.

"The point is for tribes to be able to implement the best thing that they can and exercise their digital sovereignty so that they can serve their members," Morris explained. "For the end user, they should be able to have the same access as, theoretically, you or I have in a city."

Morris added broadband and other communications technologies are a necessary 21st-century platform for tribal independence. She believes establishment of the Center is a significant turning point for Native Americans.

"If you look at Indian law and Indian history, it's usually something imposed on us in the past or it's taken away from us," Morris observed. "We have a level playing field here. We're all competing. We're all competing. We're all the same resources, the same capacity, the same people to do the work. And it's exciting."


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A team of educators and supporters recently proposed changes to South Dakota's framework for Indigenous education, making the lessons more accessible for teachers across the state.

The Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards, in the works since 2008, were approved by the state in 2018 for education about the region's Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing. Some of the core understandings are built on themes including environment, identity, kinship, traditions and sovereignty.

According to the document, the framework offers not just an opportunity to learn about Indigenous people but also from them.

Roberta Bizardie, Sicangu Lakota, superintendent of the Todd County School District, sits on the 2024 Revisioning and Reaffirming Team and said it is meant to be imbued throughout an entire school day, rather than restricted to just social studies or history class.

"We want kids to understand when you walk in the door, we're incorporating them throughout your whole day," Bizardie explained. "And just to really help build up that identity side of who our kids are."

According to a 2023 state survey, 62% of South Dakota educators reported using the standards, a 17% increase from 2021, though the response rate dropped. There are no state requirements to implement the standards, though Bizardie pointed out Todd County has a policy to ensure they are used.

Bizardie noted while the current accepted standards focus on younger kids, her goal is to create grade-level expectations for K-12 students in Todd County. The 2024 proposal does not change the core understandings themselves but includes a deeper integration of Native language and will make lessons more accessible to both students and teachers.

"It was just kind of cleaning things up," Bizardie added. "When a teacher, whether you are Indigenous, non-Indigenous, you could look at this document and say, 'Oh, I can do this.'"

The 2024 proposal is open to public comment through Sept. 16.


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Indigenous leaders are asking California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would allow federally recognized tribes to sign agreements with the state to co-manage and co-govern ancestral lands and waters. Assembly Bill 1284 unanimously passed both houses of the state Legislature this week.

Scott Sullivan is vice chairman of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation.

"This is going to allow us to deepen our relationship on a government-to-government level, it'll give us better access to our traditional ancestral territories to improve the environment and to reconnect our people to the land," he said.

Tribes hope the bill will strengthen shared decision-making around the new Yurok-Tolowa Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area - which covers the coastline three miles out - from the mouth of the Little River in Humboldt County up to the California-Oregon border.

Fawn Murphy, chair of the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People, said the tribes want to promote biodiversity and reverse erosion and environmental degradation.

"As these devastating climate impacts are coming and things are changing so rapidly, we need to bring it back to what works. California tribal people have been practicing traditional ecological knowledge since time immemorial," Murphy explained.

The tribes also seek input into future offshore wind projects in the area. The bill is also intended to help California meet its goal of preserving 30 percent of the state's land and waters by 2030.


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