Tribal Coalition Report Finds South Dakota 'Willfully' Violated Child Welfare Law

by Laura Sullivan
November 30, 2012 3:00 PM
NPR

South Dakota's foster care system "systematically violated the spirit and the letter" of a law meant to protect Native American children, a coalition of tribal directors from the state's nine Sioux tribes said in a report released Thursday night. The report comes a year after NPR aired a series questioning whether the law was being enforced.

The 30-year-old Indian Child Welfare Act says native children must be placed with relatives or their tribes if they are removed from their homes, except in unusual circumstances. The coalition said the state appears to have violated the law willfully, "and it may have done so at least partly to bring federal tax dollars into the state."

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