ICWA & Foster Parent Support
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case with the potential to invalidate the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and deal a significant blow to efforts to protect Native families and culture.
Brackeen v. Haaland presents the latest challenge to ICWA. The law was passed 1978 in response to evidence that Native children were being removed from their homes and placed with non-native families at an alarming rate. Today, American Indian and Alaskan Native children are still four times more likely to be removed than non-Native children in similar situations.
ICWA seeks to keep Native children in Native communities by instituting a preference that indigenous children be placed in kinship care, with members of their own tribe, or with members of other tribes before they’re sent to non-native households.
But it can be difficult to make these placements due to the high number of Native children in the system relative to the lower number of Native families that can take them in. One of the best ways to show your support for ICWA is to consider becoming a foster parent.
There are many programs in place to enable families to open their homes without taking on financial hardship. While programs vary from state-to-state, most jurisdictions:
Provide a per diem or maintenance stipend that can be used to pay for the child’s day-to-day expenses or other household needs;
Cover the costs of a foster child’s medical care through Medicaid or other programs;
Help to enroll the family in food benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
Provide childcare subsidies that can cover the costs of daycare or aftercare programs for working foster parents; and
Disburse special stipends for holidays or birthdays.
In addition, many private businesses provide discounted or free services to foster children and their families.
Many tribal governments run their own foster care programs and provide a range of additional, non-monetary support services for foster parents. These can include help completing the application process, trauma-informed training, and respite care to encourage foster parents to take time off.
To learn more about what it’s like to work with a tribal foster care program and become a foster parent, we suggest checking out a podcast put by Oneida Nation Family Services, here.
