Alaska tribes and state sign historic document on tribal child welfare
Alaska tribes and state sign historic document on tribal child welfare
(Courtesty of the Alaska Dispatch News, 10/19/2017, for full story, click here )
Alaska has long been overwhelmed by reports of children in danger. Toddlers who are bruised, burned or beaten. Little ones wandering outside while parents lose themselves in drinking and drugs. Children victimized by sexual predators.
Especially at risk are Alaska Native children.
They want to turn the responsibility of protecting Alaska Native children over to Native people themselves: tribe by tribe, village by village, duty by duty.
They hope the child welfare system will transform into something better if tribal services operate parallel to state services. That is what happened with health care when Alaska tribal organizations took over U.S. Indian Health Service hospitals and clinics. And the tribal organizations will be able to serve non-Native children too.
An essential step was formalized Thursday in Anchorage on the opening day of the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention.
At a long table set up in front of the main stage at AFN, Gov. Bill Walker, a state commissioner and representatives of 17 tribal organizations big and small signed an umbrella agreement known as a compact. It provides a framework for tribal authority in an area that has been state government's responsibility . . .
(Courtesty of the Alaska Dispatch News, 10/19/2017, for full story, click here)
The compact itself can be found here.
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