Native American numbers on rise in North Dakota foster care system

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/289347/

Statistics show that minorities are overrepresented in the foster care system in all states.

 

The most recent Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System report shows that Caucasian children represent 40 percent of all foster children. African-American children make up 31 percent, Hispanic children 20 percent, and Native American children about 2 percent.

 

In North Dakota, Native Americans are the largest minority group represented in the foster system, and their numbers are on the rise. They accounted for 29 percent of the state’s foster children in 2008 and 37 percent in 2009, state child welfare data show.

 

The 30 percent range has been a steady trend for Native Americans in the past decade in North Dakota. Statewide, Native Americans account for 5.6 percent of the total under-18 population, according to a 2008 census report.

 

In Minnesota, Native American foster children accounted for more than 13 percent of all foster children in 2009, but only 1.8 percent of the state’s Native American child population, according to the state’s child welfare report. 

 

Since the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 became national law, states stressed keeping Native American children with their families and their tribes or with any Native American family, even if it’s not that child’s specific tribe. The act made sure Native American children would maintain cultural identity and connections.

The problem is there aren’t many Native American foster parents, said Tara Muhlhauser, director of North Dakota’s Human Services Department, which oversees foster care.

 

Many tribes do not have the services they need to keep foster children inside reservations, so they are transferred from the tribal courts to the state, Muhlhauser said.