ACLU: Federal Court Rules for Indian Families in ACLU Lawsuit

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Full release at: https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/federal-court-rules-indian-families-aclu-lawsuit

RAPID CITY, S.D. – In a sweeping victory for Indian families, a federal court has ordered South Dakota officials to stop violating the rights of Indian parents and tribes in state child custody proceedings on several grounds.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Rapid City attorney Dana Hanna on behalf of two South Dakota Indian tribes – the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe – and Indian parents who suffered the loss of their children at the hands of the state.

The lawsuit in part charges that Indian children are being removed from their homes in hearings that lasted as little as 60 seconds, and that parents have no chance to present evidence. In a 45-page ruling issued late yesterday, Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken wrote that "Indian children, parents and tribes deserve better," agreed with all seven of the ACLU's claims, and ordered the state to:
•Provide parents with adequate notice prior to emergency removal hearings
•Allow parents to testify at those hearings and present evidence
•Appoint attorneys to assist parents in these removal proceedings
•Allow parents to cross-examine the state’s witnesses in the hearings
•Require state courts to base their decisions on evidence presented during these hearings.

The court also found that the state violated the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law designed to ensure the security and integrity of Indian tribes and families. The law is intended "to curb the alarmingly high rate of removal of Indian children from Indian parents."

[mopinko]

1. the first nations need real self rule, not just

permission to sell cigarettes and build casinos.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. Agree!

[mopinko]

3. we are friends w several bands of first nations people.

i cant believe the lack of self sufficiency. the poverty. it is just appalling.

at least they seem to have won one in wisconsin. last i heard this mine is not going forward. it would have destroyed a first nation tribe's land, including their traditional rice crop.
http://www.propublica.org/article/in-wisconsin-dark-money-got-a-mining-company-what-it-wanted

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. It is simply appalling what the leaders of this country have done to the original inhabitants of

this land. It makes me so sad the oppression still continues.

[Rex]

5. "Indian children, parents and tribes deserve better,"

IS the understatement of several centuries.