More and more Indian children put in foster care in Minnesota

Monday, November 28, 2011  

More and more American Indian children are being placed in foster care in Minnesota, The Twin Cities Daily Planet reports.

American Indians make up 1.4 percent of the child population in the state. However, they represented 10.8 percent of entries into the foster care system and 15.7 percent of the number of children in foster care in 2009, according to a report from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

The figures show a disproportionality index of 11.6 for American Indian children, the report said. That's significantly greater than any other racial or ethnic group in Minnesota and it's a big increase from 2004, when the index was 7.3

Minnesota by far is the worst state when it comes to American Indian children in foster care, based on the report. Second was Washington, with a disproportionality index of 6.9, closely followed by Nebraska, with a 6.8 disproportionality index.

Fourth was Idaho, with an index of 6.6, followed by Iowa, with an index of 5.5, according to the report.

Get the Story:
American Indian children in Minnesota disproportionately placed in foster care (The Twin Cities Daily Planet 11/27)

Get the Report:
Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care (May 2011)