Spirit Lake Nation social service director was in foster care

Thursday, September 13, 2012  

The new social services director for the Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation of North Dakota remembers what it's like to be torn from a home.

“I was 4 years old, the youngest of five children,” Mark Little Owl told The Grand Forks Herald. “My father had just died and my mother, in her grief, was … there was alcoholism.”

Little Owl, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, and his siblings were split up. “I lived in seven different foster homes before graduating from high school," he told the paper.

Little Owl hopes to provide a better future for children at Spirit Lake, whose leaders have come under for social service problems on the reservation. He signed a four-year contract.

"They were pretty honest and up-front. What they told me about the issues here corresponded with what I had been hearing and reading," Little Owl said of tribal leaders who recruited him.

Get the Story:
Spirit Lake child protection leader knows what it means when children are removed from home (The Grand Forks Herald 9/13)

Related Stories:
BIA reviews Spirit Lake Nation self-determination contracts (9/11)
Investigation continues into death of child on Spirit Lake Nation (9/6)
US Attorney wants to provide help to Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation (9/5)
Editorial: Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation blames everyone for abuse (9/5)
Trial delayed for man accused of murdering Spirit Lake children (9/4)
Raymond Foxworth: Spirit Lake Nation crisis rooted in US history (9/3)
BIA reportedly sets deadline over Spirit Lake Nation contracts (8/28)
BIA 'strike team' to address child safety at Spirit Lake Nation (8/27)
Editorial: Spirit Lake Nation problems need sharper attention (8/27)
Sen. Conrad loses confidence in Spirit Lake Nation leadership (8/24)
Editorial: Don't let politics harm children on Spirit Lake Nation (8/24)
Republicans killed money for home visits at Spirit Lake Nation (8/23)
Editorial: Spirit Lake Nation defensive in wake of abuse cases (8/13)
IHS rescinds reprimand of employee in Spirit Lake controversy (8/3)
Editorial: IHS should explain reprimand of tribal whistleblower (7/31)
IHS reprimands employee who warned about Spirit Lake children (7/30)
Man charged for murders of Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation children (7/24)
Editorial: Children's safety at risk on Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation (7/18)
Toddler who died on Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation being laid to rest (7/13)
BIA investigates death of baby girl on Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation (7/11)
Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation faces scrutiny over child welfare woes (7/9)
HHS official blames Spirit Lake Nation for child abuse problems (6/22)
Sen. Hoeven seeks answers on Spirit Lake social services (04/25)
Editorial: A free press is essential, even in a tribal society (4/17)
Deaths of Spirit Lake Dakotah children treated as homicide (05/26)
Spirit Lake mother confirms identities of two slain children (5/25)
Father suspected for deaths of two children at Spirit Lake (5/24)