Federal official widens blame in Spirit Lake Nation abuse crisis

Thursday, November 1, 2012  

A federal official says the Spirit Lake Nation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Justice are all to blame for child abuse problems on the North Dakota tribe's reservation.

Thomas Sullivan, a regional official with the Administration for Children and Families, previously suggested tribal leaders should be prosecuted for abuse. Now he says federal agencies are equally at fault.

“The BIA at all levels has proven itself to be compromised and ineffective,” Sullivan said in an email, The Grand Forks Herald reported.

Sullivan also laid blame on the "American Indian community" in North Dakota.

Get the Story:
Spirit Lake whistleblower calls federal response ‘window dressing’ (The Grand Forks Herald 10/31)