By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Staff RAPID CITY — The assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn announced on Jan 10, a partnership between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Spirit Lake Tribe of North Dakota. The partnership will aim to better protect Native American Children placed in foster homes there. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 requires that all adults in a home where foster children are to be placed must be fingerprinted as an integral part of the background investigation. The partnership between the tribe and the BIA will look to speed along this process in a number of ways. “The collaboration by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Spirit Lake Tribe to expedite the finger printing process for foster homes demonstrates our joint commitment to protect the children while improving the efficiency of foster care services on the Fort Totten Indian Reservation,” Washburn said in a press release. In early January the Bureau of Indian Affairs Great Plains Region and the Office of Justice services provided a fingerprint training session for tribal and local BIA social service staff. The BIA has been allotted three mobile fingerprinting units for use in foster homes where children potentially could be placed. “The Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe is looking forward to the continued collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on this project as we move forward to strengthen the protection afforded the most vulnerable citizens in our tribe,” said Spirit Lake Chairman Roger Yankton. The purpose of employing the mobile fingerprinting units is to provide community members with quick and easy access to the services, thus preventing them from having to devote huge amounts of time and expenses traveling off reservation to get their fingerprints taken. In September of 2012, the BIA took over the administration of Spirit Lake’s social services program. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffriter2@nsweekly.com)
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