Kevin Abourezk: Indian children overrepresented in foster care

In Nebraska, 352 Native children were in foster care as of April 1 out of 5,402 total state juvenile wards, said Russ Reno, spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Of those Native children, 171 were living in non-Native foster homes.

Sherri Eveleth, the state’s Native child welfare program specialist, said the state included in its figures children who were removed from their homes by three of the state’s four tribes. That’s a figure few states include in child placement numbers and could partly explain Nebraska's high Native child removal rate, she said.

Misty Thomas, social services director for the Santee Sioux Tribe and a member of the state tribal coalition, said Nebraska has struggled to comply with certain aspects of the federal act. For example, the law requires public agencies seek a member of a child’s tribe who is recognized by that tribe as knowledgeable in tribal family customs to provide expert testimony at court placement proceedings.

Too often, the state of Nebraska has failed to find tribal members to speak in court about tribal customs, instead relying on its own child welfare specialists to offer such testimony, Thomas said.