{"id":35943,"date":"2024-02-21T14:21:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T19:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=35943"},"modified":"2024-02-21T14:21:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T19:21:45","slug":"montana-free-press-putting-the-indian-child-welfare-act-into-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/02\/21\/montana-free-press-putting-the-indian-child-welfare-act-into-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Putting the Indian Child Welfare Act into action"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Katarina<\/a>
Katarina Stewart and her children Donovan and Chrisanna swing in the park at her apartment complex in Billings, Montana on January 3, 2024. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n
Reunifying Native families after foster care<\/div>\r\n
How a Billings court is putting the Indian Child Welfare Act into action<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, February 21, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Mara Silvers<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>

\r\nNative American children make up more than a third of the foster care caseload in Montana, despite representing less than 10% of the state\u2019s child population. While there\u2019s a broad consensus among child welfare experts that this outsized representation is a problem, there exists no collective strategy to address it. The Montana Free Press series <\/em>Keeping the Kids<\/em><\/a>, supported by a data fellowship through the <\/em>USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism<\/em><\/a>, explores the available data and highlights examples of local solutions around the state. This article focuses on one specialized recovery court working with families in Billings.<\/em>

<\/P>\r\n\r\nWhen Katarina Stewart appeared for a routine court appointment in December, the Yellowstone County judge asked a question familiar to parents appearing in the Indian Child Welfare Act<\/a> Family Recovery Court: How are the kids?

<\/P>\r\n\r\nStewart, 32, started with the positive. One of her children had a band concert the following day. Another had made a new best friend at school. But she also shared concerns. She was worried about her youngest child after a persistent lung problem had sent them back to the hospital, she told the court. A new air purifier in their apartment seemed to be helping, she said, but her child\u2019s medical conditions weren\u2019t resolved.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe room was filled with case workers, peer support specialists, treatment professionals, probation and parole officers, public defenders and attorneys \u2014 all \u201cteam members\u201d of this Family Recovery Court for parents navigating cases subject to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. About a dozen other parents participating in the court-run program, all women, filled the benches behind Stewart, listening to her check-in and waiting their turn.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nJudge Rod Souza stood behind a podium, standing on the same level as the table where Stewart was seated, less removed than his usual seat slightly elevated over the Billings courtroom. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe founder of the first Montana court designed to implement ICWA, Souza listened carefully and asked thoughtful questions about Stewart\u2019s day-to-day routine. About how she was juggling her work schedule with her child\u2019s frequent visits to the doctor. About her ongoing recovery from substance use disorder. About the complexities of applying for food assistance. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nAs the check-in came to an end, Souza offered a message that could serve as the treatment court\u2019s unofficial motto.  

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cI know you can do it,\u201d he said. He and every other court team member clapped, and Stewart returned to sit among her peers on the courtroom benches.

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\"Katarina<\/a>

Katarina Stewart returns to her seat in treatment court after meeting with Judge Rod Souza for the Indian Child Welfare Act Family Recovery Court in Billings, Montana on January 3, 2024. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nDecember marked nearly two and a half years of these types of conversations between Souza and Stewart, a member of the Crow Tribe and Billings resident. She originally entered the court\u2019s supervision in 2021 after her four children were removed by state child protection specialists for suspected mistreatment. With the court\u2019s help, Stewart began an intensive treatment program for her alcohol use, appeared for regular check-ins with Souza, and was reunited with three of her children roughly seven months after they were first separated. The youngest of the four, less than a year old at the time, remained with Stewart\u2019s parents through a voluntary arrangement.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nOver the last few years, she said, the court\u2019s structure and assistance have helped Stewart tend to her mental health and sobriety and start a new chapter as an engaged, empowered parent. She once viewed the court\u2019s requirements \u2014 checking in for drug tests, being on time, not missing appointments \u2014 as hoops to jump through. Now, they are expectations she holds for herself.

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt started turning into, \u2018I\u2019m doing all of this for myself, now.\u2019 I\u2019ll get up to do a [test] because it gives me accountability that I am sober,\u201d Stewart said. The court helped her stop avoiding her depression and turning away from the addiction treatment and parenting support that, Stewart said, \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I deserved.\u201d 

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cAll the accountability has helped me bloom to where I am,\u201d she said. She\u2019s slated to graduate from court at the end of February.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe Family Recovery Court, a specialized track for parents involved in ICWA-eligible child welfare cases, launched in 2021 with more than $600,000 in federal grant support and the encouragement of community groups who wanted to better serve Native families navigating the local legal system. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe court\u2019s model is long-term. It includes five phases, ranging from stabilization to recovery management, and participants typically stay in the program for more than a year. It expects participants to meet firm, no-nonsense requirements, but also provides a constellation of resources to support their success, consistent encouragement from court staff and peer support from other parents.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nOf the 10 parents currently participating, including Stewart, six have so far been reunited with their children, with a seventh hosting regular overnight visits with her kids as an interim step. By that standard, the Billings court is fulfilling one of the fundamental aims of the decades-old Indian Child Welfare Act: keeping Native children with their parents whenever possible, prioritizing placements with family or close friends as the next-best option, and collaborating with tribal governments throughout the duration of child protection cases.

<\/P>\r\n\"<\/a>

Katarina Stewart and her children Josetta and Donovan play in the park at her apartment complex in Billings, Montana on January 3, 2024. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNeither ICWA nor its influence on eligible child protection cases in Montana is new. The federal policy, which some supporters call \u201cthe gold standard<\/a>\u201d in child welfare law, dates to 1978, when Congress responded<\/a> to the widespread practice of Native American and Alaska Native children being removed from their families and communities by non-tribal members and governmental authorities. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe act was reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2023<\/a>, the same year the Montana Legislature\u2019s American Indian Caucus helped carry and steer a state-level version of the same law through the Republican-led session to further codify its protections<\/a> for tribal nations and families.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe Supreme Court\u2019s ruling, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, reflected on the motivation behind 1978 law and its enduring relevance. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cCongress found that many of these children were being \u2018placed in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes and institutions,\u2019 and that the States had contributed to the problem by \u2018fail[ing] to recognize the essential tribal relations of Indian people and the cultural and social standards prevailing in Indian communities and families,\u2019\u201d Barrett wrote. \u201cThis harmed not only Indian parents and children, but also Indian tribes. As Congress put it, \u2018there is no resource that is more vital to the continued existence and integrity of Indian tribes than their children.\u2019\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nDespite the law\u2019s longevity, Montana\u2019s adherence to ICWA\u2019s goals and principles varies across the state, according to local child welfare experts. District courts, county prosecutors and the state health department lack a consistent statewide method for tracking ICWA cases and their outcomes. Federal data similarly struggles to convey how Montana is or is not meeting specific benchmarks of the statute, including placement of tribally enrolled or enrollable children with family members, kin, or in other preferred settings.  

<\/P>\r\n\r\nOf all children in foster care in Montana in 2021 whose most recent placement was with relatives, 53% were white and 31% were Native American, according to an analysis of federal data by the national research organization Child Trends<\/a>. 

<\/P>\r\n\"Billings,<\/a>

The sun rises over Billings, Montana on January 3, 2024. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nOther home settings \u2014 including those with fellow tribal members and close family friends or community members \u2014 can also qualify as a \u201cpreferred placement\u201d under ICWA. In 2021, about 43% of Native youth in foster care in Montana stayed with a Native family during their first foster care placement, according to a Montana Free Press analysis of federal data<\/a>. For Native children subsequently moved to a second home, placement with a Native foster family was more rare, happening for only about 28% of Native children that year. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nICWA also applies to how children exit the foster care system. Upon leaving care, 48% percent of Native youth in 2021 were reunified with their parents or a primary caretaker, a decrease from about 62% in 2017, according to five years of the most recently available data collected by the federal Children\u2019s Bureau<\/a>. The percentage of white children exiting foster care into reunification was higher, by comparison, but also dropped slightly in recent years, from about 70% in 2017 to 66% in 2021. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nPlacements in long-term guardianships, often with family members or close friends \u2014 an outcome that can avoid termination of parental rights and often aligns with ICWA practices \u2014 have increased for both racial groups over the same time period. A larger percentage of Native American children, 25%, left foster care for a guardianship placement in 2021, compared to less than 14% of white children, according to the Children\u2019s Bureau.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nICWA requires caseworkers and courts to make \u201cactive efforts\u201d to communicate with family members, connect parents with relevant resources, and find appropriate foster care placements when necessary. That mandate applies to every ICWA case in Montana and elsewhere, but advocates say adherence is more likely in a court specifically dedicated to upholding the law\u2019s principles. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSouza\u2019s ICWA court, founded in 2017, is one of two such courts in Montana \u2014 the second was founded in Missoula in 2020. The newer ICWA Family Recovery Court in Billings is currently unique among Montana state courts. To some child welfare experts familiar with the model, the Billings ICWA courts show what the act\u2019s \u201cactive efforts\u201d requirement looks like in practice.

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m a huge, huge fan of the ICWA court because they are actually working with the families. Working with the tribes. They\u2019re doing a collaborative approach,\u201d said Maylinn Smith, managing attorney in the tribal prosecutor\u2019s office of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and a former co-director of the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana. \u201cI think those are the kinds of services that are the most helpful.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nReunifications and family guardianships are also taking place in Souza\u2019s broader ICWA caseload outside of the designated treatment court, according to a review of the judge\u2019s 132 cases from 2021, the most recent year for which a substantial survey of outcomes is available. Though a quarter of those cases remained unresolved as of January 2024, 43% had been dismissed, largely because of reunification, and 24% had ended in guardianship. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nOnly eight children\u2019s cases from that year, 6% of the overall caseload, resulted in termination of parental rights and permanent legal custody with a non-family party. Souza said the final placements for four of those children were in line with ICWA \u201cpreferred placements.\u201d The other four outcomes departed from that preference, he said, \u201cbased on the unavailability of a suitable placement despite the diligent search of the social worker.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\"Rod<\/a>

Judge Rod Souza poses for a portrait in his chambers on January 4, 2024 in Billings, Montana. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn interviews with MTFP, staff members of the Billings court took pride in the rarity of terminating parental rights and the overall emphasis on reunification. But that\u2019s not to say the work is easy. For some participating parents, regaining and maintaining custody of their children has required substantial life changes and perseverance. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nElizabeth Harris, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe who lives in Billings, told MTFP that she began her time in Souza\u2019s court in 2021 when she was still grappling with an addiction to methamphetamine. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cI was at a point in my life where I had nothing. I lost everything. I lost my sanity, my dignity, I just didn\u2019t care,\u201d Harris said in a December interview. Her oldest son had run away while they were temporarily staying in a homeless shelter, she recounted, prompting the state to open a child protection case. When she went to the child welfare offices in downtown Billings and asked for help, the caseworkers directed her to go watch a day of proceedings in the ICWA Family Recovery Court. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cThey said, \u2018Well, you have an observation [scheduled] for Judge Souza\u2019s court. And you need to be there this Friday,\u2019\u201d Harris recalled. \u201cI observed. I had a treatment date. And I just fully surrendered. I really did.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThere were many days when she wanted to try to drop out of the court-ordered programming entirely, Harris said, believing she wasn\u2019t \u201cgood enough\u201d to be a parent. But slowly she began to regard the staff of Souza\u2019s treatment court as members of her support team, and started to get her health and her life in order. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nIn the years since, the court has helped Harris reunite with her oldest son, move into an apartment she likes, get a driver’s license, find steady employment, maintain her sobriety, and strengthen her relationship with her younger children, who are currently in the care of their grandparents. The process hasn\u2019t been smooth or easy, she said, but the court has stuck with her throughout.

<\/P>\r\n\"Billings<\/a>

A mural on the Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center on January 4, 2024. Photo by Tailyr Irvine \/ MTFP<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cI was always willing to be a mom again, but I was just in a hard place,\u201d Harris said in December. The court staff, she continued, \u201cdefinitely showed me that they\u2019re not just there to give up on people. They\u2019re there until you succeed.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nHarris celebrated her graduation from the recovery court on Feb. 14, Valentine\u2019s Day, after 890 days in the program. Souza, court staff and Harris\u2019 peers praised her accomplishments. Her teenage son, Christian, spoke next, seated on the bench next to her. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m so proud of my mom for coming all this way to get me back in her care and to build a mother and son bond again. And to be there with me, by my side,\u201d he said. The entire courtroom clapped.  

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe durability of that support for parents \u2014 making it easy to get into the program and hard to flunk out of it, as Souza describes it \u2014 is critical to weathering the inevitable low points that come with recovery and family dynamics. 

<\/P>\r\n

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