Indians Reared Off the Reservation

As a non-Indian who worked on an Indian reservation in Arizona from 1978 until 1985, I would like to respond to your coverage of the Indian Child Welfare Act. In my position as director of Tribal Social Services, I experienced the impact of the act both on our reservation and through networking with other tribes. Initially, I had concerns about some aspects of the law, but quickly became aware of its importance and necessity.

The difficult identity problems faced by Indians raised outside the Indian culture were apparent. I saw several adult Indians return to the reservation after growing up in non-Indian homes saying they needed to figure out who they were and where they fit.

I saw Indian children, who had been taken into non-Indian homes as infants, experience sudden problems and disruptions when they became teens, with some of those families requesting that they be removed. There were young girls who identified beauty as being blonde and blue-eyed, and another little girl who had nightmares of Indians chasing her.

There was the prospective adoptive mother who attempted to give the Indian children some sense of identity by having them attend a school-sponsored Indian culture program and by providing other external cultural awareness. When we brought them to the reservation for a visit, they asked to see the tepees. They had no concept that their ancestors never lived in tepees and no real sense of being Indian.

I repeatedly saw tribal courts make very thoughtful decisions in (Indian Child Welfare Act) cases, and their focus was always the best interest of the child. To outsiders, this may not be so obvious. Poverty may be prevalent on reservations, but material wealth is not an important criterion in determining heritage.

The young woman involved in the current case remembers alcohol and child abuse as a child. We all know that these also occur off the reservation. In addition, today, tribes have access to better tribally designed family support programs that are part of the same movement that produced the (Indian Child Welfare Act). I believe that the (Indian Child Welfare Act) is not only legally correct, but is also morally correct.

LINDA HOWARD

Irvine