An NPR News investigation goes further into a 2005 GAO report (pdf) that found that 32 states are, in one way or another, failing to abide by the Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires the placement of Native American children with relatives or tribes.  The investigation focuses on South Dakota, where nearly 700 Native American children are removed from their homes annually.  NPR combed through state records and personal interviews with Native community members, state agency officials, social workers and former foster children to bring this report.

Native children make up less than 15 percent of South Dakota’s child population but constitute more than half of the children in foster care.  Almost 90 percent of Native children in South Dakota’s foster care system are placed with non-native homes or group care, and Native children are nearly 3 times more likely to find themselves in foster care than non-Native children do.  The result, as NPR notes, is generations of children growing up without a sense of their tribal identity, something that ICWA was supposed to prevent.  One former foster child stated that because of the experience, “there was a whole part of me that was missing.”

Among NPR’s key findings:

- Less than 12 percent of Native children in South Dakota foster care experienced any form of abuse at home, below the national average.  While the state alleges “neglect,” tribal leaders argue that social workers confuse that subjective term with poverty or native tradition.

- State officials note that there is a general lack of suitable Native homes for Native placements.  However, many native foster home providers and tribe officials note that these certified providers have not received Native children.

- Money and politics play a troubling role in much of this.  South Dakota receives almost $100 million a year to subsidize its foster care program.  The state has outsourced much of its foster care work to one agency, headed by then-Lieutenant Governor (and current Governor) Dennis Daugaard.