Cultural connections sacred, ICWA upheld

After months of waiting, the Supreme Court delivered a decision on Brackeen vs Haaland, a vote determining the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). It passed and ICWA remains intact. Tribes retain sovereignty over their people, family connections reign as sacred, and remaining rooted in the culture you were born into is a fundamental right.

ICWA is often called the gold standard of child welfare, where efforts are required to keep Native children within the cultures and communities they were born into. Still, Native children in Minnesota are 16 times more likely to be removed from their families as white kids. Similar statistics can be found across the country.

Supreme Court-level and other heroic efforts are vital to halting the continued destruction of Native families. Through land theft, genocide, and boarding schools, Native communities have suffered the loss of their children for generations.

A Wall Street Journal article was published recently citing current tactics from the war in Ukraine: “Russia Forcibly Removes Children from Ukraine, Undermining its Future.” Because even more destructive to a culture than bombs is taking their children. “All their actions are aimed at killing Ukraine’s future,” said Ukraine’s commissioner for children’s rights, Daria Herasymchuk.

Children are our most precious resource, the lifeblood of a society. When children are removed, the violence is felt to a family their entire community. Colonists know this. Warring states know this. To preserve culture, to promote individual, familiar, and societal health and wellbeing, we must protect our children.

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