The state legislative tribal committee met in Riverton at Central Wyoming College on Monday to discuss a number of topics. Including an update on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person Task Force and a potential Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) law at the state level.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person Task Force Update
Cara Chambers updated the committee on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person (MMIP) Task Force. Chambers is chair of the MMIP task force and director of the Department of Victim Services.
She brought a request to look into a missing adult alert system, to better get out timely information on missing Indigenous individuals.
“This would be a very easy lift for the state because it is so parallel to the Amber Alert system. It wouldn’t require much other than legislative action to adopt this in the state,” she said.
Chambers said the task force and state would work with Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement to integrate missing adults on the Wind River into this alert system. The alert system is called the Ashanti Alert named after Ashanti Billie, who was killed in 2017 in Virginia. This alert system is used in other states.
Northern Arapaho chairman Jordan Dresser also addressed the committee and previewed a new trailer for “Who She Is”. A film telling personal stories from the missing and murdered women of the Wind River Reservation. The film will debut on September 10th on the Central Wyoming College campus. The film’s production was supported by the Department of Victim Services.
Dresser addressed the committee about the importance of telling personal stories and believing survivors of violence and sexual assault.
“Unfortunately, we live in a society where we ridicule individuals who do come and speak out. Who say, ‘This is what's going on…’ I don’t have respect for individuals like that. Because at the end of the day, you are undermining those people. You’re forcing those who do have stories to be quiet,” he said.
BIA chief of police Eric Blackburn also addressed the committee and said two victim advocate positions are being brought through the federal system but background checks are taking a long time. Currently, the selection is around five months into a background check.
“That seems to be our biggest issue in Indian Country Law enforcement is hiring. It's a challenge we are all trying to get passed. Here on the Wind River Reservation, I have had some good luck, I think we have 18 officers,” he said.
Blackburn also said that one of the victim advocate positions was filled last year, but backed out of the position before their start date.
Looking at a state Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) has been a federal law for 44 years. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a ICWA case this fall with a decision expected next summer. In preparation, the committee had a section during the meeting to educate and talk about potentially beginning the process of a state ICWA law, in case the federal supreme court knocks ICWA down. The act gives tribes a seat at the table in efforts to find an Indigenous child a home if their past home is tumultuous, and to ideally keep families together.
The attorney for the Northern Arapaho tribes Clare Johnson said she currently is working on 62 ICWA cases, about half of those are within the state of Wyoming.
“With the fact that the federal law could be struck down we feel like it is incredibly important.” she said.
Because ICWA laws are so complex, Kathryn Fort, an expert from Michigan State was called in. She said that ICWA provides a layer of protection for Indigenous kids and families during neglect cases.
“These include active efforts to rehabilitate and reunify the Indian family if a child is removed and the parents have specific needs,” she said, citing that 90 percent of child cases are of neglect surrounding substance abuse or mental health issues. “So, when we are talking about ICWA cases, we are talking about making sure that families receive the services they need to stay together.”
Representative Affie Ellis asked Fort whether efforts should be led by the tribes or the state legislature, and what that might look like. Fort replied, it's a balance of meaningfully considering the tribes but the law is also the state's responsibility.
“ICWA is frankly a remedial law to make sure that states aren't… agencies and courts are not acting wrong when they get Native children in front of them,” she said.
Lee Spoonhunter is on the Northern Arapaho Business Council and said he wants to start drafting something now to protect Wyoming’s Indigenous children.
“In Indian Country, as tribal leaders, we are so worried about this and it's because we are going to lose our children. We are going to lose our children to the system. We are not going to find them until they have been adopted out and that's just the reality of what is going to happen if this law is struck down,” he said.
The select committee will meet again October 18th to get updates on Wyoming's MMIP and ICWA discussions.
The committee discussed other topics, including cross deputizing wildlife agents between state and tribal land, tax reform, and feral horse removal. A full recording of the meeting can be found on the Wyoming Legislature youtube page.
