The subcommittee met at 9 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room
3110 Dirksen Office Building, Hon. James Abourezk presiding.
Present: Senators Abourezk and Bartlett.
Also present: Jerry T. Verkler, staff director, and Forrest Gerard,
professional staff member.

Senator ABOUREZK. The Indian Affairs Subcommittee hearings on
Indian child welfare is now in session.

We have called these hearings today to begin to define the specific
problems that American Indian families face in raising their children
and how these problems are affected by Federal action or inaction.
Many Americans and the Congress are becoming more aware of the
difficulties Indian communities face in a broad range of areas: Health,
education, land and water rights, economic development, among
others. But there are few who are knowledgeable about the difficulties
American Indians face in a matter of vital concern to them; namely
the welfare of their children and their families.

It appears that for decades Indian parents and their children have
been at the mercy of arbitrary or abusive action of local, State,
Federal, and private agency officials. Unwarranted removal of children
from their homes is common in Indian communities. Recent statistics
show, for example, that a minimum of 25 percent of all Indian children
are either in foster homes, adoptive homes, and/or boarding schools,
against the best interest of families, tribes, and Indian communities.
Whereas most non-Indian communities can expect to have children
out of their natural homes in foster or adoptive homes at a rate of 1
per every 51 children, Indian communities know that their children
will be removed at rates varying from 5 to 25 times higher than that.

Because of poverty and discrimination Indian families face many
difficulties, but there is no reason or justification for believing that
these problems make Indian parents unfit to raise their children; nor
is there any reason to believe that the Indian community itself can-
not, within its own confines, deal with problems of child neglect when
they do arise. Up to now, however, public and private welfare agencies
seem to have operated on the premise that most Indian children would


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really be better off growing up non-Indian. The result of such policies
has been unchecked, abusive child-removal practices, the lack of
viable, practical rehabilitation and prevention programs for Indian
families facing severe problems, and a practice of ignoring the all-
important demands of Indian tribes to have a say in how their children
and families are dealt with. Officials would seemingly rather place
Indian children in non-Indian settings where their Indian culture,
their Indian traditions and, in general, their entire Indian way of life
is smothered. The Federal Government for its part has been con-
spicuous by its lack of action. It has chosen to allow these agencies to
strike at the heart of Indian communities by literally stealing Indian
children, a course which can only weaken rather than strengthen the
Indian child, the family and the community. This, at a time when the
Federal Government purports to be working to help strengthen
Indian communities. It has been called cultural genocide.

Over the next 2 days we will hear from Indian parents, Indian
children, national Indian leaders, as well as Indian and non-Indian
professionals from around the country. From what we learn from
them this committee hopes to be able to propose Federal action
that will provide Indian communities and parents with the tools
and the legal means to protect and develop their families. A number
of urgent questions need to be answered; among them, what are the
facts concerning child welfare practices by governmental and non-
governmental agencies in Indian communities? What are Indian
people seeking to do to change the situation? How can the Congress
support this effort?

Underlying the answers to these questions are further questions
about Federal responsibility and past Federal action in this regard.
First, why has the Federal Government, under the auspices of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare not been active, or not been active enough, in supporting
and protecting Indian families? Why do State welfare departments,
which receive substantial amounts of Federal moneys for the welfare
of Indian children, continue to take actions which appear to be
against the best interests of those children and families that the
funds are intended to support? Why do the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare have no
adequate family rehabilitation and protection programs in Indian
communities? Why is it that BIA and HEW, by their silent com-
plicity, continue to fund State welfare programs which act unlawfully
toward Indian families and children?

We do not mean to suggest in these hearings that Indian families
and Indian communities, like all communities throughout the country
are not going to continue to have problems. What we do want to
suggest is that the pattern of discrimination against American Indians
is evident in the area of child welfare, and that it is the responsibility
of the Congress to take whatever action is within its power to see
to it that American Indian communities and their families are not
destroyed; to see to it that Indian people receive equal justice and
the support of the Federal Government. We are committed to a
course in Indian child welfare which will eliminate present abuses
and injustices and which will begin the long, overdue process of
helping, rather than handicapping Indian children and their families.


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The first witness this morning will be Mr. William Byler, executive
director of the Association on American Indian Affairs and the staff
attorney for that association, Bert Hirsch. I'd like them to come
forward.

We'd like to welcome both of you to the hearings this morning
and I want, first of all, to thank you for the work of your association
and that you, individually, have done in the area of protection of
Indian rights and the interest you've shown in the planning efforts
you've made in this area of Indian welfare rights with respect to
Indian families and Indian children, and we will be pleased to hear
your testimony.

Followed the testimony of William Byler and Bert Hirsh