Indian Groups Question Public Child-Welfare Practices - NYTimes.com: DENVER — Several prominent Native American groups on Monday called for the Justice Department to investigate the treatment of Indian children in public child-welfare systems and private adoptions.
In a letter presented to government officials in Portland, Ore., the groups said that a federal law intended to keep Indian children from being removed from their families was being routinely sidestepped.
In their letter, the groups wrote that a lack of federal oversight had led to Indian children being improperly placed with non-Indian families by child welfare workers and that tribal representatives were too often left out of custody proceedings. They also accused adoption agencies of sometimes ignoring the tribal membership of children in their care.
