Native American foster care

A student walks home from the Pine Ridge High School through the skate park in Pine Ridge on Aug. 28, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

A story told in data: Overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the SD foster care system

BY: - November 17, 2023

Native American children are overrepresented in South Dakota’s child welfare system — accounting for nearly 74% of foster children in the state at the end of fiscal year 2023, despite making up 13% of the state’s child population. That means Indigenous children have a 22% chance of being removed from their families and placed in […]

South Dakota Searchlight reporter Makenzie Huber and Argus Leader reporter Annie Todd interview Gov. Kristi Noem, Department of Tribal Relations Secretary David Flute and Department of Social Services Secretary Matt Althoff at the Governor’s Office in the South Dakota State Capitol on Sept. 26, 2023. (Samantha Laurey/Argus Leader)

How the Argus Leader and South Dakota Searchlight reported The Lost Children series

BY: and - November 17, 2023

Children can quickly lose interest in you when you’re helping them stack blocks, but also when you’re speaking with their grandmother about why she’s caring for them. They fall asleep in her arms as you witness her choke up, flashing back to when she and her younger brothers were split as young siblings at a […]

A tipi at the South Dakota Urban Indian Health summer culture camp in Sisseton. (Courtesy of SDUIH)

What’s being done to address the high number of Native children in foster care in SD

BY: and - November 17, 2023

South Dakota government officials, tribal leaders, tribal child welfare coordinators, foster families and legislators agree: The overrepresentation of Native American children in the foster care system is a problem. Indigenous children made up nearly 74% of foster children in the state by mid-2023 — five times the actual representation of Native American children in South […]

A girl learns to hoop dance during the South Dakota Urban Indian Health summer culture camp in Sisseton. (Courtesy of SDUIH)

Cultural connection for Native foster children in South Dakota is lacking, foster parents say

BY: and - November 16, 2023

Jennifer Johnson wondered if her boys hated her. She and her husband fostered and adopted the three brothers — all under 3 years old — in the early 2000s. The couple provided a safe, stable and loving home for the children, she recalled, but it seemed like the boys would try to sabotage their relationships […]

Christian Banley sits in front of her Aberdeen home on Aug. 23, 2023. Banley’s parental rights for two daughters were terminated earlier in the summer. (Samantha Laurey/Argus Leader)

‘Waiting for life to start again’: Family agonizes over parental termination

BY: and - November 8, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story mentions mental health issues. If you need help or know someone who does, please call 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7 for free and confidential support.  Home is Christian Banley’s purgatory. The tan, unassuming clapboard house with a sagging awning and an overgrown front yard sits across the […]

A mural painted on the side of a boarded up apartment complex in Eagle Butte depicts an infant holding the hand of an elder. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota)

South Dakota inspired ICWA but still has high rate of Native children in foster care

BY: and - November 6, 2023

Cheryl Spider DeCoteau was nervous. It was the Sisseton Wahpeton tribal citizen’s first time in Washington, D.C., and she sat in front of two senators, multiple congressional aides, lawyers and clerks in a large, wood-paneled committee room, bright lights shining down. Two of the 23-year-old’s sons, ages 5 and 3, sat in the audience while […]

Jessica Eagle Star helps her son Noran across the monkey bars at the park in Winner on Aug. 29, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

The Lost Children: Overrepresentation of Native American children in the SD foster care system

BY: and - November 6, 2023

South Dakota officials have known Native American children are overrepresented in the foster care system for nearly 50 years. The Indian Child Welfare Act, a 1978 federal law, was meant to tackle the problem not just in the state but across the country at a time when Native children were regularly removed from their families. […]

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Native Americans cheer Supreme Court’s upholding of Indian Child Welfare Act, push for more action

BY: - June 15, 2023

After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act in a 7-2 vote released Thursday, Native American advocates in South Dakota applauded the decision and said the state should go further to protect Native children. ICWA is a 1978 federal law giving preference to Native tribes in the case of foster care placement […]

The South Dakota Capitol building in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

House tanks last remaining bill to address Native American disparity in foster care placements

BY: - March 1, 2023

PIERRE – The House of Representatives shot down a bill that would have created a task force to study the causes and possible solutions for the disparate representation of Native American children in the foster care system. Senate Bill 191 sailed to the House with unanimous support from a House panel earlier this week. It […]

Sen. Red Dawn Foster, D-Pine Ridge, foreground, listens as Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, asks a question about a proposed task force on Native American children in foster care on Feb. 27, 2023, during a hearing at the Capitol in Pierre. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Panel backs task force to study foster care for Native American children

BY: - February 27, 2023

PIERRE – A House panel on Monday endorsed a two-year task force to study Native American overrepresentation in South Dakota’s foster care system. Senate Bill 191 cleared the full Senate last week. It’s the only bill related to Native children in foster care to have survived past a committee hearing so far this session.  The […]