A bill to set up a task force to study Indian Child Welfare in South Dakota has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee.
Senate Bill 191 provides for 17 representatives from tribes and state agencies to hold at least eight meetings before November 2024.
Their mission is to look for best practices in strengthening Native families so that children can remain in their homes.
Sen. Red Dawn Foster told the House committee that Native people make up 12 percent of South Dakota’s population, but more than 60 percent of the children in custody of the state Department of Social Services (DSS).
She said the task force will try to figure out what underlies that inequity and how to fix it.
“Looking at and identifying root causes in where we can put the time [and] resources to address those, so that the children don’t end up in DSS,” she said.
Foster said one key step is to address poverty wherever the child lives.
“If a child is removed, that the adoptive families are receiving the support that they need to care for the children,” she said.
Foster noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments on the constitutionality of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, and if that federal law is weakened, South Dakota needs to join several other states in developing laws to fill the gap.
Rep. Rebecca Reimer questioned if poverty is the only factor in Native children’s welfare.
“I would think there would be multiple conditions or reasons if you would say that they would be removed,” Reimer said.
Foster replied that tribes face housing shortages, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and a high prison population, but much of it stems from poverty.
“Looking at all the contributing factors that come along with poverty—Natives are disproportionately affected by that,” Foster said.
Reimer objected to the bill as having a goal larger than it would be able to meet, but ultimately she voted in favor of it. Earlier in the session, the bill passed through the Senate Health and Human Services committee and the full Senate, with amendments.
Senate Bill 191 now goes to the House floor and, if it passes there, to the governor’s desk.
