They are currently debating an adoption case that might just end up creating new states!
A Caucasian couple has been trying to adopt a Native American child. The tribe would prefer the kid be adopted by a Native American family. Does the tribe have a right to control their members and where they are placed?
And if they do have that right, they should also have the right to become their own states.
It is doubtful the smaller tribes would ever apply for statehood but I believe tribes should have been given the opportunity to be states a long time ago! The Navajo tribe would be a natural to be the first, but if others joined, it would add many new Senators and Congressmen.
And based on past voting, these would likely be more liberal than the states they currently exist in.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed by Congress in 1978 in response to a family separation crisis. Research at that time found that 25%-35% of all American Indian and Alaska Native children were separated from their parents, extended families, and communities by state child welfare and private adoption agencies, compounding nearly 200 years of active cultural genocide through the boarding school system that began in the early 1800s. ICWA put child welfare best practice into law to reverse these devastating practices.
Under ICWA, placement with extended families and tribal communities whenever possible gives children a connection to the people and places they come from, protecting Native children’s sense of identity, familial networks, and sense of belonging—things that all children need to thrive. But ICWA is under threat: In the Brackeen v. Haaland U.S. Supreme Court case that will be argued in 2022, a small group of opponents to ICWA will argue before the Court that these protections should be taken away from Native children—and their challenge will have far-reaching impacts for tribal sovereignty.
I think the precedent has already been set......research the Brackeen case
The term is Dine'... it is THEIR language and they resent the moniker Navajo. We have taken EVERYTHING from them, the tribal law should be adhered to. The child should be placed WITHIN the culture,maintaining some continuity of the familiar.
