State Adopts Indian Child Welfare Rules Law Requires Indian Children Be Placed With Indian Families

State officials are trying to incorporate tribal traditions into Indian foster care, child protection and adoption procedures.

Department of Health and Welfare workers are holding a public meeting in Bonners Ferry today and in Plummer Tuesday to take suggestions from local tribes.

Idaho is incorporating the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act into its child welfare rules.

The law requires that Indian children removed from homes due to abuse or neglect should be placed with tribal members, the child’s extended family, or other Indians.

“We and the tribes have found that that’s most successful for children and families,” said Roseanne Hardin, administrator of the department’s family and community services division.

She said tribes may have their own standards for caring for children, or their own ways of selecting appropriate foster parents.The Plummer meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council Chambers, at the tribal headquarters south of Plummer.

“There are many issues the tribes and the department can work on together, including finding more Indian foster homes for Indian children,” Hardin said.

Hardin said the state has only 25 Indian foster homes, most able to take only one or two children.

Some of Idaho’s six tribes, including the Coeur d’Alenes and Kootenais, also have their own tribal foster home programs.

There are 11,873 Indians in Idaho, of which 4,085 are under age 18.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Public meetings Bonners Ferry: Today, 10 a.m., Kootenai Tribal Headquarters, 142 Road 38-A. Plummer: Tuesday, 9 a.m., Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council Chambers, at the tribal headquarters south of Plummer.