Forced Boarding Schools & Native Child Welfare: The Assimilation Isn’t Over
Disclaimer: *For this blog, I will be using Native American when referring to the indigenous people of the US, however, many of the policies, quotes, and names throughout the blog use different language. Please refer to the table below for understanding the appropriate usage. Always ask the person/group what they prefer*
Source: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/upload/HFC-2018-Style-Guide.pdf
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This term refers to the indigenous people of the area. Native Alaskan is anyone from Alaska (including non-indigenous).
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Some tribes (and their associated parks) prefer Native Americans. Use specific tribal name(s) whenever possible, accurate, and appropriate. See also First Nations, tribal names.
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Refers to aboriginal people in Canada who are neither Inuit (people of the Canadian Arctic) nor Métis (descendants of First Nation people who married Europeans)—often used in the plural in the collective sense, as in a program for First Nations youth. The term is widely used in Canada but not in the US, except in connection with Métis whose homelands include northwest Minnesota, North Dakota, or other northern states. See also American Indian.
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Use if requested by specific tribes or parks. See American Indian.
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Use specific tribal name(s) whenever possible, accurate, and appropriate. Also, the preference is to use the singular noun: Navajo, Lakota, and Tlingit.
“‘We couldn’t speak our language, we couldn’t sing our prayer songs,’ he said. ‘To this day, maybe that’s why I can’t sing.’” - Russell Box Sr. (Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools by Rukmini Callimachi)
November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. The National Congress of American Indians describes this month as a time to celebrate the histories, cultures, and traditions of Native American people and their impact on American history while also educating the public on the challenges native people have faced, continue to face, and have conquered. (NCIA).
Addressing the trauma of forced assimilation, violent coercion of boarding schools, and systemic enforcement of white supremacy to eradicate native people begin to unravel some of the disturbing trends shown in the child welfare system today. As much as assimilation seems to be a thing of the past, the truth is that it is far from over.
A Brief History of Boarding Schools
The Indian Civilization Fund Act of 1819 officially started providing traditional, white American education to Native people to “civilize” them (NICWA). Despite the policy beginning in 1819, the first reservation boarding school opened in 1860 in Washington on the Yakima Indian Reservation (Northern Plains Reservation Aid). Shortly after in 1879, the first off-reservation boarding school was opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Richard Henry Pratt (The U.S. history of Native American Boarding Schools, Melissa Mejia).
Regardless of consent, children were forcibly removed/kidnapped from their homes and families to attend boarding schools. While at school, Native American children were forced to abandon their cultural beliefs and practices to adopt an “American way of life.” The so-called American way of life was enacted by forcing Native American children to adopt Christianity, cut their hair (Many tribes consider hair sacred and do not cut it), speak exclusively in English (with extreme punishment if they spoke their native language), and change their names to white, Christian names (Kids Matter Inc).
The objective of boarding schools was to wipe out indigenous culture and replace it with white ideologies. Richard Henry Pratt infamously said his philosophy was to “kill the Indian… save the man” (Kids Matter Inc). Punishment at boarding schools included taking away food, water, medical attention, and other forms of physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual forms of torture. It is estimated that 357 schools operated across 30 states from 1860 to 1978. Within this time, over 60,000 Native American youth were taken/kidnapped from their families and over 500 lives were lost. It is important to note that this number is probably much higher because many graves were unmarked and deaths were rarely reported (The U.S. history of Native American Boarding Schools, Melissa Mejia).
The Indian Adoption Project
In 1958, as boarding schools started losing authority, the Bureau of Indian Affairs introduced the Indian Adoption Project. Sandy White Hawk, the Executive Director of the First Nations Repatriation Institute, was one of these adopted children. She describes her experience as a Native American in a white middle-class family by stating, “My adoptive mother constantly reminded me that no matter what I did, I came from a pagan race whose only hope for redemption was to assimilate to white culture. From the time I was small I heard things like, ‘you better not grow up to be a good-for-nothing Indian,’ and so it was a continuation of identity shaming and cultural genocide,” (The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition). Through the Indian Adoption Act, approximately 1 in 4 Native American children were separated from their families and forced into adopted families. False and racist assumptions surrounding Native American belief systems and culture led to the unmistakable cycle of oppression and cultural genocide across the Native American community (The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition).
The tradition of white supremacy authorized the separation of Native American youth and their families, despite the clear abuse and racism many children faced. The Indian Adoption Act carried the same tactics and programs as boarding schools under the guise of a different system. The impact of the Indian Adoption Act was detrimental, where “countless Native children were removed in cases where family poverty and kinship care were confused with neglect.” (The Things They Carried, Patrice Kunesh). In 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act policy was legislated to block the removal of Native children from their homes, formally ending the Indian Adoption Project. By this time, 85% of the children adopted through this act were placed in non-Native families, continuing the prolific mistreatment of Native Americans (The Things They Carried, Patrice Kunesh).
The Continuation of Native Family Separation
Despite the policy ending the Indian Adoption Project with the Indian Child Welfare Act, we still see troubling trends surrounding the Native American community and the child welfare system. To this day, Native American youth are overwhelmingly placed in foster care more than any other ethnic and racial group (The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition). This statistic is stark considering that, “although Native children are just one percent of all children in the US, they are 2.7% of all children who are placed outside their homes in foster care,” (The Things They Carried, Patrice Kunesh). The trauma experienced by Native Americans continues to persist despite the rhetoric that assimilation and cultural genocide are over. Countless studies and data continuously prove that “the practical reality is that current child welfare outcomes are indistinguishable from the pre-IAP and ICWA era and are directly related to past traumas, particularly forced family separations endured in boarding schools.” (The Things They Carried, Patrice Kunesh).
What Can Change The Narrative?
It is possible that we can start disrupting the system of oppression in the Native American community. We can start taking steps forward by incorporating culturally specific trauma-informed care and treatment in the community and the child welfare system. For so long, the white viewpoint was the only socially acceptable one. A shift away from the dominant point of view and the acceptance of different perspectives can begin positive action.
Some ways that we can include trauma-informed care are:
Focus on keeping families safe and together
Educate self, staff, and communities about the cultural belief systems and practices of indigenous communities
Maintain representation inside the foster care system
Build relationships across sectors to address systemic disparities
Acknowledge family aboriginal name, tribe, nation
Seek support from indigenous organizations for advocacy and support