LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the editor:
It has been almost a year since the
Council allowed me, my husband, and our
foster daughter, Princess, to get up at the Tribal
Council meeting and tell our story about our
great niece who is in a non-family, non-Indian
foster home in Bozeman, Mont. A lot of my
family was there to support us. Unfortunately,
our niece, Celestial, is still in the same
foster home.
The foster parents are prominent
people in the Bozeman community with lots of
connections. The foster mother is director of a
children s services facility that does extensive
work with the state of Montana Children s
Services Division. The father is a prominent
cattle rancher. They were voted foster family
of the year in Bozeman. They want to adopt
our niece even though they know she is Siletz
Indian and that the Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA) is supposed to protect the rights of
Indian children.
We have been available for placement
since July 1997. We have been approved for
adoption through the state of Oregon and the
Siletz Tribe. Bozeman DPHHS and the non
native foster family all seem to think they know
what is best for our Siletz Indian great-niece.
They have sidestepped and played legal games
with ICWA.
The county judge ruled against ICWA
and us in January 1999. We have appealed the
decision to the Montana Supreme Court. Since
that time, another baby was bom by the same
birth mother of Celestial. Her name is Stormie.
Oregon SCF took her from the birth mother at
the hospital and Stormie was placed with us on
March 1,1999. The birth mother has asked us
to adopt and we have agreed. It is now even
more important for Celestial to be placed with
us because her sister, Stormie, will be
permanently adopted by us. We are involved
To the editor:
In a recent issue of Smoke Signals, the
excellent publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe,
I read that they provide their elders (those 55
and older) with a monthly pension of $500. The
Grand Ronde Tribe is to be commended for
their caring initiative. But as members of the
Confederated Siletz Tribes, we should be
ashamed that we provide our elders with a mere
$ 100 Christmas trinket.
It is our elders who have suffered the
most among our membership during the years
of the 1920s- 90s, doing without so that their
children and grandchildren might have food and
clothing. Let s encourage all our Siletz Tribal
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in our culture and will raise these children
knowing their heritage.
In January when the judge in Bozeman
ruled against us and ICWA, he advised if we
were going to appeal that it should be expedited.
We and the Siletz Tribe filed appeals in
February 1999. The foster family and the county
attorney have already filed and received an
extension. This is the third extension that has
been requested since August 1998. These
extensions drag out the case and only benefit
the foster family s case. This does not help us
and certainly is not in the best interest of our
niece, Celestial.
We have been granted supervised
visitations and have traveled to Bozeman several
times. The foster family is unwilling to meet us
halfway, so we have to drive to Bozeman. The
trip is around 16 hours. It has been very difficult,
but we have had one visit a month since January.
Stormie has been able to meet her big sister,
Celestial, who is now 2 years old. Both times,
Stormie has been in awe of her big sister and
vice versa. I feel there is definitely a family bond.
This case should not be taken lightly.
This is a prime example of the state of Montana
breaking an Indian treaty. Montana has not
complied with ICWA from the start. If they win
this case, it will weaken ICWA for all of our
native people.
We are hopeful that they will give us
back our niece so she can grow up with her
sister and they can grow up knowing and living
their native culture as I have and our son has
and his children will. If anyone wants to help,
you can send a letter of protest to Gov. Marc
Racicot, State Capitol, Helena MT 59620-0801
or Chuck Hunter, Administrator of Children s
Services, DPHHS - Montana, PO Box 80005,
Helena, MT 59604. Thank you.
Tina Ehret
Council members to work swiftly to enact
legislation mirroring that of the Grand Ronde
Tribe in their elder pension funding.
In a separate matter, the electronic mail
system of the Siletz Tribe is leaving much to be
desired. Why is there not a directory of e-mail
addresses published periodically in the Siletz
News? Why are e-mails not being delivered to
the
Siletz
e-addresses (such as
newspaper@ctsi.nsn.us) when sent from
outside of the Siletz system (such as from
America Online subscribers)?
Rick Dodds
Rogue River Shasta
LETTERS, DEADLINES
AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
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Send letters to:
Siletz News
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380
541-444-8291
1-800-922-1399, ext. 291
Fax: 541-444-2307
e-mail: pias@ctsi.nsn.us
Please note: The general manager of
the Siletz Tribe is the editor-in-chief of the Siletz
News.
Editor-in-Chief: Brenda Bremner
Editor: Diane Rodriquez
Deadline for the August/September
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Everyone loves to see photos of events, tribal
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ones.
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