Police captain discusses children lost to the system

PIERRE – Like many indigenous nations in the United States, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has been losing children to the state for generations.

Captain Joseph Brings Plenty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement has been with the department for several years and has witnessed the removal of children for homes throughout his career. This is part of his job.

Brings Plenty said that a majority of the calls they receive that result in a child placement are from parent drinking, using drugs, or another kind of substance rendering incapable of caring for a child. Another way children are taken into care is when pregnant mothers are using substances and these are found during pregnancy and birth. Some children are removed from homes when it is found the living conditions are not suitable, as well.

“I see Social Workers that are from the area here making accommodations to the parents, as long as they are trying but for the most cases, it’s parents that are using substances that these sorts of calls involve,” said Captain Brings Plenty. “That’s the advantage of using local people. They know people in the area and they can understand the difference in culture on the reservation versus off the reservation. They make that extra effort to encourage and support, above and beyond what the position requires.”

Another part of the issue his having a place or home to house the children removed from the residence.  Brings Plenty said there are no facilities to house children who are in foster care on the reservation. Despite the push from South Dakota Department of Social Services to find foster homes within reservation boundaries, he says this is done with little success. “The facilities that house foster children are mostly located off of reservation lands. Most of which are treatment centers, which says to me that these children have to be found to have some sort of issue to be sent to residential treatment facilities, maybe evaluating children and having to recognize a diagnosable cause for treatment,” said Brings Plenty.

According to the police captain, many of the children do not have issues with substances, but the results of the actions of their parents or guardians is why they end up in treatment centers, or other similar homes. He said this is not the choice of the child but it is a sad truth of what happens to youth on the reservation.

“The children get sent to foster care for the duration of their youth, or maybe their life time depending on if the child is adopted out or not,” said Brings Plenty. “I know that funding follows these children. I don’t know if this is the driving force or if it isn’t, but I do know that reunification is supposed to be the DSS Motto, working with families, making them strong and what not. If this is the case, then why terminate parental rights after two years? The child is adopted out and if the adopted parent is kind enough, the parent or parents would be able to see their biological child but in all honestly that is not a given.”

Captain Brings Plenty did not have information regarding  the number of children removed from homes, but he did cite a 2011 NPR report which stated over 700 children in South Dakota are removed from their homes each hear. “That article was done 8 years ago, our population has risen and with it the social issues our native populations are facing.”

“In the past, I’ve had an opportunity to visit with a number of children that aged out in the system. From visiting with the youth, it’s apparent they lose a connection with their families,” said Captain Brings Plenty. “In Lakota society, if you lose your family and your all alone it isn’t an easy life to live. You can easily be consumed by the street life or the end result of a life in prison or death. It sounds bleak but it’s only the truth in what the majority of our children are facing with no direction.”

According to Brings Plenty, traditionally for Native Americans the U.S. government has attempted to eradicate their belief systems. This was done through policy, churches and learning institutions. “Nowadays people paint a feather on something or have a talking circle once a month and its deemed cultural. When in fact, the many lessons and teachings our people have would take more than a life time to understand,  just a small percentage of what it means to be Lakota. A child is raised outside of their culture lose that cultural connection; the substance of what makes them native,” he said.

Brings Plenty explains that the Lakota language and prayers is what keeps the nation strong. The concept of ‘7 Generations’ is way of thinking and a responsibility to the next seven generations. This in essence is the next 150 years of children. Losing these children is losing the Lakota nation.

When asked why he thought children were being lost to the system and if there were loop holes in the system, Captain Brings Plenty replied, “It is no secret that IV-E funding follows each Native child that’s put into foster care/adoption. IV-E funding is federal dollars that the U.S. government appropriates for foster care. I’m not saying this is the driving force for the state’s interest in Indian children, but what is the driving force? Why do Native children make up over 60 percent of children in foster care and state adoption, especially when our population makes up no more than 11-12% in the State of South Dakota?”

There is a lack of foster parents and people willing to adopt children on the reservation. In order for families on the reservation to receive state funding for taking in a child or children, they must meet strict state standards. Their homes need to be safe with approved living conditions; each person in the home must do a background check, but many homes on the reservation already have limited space available.

“Most families on the reservation are already strapped for space and possibly already have children in their home they provide care for, in agreement with the families so the child would not be placed in the foster care system,” he said. “I myself have taken children into my home, through relative’s placement so they wouldn’t be lost to foster care system. Although I was able to do this, it just means that I picked up the cost for each child in providing for them and most households cannot make the accommodations to provide a home for a child needing a home.”

Brings Plenty says if the policies could change to make it possible for relative placement and provide assistance, this could drastically change circumstances and keep children on the reservation. “Right now a home can have up to six foster children max, but you have to have the adequate space to accommodate the living arrangements. Believe me, no one wants to see their nephews and nieces or grandchildren taken away. It’s heart breaking to know that this happens quite frequently.”

Brings Plenty and his cousin, Toni Handboy are trying to change things on the Cheyenne River Reservation through Red Generation/Toni Handboy and Tatanka Luta/Red Buffalo. They would like to build a home that would house foster care children on the reservation. Handboy would also like to have a family treatment facility attached to the unit. This would be able to work with parents and children together, rather than having the children and parents separated. “We would take a holistic approach and do this from a cultural platform in teaching and empowering young parents and children.”

“To make this happen, would mean people out there would have to first care by understanding the issues our children are facing. If I had the ability myself, the facility would have been built 20 years ago, because understanding the loss of our children should be that important. If we lose our children we ultimately lose as a nation because a nation without children has no future,” said Captain Brings Plenty.

As a law enforcement officer, Brings Plenty knows firsthand how children are removed on a regular basis. If he receives a call for possible child endangerment and no placement can be found, a call Department of Social Services is made and the child is turned over to them at that time.

“Personally, it’s scarring; something that’s a predicted outcome from being witness to these particular calls over and over again. The one that I feel the most for is the child, because even if the parent does get on track and does the leg work, it could take a year or more to have their child returned to them. Sometimes they only get to see them quarterly per year, if even that. The child loses the most in these situations. They are the innocent ones here but still are the most victimized when it comes to the process,” he said. “Heartbreaking when all it takes is a parent to recognize the importance of their child and make the better choice in living.”

Brings Plenty says he is unsure of a way to track children once they are in the system. “If the ICWA office has a list of what children are out there, I would imagine that list could be provided by Social Services. ICWA does have a role in bringing children back that are in DSS custody but again, there is a lack of resources on the reservation. If there was a concern for children on the reservation, then the proper resources would have been constructed and available right now.”

In a perfect setting, Brings Plenty said he would like to see the children kept in the community. This would ensure the children kept ties with family, friends, relatives and their culture. “In a perfect world, the resources that are out there would be here, where the issues exist, a placement for the child that would provide Lakota Cultural practices, laws and values, a safe environment, a family system that will be available to them even after they turn 18.”

Captain Brings Plenty shared his experience as a law enforcement officer, but also as a community member. He feels losing children to the state is not a part of traditional values.

 

 

 

(Contact Native Sun News Today Correspondent Richie Richards at richie4175@gmail.com)

 

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