ICWA Documentary

At the 33rd Annual National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) conference, I learned about a documentary being produced on the history of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Blood Memory Project has a trailer available for viewing:  http://bloodmemoryproject.org

From the synopsis: "Throughout the 1940s, transracial adoption was introduced to Native American culture as a way to "save" children from the destitute living conditions on the reservation. Within thirty years nearly one-third of Indian children had been removed from the reservation and place into white Christian homes across the Heartland of America. ...the Adoption Era is an underrepresented moment in American history that has resulted in immeasurable traumas in Indian Country. In 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) established child placement guidelines intended to halt the Adoption Era. However, ICWA's thirty-seven years have seen a lack of federal enforcement and the introduction of incentives that encourage states to remove Indian children at rates consistent with pre-ICWA removals. As activists fight to call attention to these injustices, abusers of the law continue to sidestep the best interests of children for personal and financial gain, all the while, the future of Indian Country hangs in the balance."