Maine, Tribes Agree to Examine Past Child Welfare Abuses UPDATED

“Gov. Paul LePage and the four remaining Wabanaki tribes signed an agreement to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to uncover past abuses and devise policies to ensure that they never happen again.

The push to assimilate Native American children into mainstream American life goes back as least as far as the late-1800s. At that time, thousands of Indian children were taken from their families and tribes and sent to boarding schools set up by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, where they were forced to learn English and Christianity. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the Indian Adoption Project ushered in an aggressive, and often disturbing, new phase of assimilation.

“Had we not gone through what we did, my two sisters would still be alive today,” said Denise Yarmal, the Wabanaki Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee in Maine. But long before she held this job, Yarmal and her two sisters were among scores of Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet, and Micmac children placed in adoptive and foster care homes.

Thirteen years ago, when Yarmal joined an effort to bring childhood experiences like hers into the light of day, she did so extremely reluctantly “because I came as an adult, full of childhood memories about the abuse and torture that I suffered while I was in a foster care home as a young child, as a young little girl,” she said. “There were many times that I thought to myself, ‘What on earth am I doing here?'”

Nonetheless, Yarmal and other tribal representatives started a dialogue with state child welfare officials, holding regular meetings facilitated by the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Tuesday, that process took a major step forward.

“This truly is a historic day,” said Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis. “As this document we will sign will represent the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address Indian child welfare issues–and the first that we know of that has been developed collaboratively with tribal and state governments.”

With the creation of the commission, Wabanaki people are being encouraged to come forward and share their own childhood stories of abuse and neglect, and in the process, heal and inform policies to ensure that similar mistreatment never happens again.

“You know, our Declaration of Independence says that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said Gov. Paul LePage, who joined tribal leaders in signing the document. LePage’s participation in the ceremony added an element of pathos to the day. At age 11, Maine’s governor was forced to flee his impoverished home and the abuse doled out regularly by his father.

“And frankly, happiness is in your home, whichever home that you have,” he said. “It’s beyond me to think that, in my case, I chose to leave home. And to think that somebody would be taken from a home, and think that it could be replaced, is beyond imagination.”

In later remarks, LePage acknowledged that Maine’s child welfare system hasn’t always treated Wabanaki kids–and many other Maine children, for that matter–with dignity and respect. The governor says his administration is committed to making sure the state participates in, and learns from, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work. ”
Maine, Tribes Agree to Examine Past Child Welfare Abuses
[The Maine Public Broadcasting Network 5/24/11 by Jay Field]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: The following is a video about the Truth and Reconciliation Project and a few women of the   Passamaqoddy tribe who were taken from their families and placed into white homes. See Native Americans recall era of forced adoptions [BBC 11/20/12]

You can view some documents related to this commission here.