Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

ACTION ALERT

Your Support Can Help Protect Native Children!



U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (Democratic/Nonpartisan League - North Dakota)
introduced Senate Bill 1622, which would create the Alyce Spotted Bear
and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act.  This act would
require the president and Congress to appoint individuals who have
significant experience and expertise in Indian affairs to the
commission.  The commission would conduct a comprehensive study of
federal, state, local and tribal programs that serve Native children. 
This would include an evaluation of many issues such as the impact of
concurrent jurisdiction on child welfare systems; barriers that Indian
tribes and Native Hawaiians face in applying, reporting on and using
existing public and private grant resources; barriers to inter-agency
coordination on programs benefiting Native children; and many more
issues. 



The commission would further be directed to use the results of the study
and analyze existing federal data relating to Native children to
develop plans and goals for federal policy; recommend improvements to
programs that serve Native children; recommend improvements in
data-collection regarding Native children; and identify models of
successful federal, state and tribal programs in the areas studied. 



This bill will ensure Native children’s safety by bringing attention to
the issues, creating dialogue, and introducing solutions to the problems
in the child welfare system.  Sixteen co-sponsors have signed onto the
bill since it was introduced in October 2013. This bill was assigned to
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which will consider it before
possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.



Take action! Please voice your support by calling or writing your U.S.
senators today and ask them to support the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter
Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act.  To find contact
information for your senators, go to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.



To read the full text of the bill, track the bill or express support, go to https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1622.
Also, click on the “TRACK THIS BILL” button to sign up for updates
about when this bill is scheduled for debate, has a major action such as
a vote, or gets a new co-sponsor, when a committee meeting is
scheduled, when bill text becomes available or when a bill summary is
written.