KELOLAND.com

Native children welfare bill passes South Dakota committee

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) –A South Dakota bill aimed at placing Native American children with other relatives when they are removed from their families in abuse and neglect proceedings has been approved in a House committee.

The bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Peri Pourier passed the committee Friday on a 9-3 vote and goes next to the full House. The National Indian Child Welfare Association says Native American children make up 60% of youth placed into the foster system in the state and, nationally, are in foster care at a rate three times higher than that of white children.

The group attributes the disparities to systemic bias, historical trauma and high poverty and jobless rates.