Dawnland Signals Finale 2/16/23: Indian Child Welfare Act

Producers/Hosts: Maria Girouard, Esther Anne
Jeffrey Hotchkiss, Zoom recording technician

Dawnland Signals highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media and is meant to share, inspire, and inform. Join co-hosts Maria Girouard and Esther Anne as they engage in critical conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland.

This month:
This month our guests are Norma Saulis, ICWA Director and Tribal Court Administrator for the Mi’kmaq Nation located in Presque Isle, Maine, and Xi Chen, Maine Assistant Attorney General, Child Protection Division. They talk with us about the Indian Child Welfare Act, its history and recent news.

– the history and purpose of ICWA
– ICWA’s history and changes in Maine
– ICWA Workgroup
– Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission
– Supreme Court case Brackeen vs. Haaland
– ICWA as the gold standard for child welfare; permanent guardianship and kinship care

Guests:
Norma Saulis, Penobscot/Kiowa/Maliseet/Irish, ICWA Director and Tribal Court Administrator for the Mi’kmaq Nation located in Presque Isle, Maine
Xi Chen, Maine Assistant Attorney General, Child Protection Division

About the hosts:
Esther Anne, is a Passamaquoddy from Sipayik who lives on Indian Island and serves on the Wabanaki REACH Board of Directors.

Maria Girouard, Penobscot from Indian Island, is Executive Director of Wabanaki REACH, a statewide organization working toward truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland. Maria is a tribal historian with a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maine and a special interest in the Maine Indian Land Claims. Maria has devoted years to community organizing, environmental stewardship and activism, and growing food in tribal communities.