Thomas Daschle: “the flaw in the statute is that it provides IV-E assistance only to children placed by State courts or agencies with…”

“the flaw in the statute is that it provides IV-E assistance only to children placed by State courts or agencies with whom States have agreements. In doing so, the law has left out Indian children living in tribal areas who are placed in foster care and adoptive homes by tribal courts. A relatively small number of tribes--50, or 10 percent of the total number of federally recognized tribes--has been able to work out tribal/State agreements whereby foster care payments are made for children placed by tribal courts. These agreements do not provide the full services of the title IV-E program, as they by and large do not include training and administrative funding for tribal governments. A major impediment to reaching even these less-than-ideal tribal/State agreements is that State governments retain liability under the agreements, something that States are reluctant to do. The result is that Indian children--often the poorest of the poor in our Nation--are sometimes placed in unsubsidized homes without necessary foster care services. This should not be the case.”