NATIVE RIGHTS

The Maliseets get their day in court

By Jess Kilby

Actually, they get their own court. After a year of negotiations with state officials, the Houlton Band of Maliseets — one of the four federally recognized Native American tribes in Maine — have been granted permission to administer their own child-welfare proceedings.

The Department of Human Services currently handles cases involving Maliseet children, though the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 dictates that certain cultural sensitivities (priority placement with tribal foster families, allowances to participate in tribal events) be addressed when DHS deals with a Native American child.

Under the new agreement, which was hammered out with DHS and the state Attorney General’s office, the Maliseets have the authority to establish their own court and make their own decisions about the welfare of the tribe’s children.

Chief Brenda Commander says the state has been more than helpful in bringing the agreement to fruition, though it has still been a long road for the tribe.

“In 1980, when the Houlton Band of Maliseets was federally recognized, we didn’t have the resources or infrastructure to take on the challenge of having our own child-welfare program,” Commander says.

Even now, the tribe’s not quite ready to establish a full-fledged court system. Commander says her tribe, with 759 members, will likely be drawing on the resources of the Penobscot tribe’s existing child-welfare court for the foreseeable future. She says the Penobscots will be able to literally “unplug” their court and bring it to the Maliseets’ Houlton location when needed.

Gaining this level of autonomy from the state is crucial to the survival of the tribe, Commander says.

“In 1976, Congress determined that the Maliseet children, our children, were placed in foster homes 62.4 times greater than that of non-native children,” she explains. “And we didn’t have a lot of say over what happened to our most precious, most vulnerable resource — our children. So this agreement is going to be a positive step for the future of our children and our community.”

Of the state’s three other federally recognized tribes — the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy, and the Micmac — only the Micmac now remain under state jurisdiction for child welfare matters.