On September 24, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee heard testimony on a bill (S. 1601) to reauthorize the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act (P.L. 101-630).
Sponsored by Chair Ben Campbell (R-CO), S. 1601 would authorize a comprehensive tribal child abuse and family violence program, including the establishment of safety measures for child protection workers and a database for accessing current national central registries for child abuse information. The bill also would authorize a federal study of the intergovernmental and jurisdictional impediments to reducing child abuse. In addition, S. 1601 would expand the definition of “child abuse” to include children who are the victims of family violence.
Dr. Charles Grim, Director of the Indian Health Services (IHS) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), testified on the importance of reauthorizing the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act. “Our Indian families are strong, but besieged by the numbing effects of poverty, lack of resources, and limited opportunity,” he lamented. Dr. Grim then highlighted a number of programs the IHS planned to continue after enactment of S. 1601. The goal of these programs is “to improve health care providers’ capability to provide early identification and culturally appropriate responses to victims of familial violence, particularly women and children, in [American Indian and Alaska Native] AI/AN communities.”
Witnesses testifying on behalf of American Indian populations in Arizona and Oregon were very supportive of the new provisions in S. 1601, but concerned that the lack of funding would make them difficult to implement. Mark Lewis of the Hopi Tribe noted, “There is a significant need for more funding for prevention and treatment, and for the development of proper and necessary infrastructure for Tribal institutions to be more effective…in their mission of child protection, prevention, and treatment.” “In short, the funds originally proposed must be made available and the proposed amendments should be fully funded from the beginning,” he argued.
Garland Brunoe of the Warm Springs Reservation said he hoped his testimony would “highlight the level of attention that Indian child protection and family violence prevention needs nationwide.” He concluded that S. 1601 “is an essential step in meeting that challenge.”
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee plans to mark up S. 1601 in October.
