Tribe: Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota
Section 2.
Statement of Purpose, Findings, Authority, and Philosophy.2
a. Purpose. The Community Council declares that the following are the policies of the
Prairie Island Indian Community:
1. To provide for the welfare, care, and protection of the Children and families of the
Prairie Island Indian Community and other Native Children residing or Domiciled
on the Prairie Island Indian Community Reservation;
2. To preserve unity of the family, separating a Child from their Parents, Guardians,
or Custodians only when necessary;
3. To take such actions as may be necessary and feasible to prevent the Abuse,
Neglect, or Abandonment of Children;
4. To provide a continuum of services for Children and their families from
prevention to residential treatment, with an emphasis on prevention, early
intervention, and community-based alternatives;
5. To secure the rights of and ensure fairness to the Children, Parents, Guardians,
Custodians, or other parties who come before the Tribal Court under this Child
Welfare Ordinance;
6. To ensure that off-Reservation courts will return Community Children to the
Reservation by establishing this Ordinance;
7. To ensure that Family Services makes active and best efforts to achieve
enrollment of a Child who is eligible for enrollment where the Community has
Legal Custody of a Child under six months of age who is eligible for enrollment,
consistent with the requirements of the Prairie Island Indian Community
Constitution and Prairie Island Indian Community Enrollment Ordinance; and
8. To recognize and follow the tribal customs and traditions of the Prairie Island
Indian Community with regard to child-rearing.
b. Findings. [reserved].
c. Authority. [reserved].
d. Philosophy. Child welfare must be considered within the broader context of
multigenerational trauma and the ongoing negative effects of Indian boarding schools
and removals in the Prairie Island Indian Community. Parents recovering from
multigenerational cultural, spiritual, emotional, and physical traumas and the effects
of resulting addiction need more time to recover. Recovery from these traumas and
addictions are often not linear and can even be cyclical. The Community commits to giving our Parents who are struggling more support and time to recover so that the
Community can restore the family units in this generation.