Tribe: Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation
8.01.010 Declaration of Purpose.
(a) It is the sovereign right of the Lummi
Nation to determine the best interests of its
children, and its responsibility to protect, care
for and nurture our children.
(b) The Lummi Nation declares that the
relationship and bond between parents and their
children is of paramount importance to the
future of the family and to the future of the
Lummi Nation. It is the responsibility of each
family to determine the living arrangements and
custody of the family’s children, and to provide
for the welfare of those children. However,
there are occasionally instances when a child is
deprived of the child’s right to minimal
conditions of safety, health, and nurture, the
Nation must intervene on behalf of the child to
preserve and protect those rights of the child.
All persons, agencies and entities having duties
or responsibilities under the Children’s Code
shall carry out those duties and responsibilities
in a manner consistent with the express
purposes of this Code.
(c) The Lummi Nation, and all of its agencies
and departments, shall work to maintain the
family unity in a manner consistent with the
safety of the child, and to prevent the
unnecessary removal of a child from the child’s
home. If out-of-home placement is necessary to
ensure the safety of the child, the Lummi
Nation shall work toward the safe reunification
of the child and family in a timely manner.
(d) A Lummi family extends beyond the
immediate family to the child’s grandparents,
aunts, uncles, first cousins, and other family
members who have a close relationship with the
child. Although a child’s parents have direct
responsibility for the care of a child, the
grandparents, particularly grandmothers, have
an inherent responsibility to oversee the welfare
of their grandchildren and to teach their
grandchildren the Lummi culture and heritage.
Aunts and uncles also have a responsibility to
provide guidance and teaching to their nieces and nephews. Those inherent rights and
responsibilities must be considered in decision-
making under this Title.
(e) This Code shall be liberally construed to
effectuate the following purposes:
(1) to ensure the care, protection, and
wholesome moral, mental emotional and
physical development of children and to
protect children’s rights as stated in
8.01.020, “Declaration of Children’s
Rights”;
(2) to safeguard, protect, and secure for each
child coming under the scope of this Title,
the care and guidance, preferably in the
child’s own home or community, as will
serve the emotional, mental and physical
welfare of the child and the best interest of
the Lummi Nation;
(3) to strengthen families as necessary so
that the families can carry out in their own
family environment the goals stated in
8.01.010;
(4) for the purpose of Chapter 8.03 of this
Title, and consistent with the protection of
the public interest, to remove from
delinquent children the taint of criminality
and to substitute therefore a program of
treatment, education, accountability, training
and rehabilitation, and to achieve the
foregoing purposes in a family environment
wherever possible, separating the child from
the child’s parents only when necessary for
the child’s welfare or in the interest of public
safety.