The Alaska Native village of Shishmaref is located on a sinking barrier island in the Chukchi Sea near the Bering Strait that separates the U.S. and Russia, where it is constantly threatened by the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, flooding, increased erosion and loss of protective sea ice and land have led residents of this island community to vote twice to relocate. But more than six years after the last vote, Shishmaref remains in the same place because the relocation is too costly. The tight-knit, resilient community continues to maintain their traditions and celebrate birthdays, baptisms and graduations centered around their homes, the local school and one of the world’s northernmost Lutheran churches.
In the 1950s, thousands of Native American children were placed in Mormon homes for ‘racial assimilation.’ Now, experts fear an upcoming Supreme Court ruling could allow that to happen again.
In January 2018, Chad and Jennifer Brackeen adopted a Navajo baby boy, winning a legal battle with the Navajo Nation after it sought to place the boy with a Navajo family. The Brackeens again took things to court, suing to overturn an act that gives preference to Native families in child custody proceedings. The case has wound its way up to the highest court in America. This fall, the Supreme Court is reconsidering the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978, which protects Native American children from being removed from their families and tribes. Prior to the ICWA enactment 85% of all Native children in foster care were living in non-Indian homes, even when they had fit and willing relatives.
