SALT LAKE CITY — A pair of bills on Native American child placement and missing, murdered indigenous people will return to the Utah State Legislature.
On Wednesday, the state's Native American Legislative Liaison Committee voted unanimously to advance the bills to the full legislature when it meets in January. Both bills will be sponsored by House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City.
The Indian Family Preservation Act is the latest effort on a bill that has had support from political leaders including the governor and attorney general, but has struggled for years now to pass the legislature.
"How we go about when a child is taken out of the home, or how do we make sure a child stays within their tribal community and making sure we’re aware of the cultural dynamics," said Rep. Romero.
It was initially run as the U.S. Supreme Court considered a legal challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The case centered around a Native American child in Texas placed with white foster parents. Utah joined with tribal leaders in supporting ICWA, which preserved a system that gave preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption. Ultimately, the nation's top court upheld ICWA.
"I know in the past a lot of the children who have gone away from home, they’ve lost their language, they’ve lost their culture, just really the connectedness that’s necessary," said Jamie Harvey, a member of the Navajo Nation who does Indian child welfare advocacy work.
But the Utah version of that policy struggled to pass the legislature for various reasons, including a desire from some lawmakers to see how the U.S. Supreme Court would rule. Some lawmakers also complained they were left out of negotiations on the bill.
The House Minority Leader said she will try to get it through by starting early and beginning negotiations with her colleagues on Utah's Capitol Hill. Tribal representatives who spoke on Wednesday were preparing to lobby again for its passage.
"We are hopeful that the Utah legislature moves to enact this important law," said Tamra Borchardt-Slayton, the Indian Peaks Band Chair of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.
Another bill would extend Utah's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force. Utah has been ranked as one of the worst states in America for missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls. The task force was convened to explore the scope of the problem and members have traveled the state to hear from families whose loved ones have vanished and their frustrations that the disappearances were not being taken seriously.
"I believe that supporting this legislation is crucial," Borchardt-Slayton told the committee. "Specifically, trying to understand this epidemic."
A report for the task force that FOX 13 News reported on last year found numerous problems including a lack of trust in law enforcement, communication and coordination problems and jurisdictional issues between police agencies and sovereign tribal governments and cultural issues.
"I think this is something that we can’t just say is going to be solved overnight. This is a continued issue that we have to work on," Rep. Romero said.
But there are signs that progress is being made. The Ute Tribe recently hosted the task force on their lands, and police agencies are re-examining their policies and cases they may have disregarded in the past.
"It's going to be a case-by-case piece, but I think people are stepping it up because they have more awareness," Rep. Romero told FOX 13 News. "But we in the legislature are watching and we’re going to hold them accountable."
