Native American Children's Safety Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Native American Children's Safety Act, S. 184. This legislation, which I have introduced along with Senator Tester, is about one thing: making sure that foster children in Native American communities are placed in safe homes.

Without this legislation, there will continue to be inconsistent rules guiding the placement of Native American children in foster care. At this time, Native American tribes and their tribal courts use procedures and guidelines when placing a Native American child in a foster home that vary significantly from tribe to tribe.

S. 184 addresses this problem by creating a transparent pathway for the Federal Government and the tribes to partner together to establish safety standards and policies to ensure the safety of Native American foster care children. Moreover, this bill will strengthen the governance of the tribes and create safeguards for their foster care placement programs and the individuals those programs serve.

The Native American Children's Safety Act specifically includes the following reforms: It requires that all prospective foster care parents and adults living in the home undergo a background check prior to the placement of a Native American foster child in that home; it requires that background checks include checking for criminal activity as well as State and tribal child abuse and neglect registries; it requires adults who join the household after the foster care child has been placed there also undergo background checks; and, it requires that foster care homes undergo recertification periodically to ensure they remain safe for foster care children.

We worked on this legislation with the tribes, with the National Indian Child Welfare Association, with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. The reforms are just commonsense measures designed to protect those Native American children who are in need of a good, safe home. In fact, S. 184 has been endorsed by the National Indian Child Welfare Association as well as the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain tribes in my home State of North Dakota.

This bill has undergone many thoughtful efforts on the part of many people and plenty of thoughtful consideration, and it has gone through regular order in the Senate. It passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on February 4, 2015. I am pleased this bill now has passed the full Senate so these children can receive the protection they deserve.

With that, I yield the floor.

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