Transcending Frontiers : Indian Child Welfare in the United States

These words were spoken by Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, following his peoples' victory over the army of the United States at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. In the struggle to protect the Lakota lands against colonial expansion, Sitting Bull recognized that the gravest danger facing his tribe was the distinct possibility of their extermination. In the almost one hundred twenty years since these words were spoken, Indian people have learned to defend themselves by waging battles through means other than armed struggle. Indian tribes have since fought to maintain their right to govern their own people; they have fought for their sovereignty, a principle which is, as one noted Indian scholar has argued, “the most basic principle of all Indian law.” Tribal sovereignty is the force that binds a community together and represents the will of a people to act together as a single political entity. Tribal sovereignty is also a barrier against intrusion into tribal affairs. If left unguarded, tribal sovereignty faces two dangers, either of which could severely limit its scope or even destroy it. The first danger emanates from external forces-specifically, federal and state government interference with tribal governmental authority or tribal affairs. The second danger to tribal sovereignty is the failure of the tribes themselves to internally organize their own governments in order to fully and fairly exercise their powers of self-government in a manner which is responsive to the welfare of their people