NCCPR News and commentary round-up, week ending Januaruy 28, 2025

● The Imprint asks if the new Secretary of the Interior, Doug Berman will 

continue the ongoing project to document the harms of Indian boarding schools? 

Interviews with boarding school survivors, child welfare leaders and tribal members reveal a mix of concern and cautious optimism that the work [former Interior Secretary Deb] Haaland set in motion will continue. 

● Child welfare’s crimes against Native Americans aren’t just in the past.  In The Imprint, Baz Hawk, a Native American survivor of the system writes that “America’s Favorite Pastime is Failing Native Foster Youth.” Hawk writes: 

Every time I was placed, it was in a non-Native household. When I was put into foster care, the government removed me from my Native grandmother and placed me with my white father who was a rapist and pedophile with prior convictions. After some predatory events occurred, I was put into foster care with my three half-siblings. The two younger children were placed differently, and I only saw them a few times after that. Then, my brother and I were placed four times. Each of those four times, I was placed in a non-Native household. 

● The Baltimore Banner reports that Maryland is the latest state to discover how much it owes children abused in its care – now that the survivors are allowed to sue. 

● While in the Baltimore Sun social work student Jumara Perry writes about the racial bias that permeates “child welfare.” 

In this week’s edition of The Horror Stories Go in All Directions: 

From WRTV Indianapolis: 

A Morgan County couple faces over 100 combined charges for extensive allegations of abuse stemming from their roles as foster parents. In December, prosecutors filed charges against Brian and Sonja Stafford, both aged 60, totaling 121 counts related to child neglect, battery, human trafficking, molestation, and other offenses. 

A 155-page probable cause affidavit revealed over 13 years, the couple had mistreated at least 33 children who were in their care through fostering, adopting, or housing foreign exchange students. 11 specific victims have come forward with testimonies detailing severe physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.