Hello from Shannon Smith, Executive Director

Hello and Welcome!

Thank you for choosing to spend time with ICWA Law Center on this website.  At the Law Center we wish for everyone to feel valued and come away better for spending time with us.

My name is Shannon Smith.  Except for one year as a judicial clerk, I have been part of the Law Center in various capacities since 1996.  Most recently, I have been executive director of the Law Center since 2004. 

The Law Center was founded in 1993 to strengthen, preserve, and reunite Indian families, consistent with mandates and spirit of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). 

From my perspective, having been here nearly since the beginning, I can say that the present moment is truly historic: working in Indian child welfare in Minnesota has never been so important and necessary and exciting.

In fact, there is so much happening that we are starting a blog to provide information and share our perspective as the only law office in the country dedicated to litigating ICWA cases.

Nationally, ICWA has been under attack for years by people and organizations—now including states—that do not value tribal sovereignty or the importance of native children to their tribes. 

Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could affirm ICWA’s role in protecting tribes’ most valuable assets, their children—or the case could result in significant parts of ICWA being declared illegal (unconstitutional). 

The Law Center is actively working with other ICWA supporters across the country to make sure that no stone is left unturned in supporting ICWA before the U.S. Supreme Court and making sure the court understands how important the national policy of valuing native children matters every day in our community.

Locally, no matter what happens at the U.S. Supreme Court, there is so much work to be done.  The most current report from the Minnesota Department of Human Services shows that native children are 16.4 times more likely than white children to be placed out of the home.  That disparity in out-of-home placement has been heartbreakingly high for many years.

The disruption and breaking apart of families in child protection happens within a larger context of generational, historical trauma intentionally caused by federal government initiatives going back 150 years.  Virtually all of our families deal with substance use disorder, lack of access to safe and affordable housing, poverty, domestic violence, childhood institutionalization, incarceration, and many other circumstances that are far less present, in general, in the white community that was not subject to 150 years of governmental efforts to break up families.

Much as we want to, the Law Center cannot repair the damage inflicted over so many decades.  We focus on each day, and on ensuring that every family we serve feels heard and valued by us, and through our representation heard and valued by every other person in the child protection system.

Thank you again for visiting our brand new blog.  We hope you’ll be back soon!

Shannon Smith
Executive Director
ICWA Law Center