HOULTON, Maine — From as far away as Fort Kent, over 20 non-Natives from all walks of life gathered on April 11 at St. Mary’s Church in Houlton to take part in an all-day Ally Training organized by Barbara Kates of Maine Wabanaki REACH. The training was composed of three parts: learning the history of Native people and American governments; developing an understanding of our non-Native privilege; and developing our understanding of the role of allies.
Many Native children from across the USA and Canada were forcibly taken from their homes and placed in boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their language, many were abused and some died.
In the northeast, Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy children were taken to the Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, PA (1870-1918) and Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia (1922-1968).
Subsequently, an experiment to prove that Native children were better off raised in white homes led to foster care and adoption placements, which again took Native children away from their families and culture leading to alienation and oftentimes abuse in their new homes. Many Wabanaki adults now suffer deep scars from their own childhood experiences and/or the lingering manifestations in their communities of the maltreatment of their parents or grandparents.
Finally waking up to the damage inflicted on Native children and their families, the US Congress passed in 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) that states it is best for Indian children to be placed with Indian families. In 1995 the Maine Legislature voted that ICWA would govern Maine Indian child welfare procedures.
However, Maine continued to have one of the highest rates in the nation of removal of Indian children, and adoptions without notification to the tribes as required by law – leading to the federal government finding in 1999 that Maine was out of compliance with ICWA. Training of case workers followed, but until the sufferings of Wabanaki children (now adults) could be told, the real impact of prior child welfare practices could not be heartfully realized.
The ongoing collaboration of state and child welfare staff paved the way for the establishment of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2012. Having heard the stories of Wabanaki families and professionals in the child welfare system, plus researching related documents, the commission will report its findings and recommendations in five locations around the state. In Presque Isle, the date is May 6, 4 p.m. at the UMPI Campus Center. This cooperative effort in Maine around child welfare practices is a national, and even world, model.
However, beyond this direct effort at truth, healing and change in child welfare there is need for more understanding in the wider non-Native communities of our shared history with Wabanaki people, and how we can work in our own communities for change. Those who are interested in Ally Training can contact Barbara Kates at
