Having been a grandfather in a successful kinship household, I appreciated your July 3 editorial on the subject (“Our View: Maine’s kinship families deserve greater state support”).
However, I was disappointed to see no reference to the influence of the Indian Child Welfare Act on this topic, nor to the great work being done here in Maine with the recently completed Maine-Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (see the report at mainewabanakitrc.org/report/).
Because of many factors, including institutional racism, historical trauma and contested sovereignties, Wabanaki children in Maine get far less of the benefits of kinship households, which undermines their families and tribes, and results in cultural genocide.
There is much that can be done; it would be a good start if fellow Mainers, including journalists and legislators, would read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report.
Jeffrey H. Hotchkiss
Portland
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