Native American Children and Youth Well-Being Indicators

empower ourselves not to be seen as the victimanymore.Historically, Native American children and familieswere viewed by the United States government asa problem that needed to be re-educated and/ordestroyed. Native American children were sent tofederal boarding schools to be re-educated andwere required to attend Christian churches and/ormissions. They had to learn a new set of laws,policies, and behaviors; were forced to relocate tonew lands and acquire new views about property;and were taken away from their families and theircultures by involuntary adoption with non-Indians.Native Americans have been through tremendoussuffering, pain, change, and recovery (Duran,Duran, & Yellow Horse Brave Heart, 1998).However, over the last century, Native Americanshave gone through a remarkable change—frombeing the victims of the United States governmentto developing into strong, growing, and vitalpopulations. This change is reflected in increasedtribal sovereignty, increased population growth,treaties being recognized more often than not, anincreased economic base, and land rights beingreturned. As stated in the American IndianLawyer Training Program (1988):Indian tribes today raise some of the mostprofound contradictions in present society.Long relegated by many to the past tense,Indians have survived generations ofattempts to assimilate their culture andtheir natural resources into the larger society.Proud yesterdays are a valued possession,but progressive todays andtomorrows are the focus of modern triballeaders … This [trend] has led to legislationand court decisions supporting Indiancontrol over such vital issues as child custody,environmental regulation, huntingand fishing, water rights and mineraldevelopment. (p. ix)This statement is as true today as it was in 1988.In spite of these positive social, economic (gaming),and demographic changes, NativeAmericans are still discussed in the literature froma deficit and/or problem perspective. In a reviewby Waller, Risley-Curtiss, Murphy, Medill, andMoore (1998) of social work literature, 171 articleswritten about American Indians over a 20year time span were analyzed, and these authorsstated that “none of the articles focuses on thepersonal, familial, or cultural resources utilized byAmerican Indians who face adverse life circumstances”(p. 66).For this study, the researcher initiated a literaturereview on American Indians/Alaska Natives. Theresearcher began with an internet search by listingkey terms and words such as “AmericanIndian,” “Alaska Native,” “Native American,” “FirstNations,” “Indian children,” and “Native youth”;the citations that came up most often were generallyterms describing problems in the individual,family, and/or community. Common topics14