Had a kid in my office today, seven years old, Oglala, been in three foster homes in two years. Third one's a good family, genuinely, but they're not Native and the kid keeps asking if his grandma knows where he is. His grandma does know. She's been trying to get him back through the courts for eighteen months. I pulled the file again and the caseworker notes say "stable placement" like that's the end of the story. Stable for who, I kept thinking. We have the law on our side—ICWA is clear—but the law moves like winter and a kid's life moves like a heartbeat. I called the grandmother after work and told her we're filing again. She cried on the phone. That's the work that doesn't make it into anyone's metrics.
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