Leading the fight against abuses of South Dakota's foster care system is the American Civil Liberties Union, which is helping the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux tribes fight state officials who have been removing children from American Indian homes without sufficient…
Posts tagged as “foster care”
John Hult tries to write a detailed report on investigations of abuse in South Dakota's foster care system. Writing such a report is hard, Hult notes, because South Dakota keeps such investigations secret. But it's children! you say. We can't…
A Brown County jury convicted Fred Slota Wednesday of raping and having sexual contact with a seven-year-old girl in his care. It is the second time in two years that an Aberdeen foster father will go to prison for raping…
The Department of Social Services balked at obeying a court order in the state's failed prosecution of foster care whistleblowers Brandon Taliaferro and Shirley Schwab in late 2012–early 2013. Now some judges seem to be getting in the act. The…
In January 2013, Judge Gene Paul Kean dismissed the state's flimsy case against of Shirley Schwab and Brandon Taliaferro for witness tampering and other charges. Last December, Judge Kean ordered the expungement five of the counts on which Taliaferro was…
A South Dakota state law enforcement officer faces a protection order for harassing his ex-wife. On February 13, 2014, Patricia Ann Black of Aberdeen asked the court to keep her ex-husband Mark Robert Black away from her. Mark Black is…
Last week Judge Jeffrey Viken ruled that the Rosebud and Oglala Sioux tribes and three individual Lakota plaintiffs may move forward with their lawsuit against state and local officials in South Dakota for alleged violations of the Indian Child Welfare…
On Wednesday I discussed how the Brandon Taliaferro case exposes the ugly politics in South Dakota's foster care system. Now, a postscript from the judge. A year ago, Judge Gene Paul Kean dismissed the state's case against Taliaferro, saying the…