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Months ago, when I began telling child welfare experts about my ambitions to report on how overrepresented Native American families are in Montana’s foster care landscape, I got many versions of a simple response: “Good luck.”
Call it doggedness or just naivete, but I tried anyway. Over about a five-month period, Montana Free Press collected data from state and federal sources, interviewed tribal social service workers and experts, and spoke with foster parents, former foster care youth and former child protective workers. I drove around the state, sat in on proceedings in an Indian Child Welfare Act court, and spent a lot of time with spreadsheets.
We found that, over the most recent decade of available data, Native kids were placed in foster care in Montana at about five times the rate of white children. We also found that there is no coordinated effort across state, tribal and federal agencies to try and change that persistent disproportionality — and that those agencies have gaps in data collection that make it difficult to answer seemingly basic questions about one of Montana’s slow-burn injustices.
We don’t know how many child protection cases in Montana are subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act. We don’t know how many Native kids are in foster care in each county across all jurisdictions. We don’t know how to measure or compare interventions deployed by different tribes, counties, court systems, or even regions of the state’s child welfare division.
Finding these answers wouldn’t be easy, but they could help build something better for families whose lives intersect with child welfare systems. Two parents I spoke with pointed to a local solution that’s working for them: the specialized Family Recovery Court in Billings for parents with cases subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act.
“I feel like there should be more programs like this outside of Billings,” said one of those parents, Katarina Stewart, pointing to the Crow Reservation, where she grew up. “Because there’re a lot of families down there who lose their kids and they never get their kids back.”
There are many examples of problems and solutions to digest in the articles we’ve published this week as part of our series, Keeping the Kids. We hope you read them and let us know what you think. But we certainly know there’s more reporting to be done — about family support resources, foster family recruitment and turnover, tribal and non-tribal judicial systems, and so much more. We hope to keep reporting on this critical issue in the months and years ahead.
READ MORE FROM KEEPING THE KIDS:
- Can Montana mend its racial gap in foster care?
- What maternal health care can do to prevent family separations
- Reunifying Native families after foster care
—Mara Silvers, Reporter
Close-up 📸
Katarina Stewart appears before Judge Rod Souza as part of the Indian Child Welfare Act Family Recovery Court in Billings on Jan. 3, 2024.
Campaign Trail 🗳️
Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale terminated his long-anticipated campaign for U.S. Senate on Thursday just under a week after it began. In a lengthy statement, Rosendale said that former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of his primary opponent — Bozeman-area businessman Tim Sheehy — foreclosed on his path to victory.
“This race was already going to be tough, as I was fighting against Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican establishment in Washington,” Rosendale said in a statement. “But I felt like I could beat them, as the voters do not agree with them choosing who would be the next U.S. Senator from Montana. However, by my calculations, with Trump endorsing my opponent and the lack of resources, the hill was just too steep.”
Rosendale had spent months pillorying his opponent as an avatar of the establishment and the “uniparty” and pledging not to be cowed by the powers that be in Washington, D.C. But losing the Trump endorsement just hours after he formally launched his campaign last week caught Rosendale’s team by surprise and effectively took the wind out of his sails, according to Republican sources on both sides of the intra-party divide.
Rosendale’s decision heads off a potentially bruising GOP primary and allows Republicans to marshal their resources behind Sheehy as they work to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Tester, a prime target in the party’s efforts to gain a majority in the U.S. Senate.
Rosendale said in his statement he is still considering next steps. If he decides to run for re-election in the House, he may scuttle the plans of at least seven Republicans who have launched campaigns for the safe GOP seat.
—Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Reporter
By the Numbers 🔢
Percentage of Montana respondents who told Colorado College’s State of the Rockies pollsters that low water levels in rivers are an “extremely serious” or “very serious” problem.
The regional poll, conducted by internet and telephone in January 2024, reached 429 registered voters in Montana. Just 10% of Montana respondents deemed low water levels in rivers “not a problem.”
The finding comes as many snowpack monitoring sites throughout the state continue to post record lows, particularly east of the Continental Divide. Most rivers in this headwaters state are, of course, predominantly sustained by snowmelt, though groundwater, rainfall and careful reservoir management can support their continued flow through lean summer months.
The poll, which has been conducted annually since 2011, also sought to gauge registered voter sentiment on a variety of issues ranging from the adequacy of the amount of time children spend outside to energy development on federal land, climate change impacts and the loss of family farms and ranches.
The margin of error for state-level data on the poll, which was conducted by a bipartisan research team consisting of both Democratic and Republican pollsters, is just shy of 5%.
—Amanda Eggert, Reporter
Following the Law ⚖️
A state judge chastised Broadwater County commissioners and the state agency charged with administered water rights in an 85-page ruling Wednesday, asserting that the government has bungled both subdivision review and groundwater management.
In addition to excoriating the defendants — the Broadwater County Commission and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation — First Judicial District Court Judge Michael McMahon unequivocally ruled that a land developer cannot use multiple exempt wells paired with a phased subdivision development to circumvent provisions of the Montana Water Use Act designed to protect senior water users. In an hour-long Feb. 9 hearing preceding the order, attorneys representing Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and neighboring landowners argued that the “exception is swallowing the rule” to facilitate sprawling rural development.
Broadly speaking, the state’s exempt well rule allows a landowner to drill a well that produces 35 gallons per minute without securing a water right or evaluating impacts to other water users. Rural housing developments served by exempt wells are often criticized for their cumulative impact on local aquifers.
During the hearing on the matter last week, McMahon described Broadwater County and DNRC as children blaming one another for wrongdoing to avoid culpability for shirking their duties under a 2009 Montana Supreme Court ruling and long-standing state laws.
McMahon revoked the Broadwater County Commission’s preliminary plat approval of Horse Creek Hills, a 41-lot subdivision spread out over a 440-acre plot of land near Canyon Ferry owned by the politically powerful Galt family. Existing well owners in the area argue that the aquifer is in jeopardy, as evidenced by anemic summertime groundwater production.
“Concluding that a possible draw of 13-16 million gallons per year will have no impact whatsoever on nearby water is equivalent of claiming that a $13-16 million jackpot will have no affect [on] your tax bill,” McMahon wrote in the order. “It appears no one knows precisely how great the effects will be or where, but concluding there will be no effects at all is ludicrous, especially when there is already extensive evidence the aquifer is being dewatered.”
DNRC, the Broadwater County Commission and attorneys for the landowner told MTFP they are reviewing the ruling. It was not clear Friday if any of them plan to appeal.
In addition to sending the Horse Creek Hills project back to the drawing board, McMahon deemed the DNRC’s issuance of multiple exemptions for phased subdivisions legally indefensible in light of court rulings and statutory limits on exempt wells. He used DNRC-provided math to estimate that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 exempt wells across the state.”
“While each exempt well might appropriate only a de minimis quantity of water,” McMahon wrote, “they are starting to add up.”
READ MORE: Broadwater County judge rules against developer in ‘landmark’ water ruling
—Amanda Eggert, Reporter
Happenings 🗓️
Tonight marks the kickoff of the annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula with the world premiere of Elizabeth Leiter’s “399: Queen of the Tetons.” The grizzly-bear-centric doc, which opens at the Wilma Theater at 7 p.m., will likely resonate with anyone tapped into the West’s wider landscape and culture. But it’s far from the only film Montanans might see themselves reflected in:
Sunday, Feb. 18: The festival revives a 2018 documentary near-and-dear to Montana Free Press. “Dark Money” tells the story of a campaign finance scandal in Montana and the legal enforcers and journalists who sought to help the public make sense of it. The film starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Missoula Community Theater, and features a post-screening chat with filmmaker Kimberly Reed and MTFP founder John Adams.
Monday, Feb. 19: Reed brings her latest film to the Zootown Arts Community Center at 4 p.m. with “Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr.” This 15-minute documentary focuses on Democratic Missoula Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman who was cast into the national spotlight in 2023 after legislative Republicans barred her from attending House floor sessions following contentious debates over bills affecting transgender Montanans.
Saturday, Feb. 24: Montana’s own Lily Gladstone, now up for an Oscar for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” narrates the documentary tale of a group of Blackfeet tribal members working to establish the first wild bison herd on ancestral land. “Bring Them Home” screens at 6 p.m. at the Wilma — part of the festival’s The Mighty Bison series, which also includes filmmaker Colin Ruggiero’s “A Buffalo Story” Sunday, Feb. 18, at 12:30 p.m. at the Wilma.
Saturday, Feb. 24: Back in 2016, Whitefish Realtor and soccer mom Tanya Gersh became the target of relentless neo-Nazi trolling — a saga that repeatedly made national news. Filmmaker Eunice Lau captures Gersh’s experience in “Troll Storm,” premiering at the Wilma at 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 25: Closing out the Big Sky Doc Fest’s 21st run is a compelling family portrait of former National Geographic editor-in-chief Chris Johns, now living in Missoula, and his freelance-photographer daughter Louise. David Becker’s “The Wonder and the Worry” starts at the Wilma at 6:30 p.m., and is available for streaming Feb. 26-29.
—Alex Sakariassen, Reporter
On Our Radar 
Amanda — The Flathead Beacon has the latest on the “Save Flathead Lake” saga: federal regulators’ finding that Energy Keepers, Inc., “fully operated” the Séliš Ksanka QÍispé Dam in compliance with its license.
Alex — After a hectic week wrapping up some major projects, I’m not even going to pretend I’ll be thinking about news this weekend. Instead, I plan to lose myself in the finale of True Detective’s titular fourth season, “Night Country,” which is easily the most gripping piece of TV storytelling I’ve seen in years.
Arren — While researching potential candidates for Montana’s second congressional seat, I happened upon this incredibly insightful (and beautifully written) profile of former Congressman Denny Rehberg by eminent chronicler of the modern West Ray Ring.
Brad — I like to shop for things I don’t need, and I’m cheap, so I enjoy Helena Marketplace, a local business that re-sells random items that have filtered down through cracks in the e-commerce economy to pallet-salvage status. That’s where I found last month a sealed 180-gram vinyl Impulse! reissue of the Roy Haynes Quartet’s 1962 album “Out of the Afternoon” for $10, but marked down to $5 because it was half-price Tuesday or some ridiculousness. That record costs $35. I’d never heard or heard of it. It’s amazing.
Mara — ProPublica put together a piece I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, chronicling a year with one family living on the margins in Tennessee through striking photography and deeply intimate reporting. I’ll let the rest speak for itself.
JoVonne — I’m excited to see comedic writers Jana Schmieding and Sierra Teller Ornelas planning to come back to the television screen. Last week, ICT News reported on a new Native-produced sitcom, “Bonnie,” they have in the works. Schmieding, if you don’t know her name, is best known for her roles in Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls.
Eric — Here’s a baby otter falling off a dock.
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