Our office is content with very little money.

Jun 122016

CAICW Donate Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare

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Our office doesn’t need much. We take pride in the fact there is no monthly overhead. There are no salaries or huge office expenses.

We work out of our homes – on the computer. The biggest expense is when we travel to DC once or twice a year. We have figured out how to do it on about $25 a day (after travel expenses to get there). We keep expenses down by not staying in motels, not eating restaurant food, and not taking taxis. We also don’t party or spend money on politicians or their aides.

The second greatest office expense is paper, toner, envelopes and stamps. Once or twice a year, the general fund contributes to the cell phone bill or internet service. Other than that – we simply don’t need much.

The people with the real financial need are the families affected by ICWA. Many do not have the money to pay for good attorneys. So we have set up a small legal fund that has successfully helped a few families. What we do with the legal fund is pay for consultations with expert ICWA attorneys. The consultation can be between the expert ICWA attorney and the family, or the ICWA attorney and their local attorney, or both. Many local attorneys just need a little guidance.

One family in Colorado, however, used the consultation to educate and prepare themselves to represent themselves, as they could not afford a local attorney. They were successful. To the surprise of many, the grandmother, who had been told she can not keep her grandson if the Warm Springs Tribal government out of Oregon wanted him – won the right to adopt her grandson. The adoption went through two years ago, so it can be discussed now. The grandson is safe.

One thing they were able to prove in court was that the Warm Springs gov’t had falsified a birth certificate in order to make it appear the boy was eligible for membership. They also educated the judge on what the ICWA actually says about grandparents having custody of their grandchildren. The ICWA does NOT say the grandparents have to be tribal members. The Warm Springs gov’t had told the judge that this grandmother could not have her grandson because she was white. The Grandmother’s family was able to show the judge the truth – and they were able to do so because of the guidance they had received in a simple consultation.

Admittedly, things are more difficult now that the BIA has issued new rules with the express purpose of ensuring tribal governments win custody of other people’s children. They closed what they called “loopholes” – but were actually common sense protections for families. That said, in the case of the Colorado grandmother, it was the actual wording of the ICWA law itself that saved her grandson. This is why consultations with expert ICWA attorneys are so necessary.

You can contribute to their legal fund through here.

If you want still want to help the office, the absolute best way is through Amazon when you order things for yourself online. Amazon has a program called “Amazon Smile” – which is still all the same Amazon: you order the exact same things you usually order through them, for the exact same prices, yet a tiny percentage of the purchase price goes to a charity of your choice. It is absolutely pain free – the easiest way ever to donate. You can even set it up to do the donation automatically every time you shop. Amazon will remember and apply it for you.

Go to smile.Amazon.com to check it out.

But only donate if you feel led. Frankly, as contentious as our work has been, under frequent attack with many untrue things printed about us over the last twenty years and with so little progress – we go through cyclic soul-searching. We really do need periodic assurance that this is the battle He still wants us to be fighting.

Watching him provide is both an adventure and an assurance.

That said – if you feel led to donate directly to us – use this link:

Contribute

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

Ministry:

Would you like to physically help?

1. PRAY WITH US.

Every Sunday evening at 8 pm Central time, we try to post prayer requests and standard prayer issues on our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/fbCAICW.org/

2. Volunteer to:

Share Jesus Christ and pray

Encourage and Advocate for Families

Educate Legislators – VERY important for you to contact your Senators and Congressmen!

Write Articles

Monitor Social Networks

Help Maintain the Website

Research Case Law

3. Learn More About The Indian Child Welfare Act:

Read our Blog ~
Read Stories from Families ~ Letters from Families

Learn More about ICWA~ Join us on FaceBook!

Follow CAICW on TWITTER!

Tell Others and Share these Links

DONATIONS TO THE GENERAL FUND:

– If you decide you would like to donate – your Donation will:

Help Educate and Inform by:

Enabling us to Continue Publishing our Newsletter
Enabling us to Keep our Website Updated
Assisting us to Research Statistics
Enabling us to educate the public as well as elected officials about Indian rights, laws, and issues

Minster To Families by:

Helping us to stay in contact with families
Supporting and encouraging individuals and families to Trust God, Look to Him, and Pray.
Supporting Equal Protection for children
Supporting the right of parents to choose guardians for their children without regard for heritage.
Supporting and Encouraging families to combat alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual abuse, child abuse and child neglect
Encouraging Families to Stand Up Together, Pray for Each Other, and Support Each One Another.

Defend Parental and Civil Rights by:

Assisting us in the research of Case Law, Legislative History, and significant Secondary Authority and make it freely available
Encouraging accountability of governments to families with Indian heritage
Seeking Justice and defending the cause of families in need.
Advocating the use of the “Existing Indian Family Doctrine“
Advocating for Fair Trials for all US citizens, no matter their heritage
Defining protections for Adoptive Parents