DEE: Time for an investigation

Thank you for covering this story about foster mom Andrea Butler and her foster child, Dee. The public needs to be aware of what is going on in the Department of Health and Welfare.

Surely the state of Idaho has a way of conducting an investigation into this matter? Health and Welfare hides behind its policy of “confidentiality.” This is a good policy when it protects the rights of the innocent, but not when it hides the deeds of government workers acting negligently or abusing power.

This seems to me a story of reverse discrimination. Marla Tavares says her “great-grandparents lived through a history of ‘cultural genocide’ and were removed from their families and placed in boarding schools …” Yes, these were horrible crimes committed against her great-grandparents, but this time the crime is against Dee! She was removed from the only home and family she knew for 4 1/2 years to be placed with the Tavares family, whom she had never lived with. Why is it a crime to remove a child from a Native American family and not a Caucasian family? (By the way, I’m a member of a Native American tribe and my grandparents were sent to boarding school also.)

Can no one overturn the Department of Health and Welfare’s decision and bring Dee back to her true family? The people in the department need to be held accountable for this mess, and the taxpayers, as those who pay their salaries, need some answers!

KRISTEN BOYMAN

Lakota tribal member

Hayden