Utilizing the narrative below discuss historical trauma from the perspective of providing care for NA children in foster care.
A NATIVE AMERICAN GIRL AT RISK FOR CULTURAL IDENTITY LOSS
An Indian agent arrives at the home of a Native couple who have a 6-year-old female Native child named Velma. According to law, Velma must attend an “Indian” boarding school, which is 25 miles from their home. Velma is forcibly removed from her home and family, flailing and crying for her parents, who are both visibly upset. She is transported to a government “Indian” boarding school. Upon her arrival, Velma is told to remove her clothing. She is “deloused” and clothed in an ill-fitting dress and hard leather lace-up shoes. Velma is then taken to have her hair cropped short and is then brought to a dormitory with many other girls of various ages and tribes. Velma is told that if she needs anything, she must ask for it in English, which is a language she doesn’t speak or understand.
The mornings are spent with housekeeping duties and the afternoons with classwork and learning homemaking skills. The nights are filled with sadness, and the sounds of Velma’s sadness mix with those of others in her dormitory. One night Velma flees the school and makes her way home. The next afternoon the Indian agent arrives with law enforcement and Velma is returned to the “Indian” boarding school. This process is repeated several times until Velma finally accepts her fate. Except for a visit during the holidays, she doesn’t see her parents or home for the next 8 years.
When Velma finally “graduates” from the boarding school, she is a stranger in her own home and community, fitting in neither with her Native family nor with the White community.