Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on September 6, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

(Sec. 3) This bill establishes the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children in the Office of Tribal Justice of the Department of Justice.

The commission must conduct a comprehensive study of federal, state, local, and tribal programs that serve Native children, including an evaluation of:

• the impact of concurrent jurisdiction on child welfare systems;
• barriers Indian tribes and Native Hawaiians face in using public and private grant resources;
• obstacles to nongovernmental financial support for programs benefitting Native children;
• issues relating to the validity and statistical significance of data on Native children;
• barriers to the development of sustainable, multidisciplinary programs designed to assist high-risk Native children and their families;
• cultural or socioeconomic challenges in communities of Native children;
• examples of successful program models and use of best practices in programs that serve children and families;
• barriers to interagency coordination; and
• the use of memoranda of agreement or interagency agreements to facilitate or improve agency coordination.

The commission must use the results of the study and analyses of existing federal data to: (1) develop plans for federal policy relating to Native children informed by the development of accurate child well-being measures; (2) recommend modifications and improvements to programs for Native children that integrate the cultural strengths of Native communities; (3) recommend improvements to the collection of data regarding Native children and the programs that serve them; and (4) identify models of successful programs.

When developing plans for federal policy, the commission may not consider or recommend recognition or establishment of a government-to-government relationship with an entity not recognized on or before the date of enactment of this bill.

The commission must report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for legislative and administrative action. The commission is terminated 90 days after the report is submitted.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov