The South Dakota Department of Social Services won't be sending representatives to an Indian Child Welfare Act summit, the Associated Press reports.

A spokesperson for the department said the Bureau of Indian Affairs only gave notice of the summit last week. The meeting, however, has been in the works for more than a year amid tribal complaints about the disproportionate number of Indian children in the state's child welfare system.

"At the end of the road, we should be administering our own childcare services to our kids," Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, told the AP.

The summit is being held May 15-17 at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel and Convention Center in Rapid City.

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