Opinion

Lynn Armitage: More child support issues in Indian Country

Monday, January 28, 2013

"Last week, I spoke about child support issues with Samantha (Greendeer) Skenandore, a Ho-Chunk/Oneida who works Of-Counsel at Shanker & Kewenvoyouma, PLLC, a national firm headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, focused on the practice of federal Indian law. Samantha touched on the complexities involved in obtaining support orders within tribes, and the difficulties sometimes in enforcing them. This week, Samantha offers some advice to single parents about how to navigate your way through the whole child support process.

So, let’s say a single parent needs help supporting her children. How does she get the ball rolling in Indian Country?

There is no road map for any one tribe. Each tribe has its own structure. The best thing to do…is call the tribal court staff, the clerk of court, and ask them if they take child support cases. Let them know that you are out of the jurisdiction and have a child who’s enrolled or is eligible to be enrolled and that you are pursuing child support. If you don’t have an order and want to get one, and you want to do it all in one jurisdiction, find out if that tribe does it there first. If they do, then come into the tribal court to fill out the forms for a very nominal fee. So you can initiate the whole action in tribal court if that tribe has that ability."

Get the Story:
Lynn Armitage: Notes From A Single Parent: Collecting Child Support in Indian Country, Part 2 (Indian Country Today 1/27)