According to this article, and radio segment, from NPR, there are about 1,200 children on the Navajo indigenous reservation in the US who cycle in and out of foster care each year, but only 26 registered foster care homes. The U.S. Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 requires that Native American children who need to be removed from the care of their parents be placed first with family members and, if no family members can be identified, with Native foster carers. The last resort for these children, says the article, is to place them with non-Native foster carers. In order to keep children in the Navajo community, more foster carers need to be recruited.
"Part of the problem with recruiting is funding. Last year, the tribe did not receive federal funds for three months because of budget cuts to Health and Human Services, so foster parents had to dig into their own pockets to buy food and pay for gas," says the article. The article also shares the stories of Elsie Elthie, a foster home licensing specialist on the Navajo Nation, and Vallis Martinez, a Navajo foster carer.