Link to Our Article on the National Council on Crime and Delinquency Blog

Check out our guest article on the National Council on Crime and Delinquency blog. We were honored when asked, as finalists in the Film category of their 2016 Media for a Just Society Awards, to provide a guest article. They are a great organization doing great things in the world.

And now, here is the blog article link.  And while you're there,, take some time to  look around their site. It's bursting with useful and important information.

Missing Threads Chosen as Media for a Just Society Award Finalist

Missing Threads: The Story of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act, has been selected as a finalist in the film category for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency's Media for a Just Society Award. Our entire team is truly honored to be in the company of such high caliber and meaningful work.

These awards are the only national recognition of media whose work furthers public understanding of social justice issues. Finalists were chosen from more than 150 nominations and submissions in seven categories.

Please go to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency's website to learn more about the finalists in all seven categories.

Link to Missing Threads Documentary Goes Public

We committed to showing Missing Threads at a few film festivals in an effort to raise awareness of the film and the issues covered within it. We completed our final festival showing on Saturday, and to celebrate, we have no made the YouTube link to the film public.

Please watch the film and share it with interested groups and individuals. Our goal is to have as many people as possible see the film and to raise awareness of the subject, and improve compliance with the law.

You can find the film, Missing Threads: The Story of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act, on YouTube. The raw link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCLUbS4FxWo. You can also find my entire YouTube channel by searching for Susan Reetz.

P.S. We have been  honored to have been named 2016 Best Short Documentary by the Albuquerque Film and Music Experience and to be recognized with a Golden Reel from the Media Communication Association - International for Documentary/Shorts. We are also humbled to be named as a finalist in the Media for a Just Society by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Click the play arrow to watch the documentary here.

Scheduled Showings of the Missing Threads: The Story of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act

COMING UP...

To schedule a showing, contact Susan Reetz, 715-212-6239.



PAST SHOWINGS...

September 16, 2016 (Friday) from 1:00 to 3:00
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
Communication Arts Center, room 333


August 25, 2016 (Thursday) at 6:00 pm
Marathon County Public Library
300 N. First Street
Wausau, WI  54403


June 15, 2016 (Wednesday) at 6:00 pm (Chili at 6:00. Film at 6:30.)
T.B. Scott Free Library
106 W. 1st Street
Merrill, WI  54452


May 24, 2016 (Tuesday) at 6:30 pm
Mercer Public Library
2648 W Margaret Street
Mercer, WI  54547


May 12, 2016 (Thursday) at 6:00 pm
Presented by Forest County Potawatomi
We Care Community Building
Carter, Wisconsin


May 2, 2016 (Monday) at 6:00 pm
Presented by Forest County Potawatomi
Holiday Inn Express and Suites
4219 Barbican Ave
Weston, WI  54476


April 28, 216 (Thursday) at 6:00 pm
Presented by Forest Count Potawatomi
Forest County Potawatomi Auditorium
Executive Building
Rhinelander, Wisconsin

• April 21 (Thursday) at 1:00 pm
  Albuquerque Film and Music Experience
  South Broadway Cultural Center
  Albuquerque, New Mexico
  http://www.abqfilmx.com/

March 31, 2016 (Thursday) at 7:00 pm
McMillan Memorial Library
490 East Grand, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Parking lots west of building and across Birch Street.
http://www.mcmillanlibrary.org/missing-threads-story-wisconsin-indian-child-welfare-act

 

March 13, 2016 (Sunday) at 2:00 pm
Vision Maker Film Festival
Lincoln, Nebraska
http://www.visionmakermedia.org/festival





March 5, 2016 (Saturday) at 4:00 pm
Green Bay Film Festival
Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Dudley Bird Hall, St. Norbert College)
The full schedule for the Green Bay Film Festival can be found at http://www.gbfilmfestival.org/2016-festival-schedule-2/

• Sunday December 3 at ArtStart in Rhinelander. More
  information here: http://www.artstartrhinelander.org/index.html

Missing Threads Documentary Trailer

What people are saying about Missing Threads...

It is absolutely an incredible piece.  Great work!

Sarah Wittmann
Event Coordinator, National Indian Child Welfare Association

 

Of course I was aware of the tragic circumstances in tribal communities that led to the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act, but Missing Threads put faces to those tragedies for children, children who lost their families and culture by placement into foster care. These are not just any faces, but the faces of Wisconsin tribal leaders, which makes it so much more poignant, to know that the very Indian children harmed by the lack of a law to protect them were also part of the movement that successfully incorporated ICWA into Wisconsin law. The story could not be more inspiring!

Merriel Kruse
Quality Review Section, Bureau of Performance Management, Division of Management Services, Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

  

I thought the film was powerful, moving and extremely informative. 

Tania Cornelius, CSW, MSW
Tribal and Legislative Affairs Specialist, Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

I loved it. It was emotional and heart felt….really bringing the true reason behind the efforts to codify. 

Carol Corn
Menominee Tribal Social Services

Why We Produced This Documentary

There is a thread that connects a child to their culture,
to their sense of self, home and belonging.
When that thread is broken or missing, the individual and the culture suffer.
Can the thread be mended? Can connection be restored?

A culture will die without its children. Yet the removal of Native American children from their homes and families has occurred at the alarming rate of 25% of all children. Many Indian families have experienced the loss of children to non-tribal homes, even when a relative or other tribal member was willing and able to provide a safe, stable and loving home for the child.  This has happened in Wisconsin despite the existence of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), signed into law in 1978, is one of the most litigated federal Indian laws of the past 35 years, and arguably the most important in the lives of Native people and communities. It has unfortunately been misunderstood, misapplied and too often completely ignored. That history has led several states to pass into law their own versions of ICWA in one form or another. 

In 2005 Wisconsin was found to be in noncompliance with ICWA. Statistics and common knowledge indicated persistent and systemic problems with implementing the federal law. All 11 Wisconsin tribes agreed that something needed to change. In 2008 a remarkable state coalition formed to develop and promote the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act (WICWA). This coalition was comprised of tribal attorneys, tribal social services directors, Indian rights advocates and representatives from the state, primarily from what is now the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF). What made this coalition remarkable was the tenacity and commitment stretched continuously over a period of nearly four years in pursuing this dream. For many it was the most sustained and cogent collaboration of tribal and state energies they have ever participated in.

There were obstacles to overcome, some anticipated (private adoption attorneys) and some not (Children and the Law Section of the Wisconsin State Bar). There were numerous competing interests to reconcile or overcome. Ambiguities in the ICWA were addressed by fortifying the language in the WICWA to clarify those problem clauses in a pro-Indian way consistent with the spirit and intent of the original ICWA. Going that extra mile had the effect of increasing the adversarial obstacles to enactment. The 11 Wisconsin tribes and the state government stood together and persevered, and these issues were met and addressed finally in a long and moving state legislative Hearing that was filmed (footage available through Wisconsin Eye). WICWA passed unanimously – a rare feat - in October of 2009 and resulted in what is arguably the strongest state enactment of ICWA anywhere in the country. This is a story of hard work and success, and ultimately, “the preservation of a culture’s future, not just its past.” (Senator Bob Jauch, sponsor of the bill.)

Telling the story of the law’s creation and eventual enactment, interwoven with first-hand accounts from individuals directly affected by outplacement, provides both macro and the micro views and makes the topic accessible to viewers of all different backgrounds.


PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Work began on this documentary project in December of 2012 with informal meetings, fact gathering, and identification of key interview subjects and archival images. In August of 2013, the production team received funding from the Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center (MCWIC), based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and completed the first phase of the project which focused specifically on the creation of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act. To meet the deadline for the MCWIC funding, we had only eight weeks from filming the first interview to the final edit. This first phase included interviews with Loa Porter, Jean-Ann Day, Mary Husby, Kris Goodwill, Mark Mitchell, Dennis Puzz and Senator Bob Jauch. (That film, Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act: Legacy Legislation earned an award from the Media Communications Association – International for outstanding work in short documentary. Click here to view the video from Phase 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8WkekywV8)  

We recently completed phase two which involved delving deeper into the personal stories of a Loa Porter (Ho-Chunk) and a Eugene White-fish (Forest County Potawatomi). Both were removed from their families as children and placed in non-Native foster homes. They share their experiences of being the only Indian child in class, the persistent feeling of "otherness” and the sense of loss from not having lived in their Native cultures as a children. How did they reconnect with their tribes? Have there been challenges? Did it make a difference with their children and grandchildren? Did the connections bring sadness or joy? Can the broken thread of family and native culture be mended? These are some of the points we explored.

The final 57 minute film tells the story of the reason why the Indian Child Welfare Act was codified into Wisconsin state law as the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act, how it was drafted, enacted and implemented. The two personal stories run counterpoint as real examples of the need for such a meticulous and time intensive action.

The film will be used to educate the general public, and to train attorneys, court officials, social workers and others who work with Native children.
   

“The child is everything. They’re the gift from the creator. They are life.

They are the ones who are going to sustain the tribe.”

Loa Porter, Ho Chunk Nation