Feds say takeover of Red Lake child welfare program was due to pattern of inaction

The emergency takeover of Red Lake Nation’s child welfare agency was due to the program failing to act as children were “neglected, abused and malnourished,” the U.S. government said in an official document.

An 11-page notice from the U.S. Department of the Interior dated Sept. 9 says children on Red Lake Nation are in “imminent and substantial jeopardy.”

The department oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which took over the Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog, the tribe’s child welfare program on Sept. 10.

The notice accuses the Ombimindwaa program of a pattern of inaction. It describes an “outright refusal” by to the Red Lake agency “to now lend any cooperation,” with federal authorities and is “actively impeding investigations,” ...