AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Pamela Foster, the mother of Ashlynne Mike, an 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in the Navajo Nation, challenged Tribal, federal, state and local officials to do more to protect and find missing and abducted Native American Children. Foster was one of the featured speakers at the National AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, held July 30-August 1, 2019, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The symposium brought together more than 200 Tribal leaders, public safety, and emergency management officers to focus on implementing the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, a law providing funding and resources to integrate state and regional AMBER Alert Plans with federally recognized Tribes.

Tribal leaders, law enforcement, and child protection advocates came together September 25-26, 2018, in Fort McDowell, Arizona, to learn, dialogue and network at the inaugural session of what will be a series of collaborative training and technical assistance events under the new Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Law.

The AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) delivered the event under the direction and funding of the U.S. Department of Justice, and featured presentations by Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne Mike; the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC); the Arizona State AMBER Alert Coordinator; NCJTC Associates who serve as subject matter experts in Indian Country law and AMBER Alert implementation; and AATTAP Administrator Jim Walters.

Topics discussed included lessons learned from the 2008–2010 AMBER in Indian Country pilot project, Tribal access to the Arizona State AMBER Alert System, facilitated discussions on Tribal resources and AMBER Alert planning, as well as important next steps and recommended actions for implementing AMBER Alert and developing comprehensive child protection strategies.

The primary mission of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative is to design, develop, and implement AMBER Alert programs in Indian Country; to foster relationships between Tribes and their State and Regional AMBER Alert plans and partners; and to provide Tribal communities with training and resources to quickly recover missing, abducted, or exploited children.

AATTAP has developed a five-element process for implementing AMBER Alert in Indian Country under the new law. That process involves educating and informing, assessing needs, conducting meetings, developing Tribal resolutions and partnership agreements with state AMBER Alert systems, and delivering training and technical assistance to ensure the support needed is provided every step of the way.

Watch future issues of the Advocate for updates and progress as AATTAP works with Tribes across the country to bring AMBER Alert into full realization in Indian Country.

More than 200 participants from at least 25 tribes gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the 2016 National Symposium on Tribal Child Protection and AMBER in Indian Country Leadership Forum. The events were held July 18-21, 2016, and were hosted by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program.

The Leadership Forum addressed the limited resources and staffing Tribal agencies experience by bringing together Tribal law enforcement executives in a discussion of how leaders can address missing and exploited children issues within their communities.

With the rise of technology-facilitated crimes against children in Indian Country, the National Symposium on Tribal Child Protection focused on addressing child protection issues including child exploitation, human trafficking, and endangered and abducted children. The event promoted development of cohesive community programs that can create long term solutions to these issues.

Presentations and discussions emphasized improving crime prevention efforts and successful prosecution of those guilty of committing technology-facilitated crimes against children in Indian country. Issues of limited resources and staffing of Tribal agencies were also addressed.

Featured speakers included a Native American survivor of human sex trafficking, gangs and addiction; the detective who helped convict “The Big Rig Killer,” a truck driver implicated in the murders of 14 women, including a 19-year-old Native American woman; and sex trafficking victim advocate Cindy McCain, who offered participants important information on resources available for sex trafficking victims.