Child

 

Kim Duncan’s three adopted daughters, from left, Shalyn, Shyanne and Shelbi, sit smiling with their watermelon in the summer heat. (Photo: Albi))

Cetan Sa Winyan, director of the American Indian Movement’s Indian Territory Oklahoma chapter, said all tribes — not just the four already petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court — should stand together against potential changes to the Indian Child Welfare Act in a case the court has been asked to review.

“They closed the boarding schools and opened up CPS (Child Protective Services), but it’s the same thing — they’re still coming in and taking our children,” Winyan said.

The ICWA was enacted in 1978 to help keep Indigenous children in Indigenous homes. In ICWA cases, the first preference for placement is that the child go to an extended family member, even if the relative is non-Native. Second preference is someone within the child’s tribe; third preference is another tribe.

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians of California and the Quinault Indian Nation of Washington are petitioning the Supreme Court to request that the bill remain intact.

The state of Texas is challenging the constitutionality of ICWA, claiming it’s a race-based system that makes it more difficult for Native kids to be adopted or fostered into non-Native homes. Another argument is that the law commandeers states too much, giving federal law imbalanced influence in state affairs.

A Supreme Court response to the tribes’ petition and the petition filed by the plaintiffs is due Oct. 8.

Tribes and advocates argue that ICWA is culturally- and politically-based, not race-based, because tribal nations have political status as sovereign governments under federal law. 

Cherokee Nation Deputy Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo said the tribe will put all the resources it has into making sure ICWA is protected.

“ICWA attempts to keep children connected to their tribe … and an attack on that is absolutely an attack on tribal sovereignty,” Nimmo said.

The bill was enacted to quell the disproportionately high rate of Indigenous children’s removal from their traditional homes, culture, language and dress. Before ICWA passed, 25% to 35% of all Indigenous children were being forcibly “assimilated” from intact Indigenous family structures to predominantly non-Indigenous homes.

“There was this bias that would lead to children being placed in foster care for things that weren’t abuse or neglect but things mainstream social services didn’t understand,” Nimmo said.

Te’Ata Loper, partnership grant coordinator for the Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association, said ICWA is “vital to the continuation of our tribal nations and tribal families” and is optimistic the court will maintain tribal sovereignty given the legal precedent found “in countless Supreme Court case decisions.”

The Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association is a nonprofit supporting Indigenous families and children by providing advocacy, education, training and collaboration with Oklahoma tribes and partner agencies.

AIM Indian Territory also provides a support system for tribal families trying to navigate the child welfare system. Winyan said the organization has been working to educate Oklahoma tribes about what’s been happening with ICWA in the courts. 

She knows some don’t understand the politics of it, or the severity, but Winyan said many can understand ICWA’s impact when it’s compared to the boarding schools era. 

“It’s just another form of saying, ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man,’”she said. “It hasn’t changed.”

One mother from the Cherokee Nation has seen the impacts Indigenous children face when raised in non-Indigenous homes. 

Kim Duncan adopts and fosters children through the tribe. She and her husband, also an enrolled Cherokee member, became certified to foster and adopt in December 2017 and shortly thereafter took in two girls who were also Cherokee.

The girls, then ages 9 and 10, had gone through six different non-Indigenous homes between Dec. 13 and Dec. 28 of that year, by the time Duncan and her husband became their seventh and final home. 

“The other six homes before us completely shut down and said, ‘we don’t want any more kids,’” Duncan said. “That’s how traumatic it was … ​​They were probably the hardest two we’ve ever taken in and we ended up adopting them, and they are totally different kids now.”

Duncan said leaving the Indian Child Welfare Act as it is would mean that Indigenous children like hers would still get to grow up in homes where they are surrounded by people that not only sometimes look like them but speak their language, understand their culture. 

A non-Indigenous home, she said, just can’t provide those needs to Indigenous children.

Duncan said when they made a home for their two girls, they were immediately drawn to Duncan’s husband because he was perhaps a familiar — darker — face.

“They just related to him more,” Duncan said. “My children are darker-skinned, most of them, and they related to them.”

Duncan has fostered 14 children since 2017 and adopted three of them. 

“People that are non-Indian are not as passionate about keeping the language strong, the culture strong,” Duncan said. “If we allow our Indian children to be adopted by non-Indian homes, we’re going to lose it.”

ICWA applied in the adoption of Jennifer Bailey’s now 7-year-old Cheyenne daughter. Bailey is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. 

The birth mother, Bailey said, walked away from the adoption agency and chose she and her husband to raise her child because the child and Bailey were of the same tribe.

Bailey said she’s concerned that changing ICWA would lead potentially to long-term impacts on culture and language preservation, because it will keep Indigenous children from staying connected to their history and ancestry.

Nimmo said if ICWA is ruled as unconstitutional, as “race-based,” it would open the door to dismantling other Indigenous laws using that argument.

“Nothing else that we deal with as tribal people — land doesn’t matter, money doesn’t matter, language doesn’t matter, artifacts don’t matter if we don’t have future generations,” Nimmo said.

Impact

 While stock indices in the US and Europe fell by about 10% in two days, the Tel Aviv 35 Index fell by just under 4% yesterday and by 0.62% on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC, April 7, 2025

(photo credit: GILBERT MICKY)

Last Thursday and Friday were among the worst days ever on Wall Street. The last time that the US stock market fell so sharply, by more than 5%, was in March 2020, in the panic over the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic. Those two days last week were the fifth worst in the history of the S&P 500.

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs of between 10% and 54% on almost the entire world, two of the four main stock indices in New York, Nasdaq and the Russell 2000, are in bear market territory, that is to say, they are 20% below their last peaks. The S&P 500 is only 3% away from that category.

The tariffs themselves are not the cause of the falls on the stock market. It that were the case, we would see different responses by companies that will be impacted by the tariffs and those that will not. The broad negative reaction of the market, across all sectors, indicates a much worse fear: a recession in the US at best; a global recession at worst. Stagflation in the nightmare scenario.

Who is predicting a recession?

Until two months ago, no-one imagined that that question would arise. But if on Thursday, after President Trump’s presentation of the tariffs policy, the market feared a recession, after the speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell at the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing Annual Conference in Arlington, Virginia, it trembled. “Our obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said.

Speculation began on the market that Trump’s measures were designed to force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but Powell implicitly rebuffed that possibility. “We will continue to carefully monitor the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. We are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance. It is too soon to say what will be the appropriate path for monetary policy,” he said.

Nevertheless, the assessment on the market is that the Federal Reserve will have to reduce its interest rate three and perhaps even four times over the coming year. In the choice between high inflation and a recession, central banks generally choose to give priority to the latter danger.

US President Donald Trump meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC, April 7, 2025 (credit: ALBERT ARIHO)

In the past few days, the major banks have raised their assessments of the probability of a recession. JP Morgan now sees a 60% chance of a recession, Goldman Sachs talks about 35%, as does rating agency S&P Global. HSBC puts the probability at 40%.

How will a recession in the US affect Israel?

The trade war reached Tel Aviv as well yesterday, but the falls on the local stock market were less steep than elsewhere. While stock indices in the US and Europe fell by about 10% in two days, the Tel Aviv 35 Index fell by just under 4% yesterday and by 0.62% on Thursday. All the same, if the world’s largest economy goes into recession, the shock waves will reach Israel.

Bank Hapoalim chief markets strategist Modi Shafrir warns that “even if Israel signs a new trade agreement with the US this week that substantially moderates the extent of the tariffs imposed on it, local economic growth will be hit as the global trade war worsens.”

Leader Capital Markets chief economist Jonathan Katz adds on the positive side: “Israel’s good fortune is that the economy’s main engine is exports of technology services, which are expected to be exempt from tariffs. A global slowdown and surplus supply of commodities will reduce import prices in Israel and moderate inflation.”

Katz adds, however, that “There will be a negative wealth effect on the consumer in Israel, and in the world in general, because of the sharp falls on the capital market,” that is, Israeli consumers will feel less wealthy, and will therefore consume less.

Meitav chief economist Alex Zabezhinsky also fears the negative wealth effect, which he says will weaken consumer demand in Israel in the coming year. He has cut his GDP growth forecast for Israel from 4% to 3.5%. “The Israeli economy is likely to be hurt not by the direct effect of the tariffs, but in many indirect ways. A hit to economic growth in Israel will affect demand through a weakening of the labor market, a fall in value of the public’s savings, and a worsening of general sentiment. The expected decline in world trade will hurt Israeli companies... Over the years, the performance of the Nasdaq index has been one of the most important indicators of growth in Israel. The sharp fall sin technology stocks in response to the tariffs is liable to lead to lower investment in the sector, particularly in Israel,” Zabezhinsky says.

Zabezhinsky estimates that the local market will outperform overseas markets in the near term, largely because of the expectation of a transfer of some savings from S&P 500 tracks to general tracks. “That will boost demand for the shekel and for local securities,” he says. 

Jewish

 

 New Leadership New York City Co-Chairs Perri Korine and Erez Kahan.

(photo credit:

 ALBERT MICKY)

The connection between global Jewry and Israel is built on generations of hope, resilience, and a shared dream of a Jewish homeland. For those who grew up in the early decades following Israel’s independence, investing in Israel was essential for its survival and growth.

For younger generations, this connection is evolving. While many first encountered Israel Bonds as gifts for their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, today, New Leadership is redefining the meaning of investing in Israel. Through impact investing and direct ties to Israel’s needs, young professionals are transforming support for Israel into a personal and purposeful commitment.

ISRAEL BONDS New Leadership National Co-Chairs Aliza Fagen and Albert Babayev at the 2023 International Leadership Conference. (Credit: Israel Bonds)

Building Tomorrow, Together: The Impact of Israel Bonds' New Leadership 

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In times of crisis, leadership emerges through action. For Israel Bonds New Leadership, October 7 was a turning point. “After October 7, we knew it was up to us to make our generation’s voice heard,” explains Albert Babayev, National Co-Chair of Israel Bonds’ New Leadership. Babayev, alongside National Co-Chair Aliza Fagen, saw an opportunity and worked with Israel Bonds’ New Leadership National Director, Micah Cohen to do more than advocate for Israel—they took tangible actions. 

“We launched an emergency national campaign to support the State of Israel in its time of need,” adds Fagen. “In addition to encouraging investment in Israel through Israel Bonds, we are also encouraged to do so via the Double Mitzvah program, as well as host local parlor meetings across the country.”

The national campaign not only provided direct financial support for Israel but showcased Israel Bonds’ impact in real-time.

The response was overwhelming. Events sold out quickly, with waitlists of eager participants. “Many of my friends didn’t know about Israel Bonds,” Perri Korine, New York City Co-Chair of Israel Bonds New Leadership, shares. “When I tell them, I feel like I’m making a real difference.”

As New Leadership continues to grow, its influence extends beyond financial contributions. (Credit: ALBI MICKY)

That difference materialized in bonds sales donated for United Hatzalah to purchase a new Ambucycle. Through Israel Bonds’ Double Mitzvah program, investors can direct their bonds to causes and not-for-profit organizations that are important to them.

For young professionals navigating today’s financial landscape, Israel Bonds offers both strong returns and meaning. “When I started my career, I didn’t have much disposable income and didn’t understand bonds,” says NYC Co-Chair Erez Kahan, who joined in 2018. “I started small, but the more I learned, the more I realized how critical it is for young professionals to invest, even modestly. As we grow our careers, we can expand our investments and make a bigger impact.”

Post-October 7, Kahan sees Israel Bonds as the leading avenue for young professionals to support Israel. He breaks it down into three key points: First, purchasing an Israel bond is a statement of unwavering support for Israel’s right to exist. Second, it is a smart financial investment. And third, it establishes a direct financial bond to Israel’s future.

Beyond the Bonds: Creating a Legacy

Many current New Leadership members were introduced to Bonds through their families. “I was first introduced to Israel Bonds through my grandparents. My grandfather Myer Samuels Z”L got involved with Israel Bonds at its inception. He and my grandmother Shoshana Samuels Z”L, built a whole generation of leadership hosting events, initiating campaigns, and leading missions to Israel.” Fagen notes. “It was through their leadership that I learnt the importance of supporting the State of Israel, and it’s incredible to have so many volunteers on our national council who share similar histories. It’s really an honor to continue the legacy of our parents and grandparents.”

For Kahan, the vision is clear: “When Ben-Gurion came to New York to launch Israel Bonds, Israel needed roads and infrastructure—the foundations of a thriving state. Today, our goal is to ensure the next generation doesn’t just hear about bonds from their grandparents but grows up knowing about it and already investing.”