ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
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ANCHORAGE TESTIMONY - OCTOBER 15, 1992
DEPOSITION EXHIBIT #4 - TESTIMONY
OF JAMES PATLAN
October 15, 1992
Submitted by James Patlan, Pomo Tribe
To the Alaska Natives Commission
I would like to thank the Commission for
allowing me to make this presentation. My testimony this morning
is on the issue of young Alaskan Native women who have small
children and no home to go to at night. Here in the urban locale
away from the Village lifestyle many of these young people
are having trouble with the way "City Living" is making them
survive. Many of these young native women are having pre-marital
sex and childlren. These people are between the ages of 14-20
years of age. Many of these young peple are being rejected
by their families and parents due to the fact that they have
had small children and the fathers of them reject the fact
chat they have fathered these young infants. Once alone on
the streets they have no place to stay and travel the streets
seeking a place to stay for the evening. They travel the streets
seeking shelter from the elements and some just to feed their
children as well as bathe them. Many of these infants have
severe rashes and have not made their appointments for check-ups
and their shots. These young mothers just travel around and
seek any place to stay for the evening, at times in any type
of home with all types of individuals. In one community of
18,000 people, there are about 35 young mothers with infants
wondering the streets at night hoping to be accepted with their
children, only for the warmth and shelter of their child. They
will not go to any established service that is open mainly
because they feel discriminated against and put down by the
system that's in place and available. None of these services
have Native staff on board and whats in place are not adequately
trained in Native culture or lifestyle. All of the services
available and the local Native organizations are not prepared
to handle these types of problems and even the BIA are not
working in this area! This problem is not unique only to Anchorage
and is one that will not easily go away by themselves, but
perhaps we may curb this issue and resolve it if we:
1. Look at the programs and services available to see what can be done to convert the services into a model that can be managed and operated by Native personnel.
2. Coordinate native needs with the Municipality of Anchorage to the community for research into whats available.
3. Place these programs where the needs exist the most.
4. Insure training of Alaska Natives to train others with an emphasis on infants and pre-school ages.
5. Establish these services in a Family Resource Center, where all areas of the community could be addressed on issues of sex and child development and what to do if one should become pregnant.
This issue will not go away by itself, and we may be able to do something if we empower ourselves and help our own in order to incorporate Native values in the social services structure in Anchorage, and if we help now before its too late, but we got to make the effort.
This document was ocr scanned. We have made every
attempt to keep the online document the same as the original,
including the recorder's original misspellings or typos.
