Main state child welfare staff understand ICWA requirements, yet their knowledge of Wabanaki history is limited because it has excluded the voice of the Wabanaki people. This article outlines the process taken by a group of Native people and state representatives to create a truth and reconciliation commission process in Maine, designed to reckon with this history as a way of improving the child welfare system and promoting healing for Wabanaki children and families. The governor of maine and the five tribal chiefs signed as equals to authorize the Commission to investigate whether or not the removal of Wabanaki children from their communities has continued to be disproportionate to non-Native children and to make recommendations.
