Adoption and Foster Home Promotion and Recruitment

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Secretarial Election set to be held on or before Sept. 26

Sault Tribe members, mark your calendars. The Secretarial Election on proposed constitutional amendments establishing a three-branch government is set to be held on or before Sept. 26, 2026.

Once the Secretarial Election Board is formed, it will establish the official election date and election timeline. The Sault Tribe is accepting volunteers to serve on the board through July 3. The Board of Directors will randomly select one tribal citizen from each voting unit and two at-large tribal citizens during its July 7 meeting.
Tribal citizens interested in serving on the Secretarial Election Board are encouraged to submit their interest by emailing legal@saulttribe.net.

In May, the Sault Tribe Board of Directors unanimously voted to submit proposed constitutional amendments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), beginning the Secretarial Election process. The election is administered by the BIA and is required under federal law and Article X of the Sault Tribe Constitution.

When ballots are mailed later this summer or early fall, eligible tribal citizens will vote "yes" or "no" on whether to adopt the proposed constitutional amendments establishing three separate and equal branches of government.

To ensure ballots and election information are received, tribal citizens are encouraged to verify that their mailing address is up to date with Tribal Enrollment.

Constitutional Amendment Update

Resolution 2026-145 requests a secretarial election on proposed constitutional amendments and places the decision to update the tribe’s Constitution in the hands of Sault Tribe membership. The resolution will be sent to the BIA by June 19 and then the BIA will begin the federal election process. Linked below are the Resolution 2026-145 and the Attached Amended Constitution drafts. Please watch the tribe’s website and Facebook in the coming months for updates on this.

3 Branch Separation Amendments Attachment for Reso 2026-145

2026-145 Authorizing Amended Constitution Submission for a Secretarial Election

Notice: Opportunity to Serve on the Secretarial Election Board for the Constitutional Amendment Election

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is seeking Tribal citizens who are interested in serving on the Secretarial Election Board for the upcoming Constitutional Amendment Election, which is expected to take place later this summer or in early fall.

The Secretarial Election Board will assist with duties related to the Secretarial Election process for the proposed constitutional amendments including setting deadlines for the election. The Tribe is seeking interested citizens from each of the five election units and representatives from the at large membership. The Board of Directors will select:

One tribal citizen from each unit, and two at-large tribal citizens.

Selection will be made by drawing names from the list of interested Tribal citizens. The drawing is anticipated to take place by the July 7 Board of Directors meeting.

Tribal citizens who are interested in being considered should submit their name, enrollment number, contact information, a letter of intent and the election unit in which they reside to legal@saulttribe.net . If selected you will be expected to be able to attend in person meetings in Sault Ste. Marie.

Interested citizens should submit their information no later than July 3, 2026.

For questions, please contact legal@saulttribe.net .

Miigwech to all Tribal citizens willing to participate in this important constitutional process.

Details: Category: Child Placement; Published: 05 July 2011

Adoption and Foster Care Promotion and Recruitment Services are services and activities designed to increase the number of Sault Tribe families available to provide temporary foster care placements or long term adoptive placements for children serviced by the Sault Tribe Binogii Placement Agency.

The majority of families licensed by the agency are relative providers. The agency works diligently with relative caregivers to assist them to access financial resources. The agency also provides adoptive home studies to primarily relative families.

An ongoing need for the agency is to recruit non-relative Native American homes to allow the agency to have increased access to homes that fall within the Sault Tribe priority of placement. Although the agency is able to recruit families and license Sault Tribe homes, many times these homes end up adopting the children in their care, which creates a need for new homes.

The agency is able to provide these services to relatives and tribal members free of charge. Sault Tribe Binogii Placement Agency accesses alternative funding to defray these fees and costs.

The Sault Tribe Binogii Placement Agency conducts quarterly recruitment meetings in all service areas. ACFS staff is active in conducting presentations at various meetings, and providing information at fairs and booths to recruit foster and adoptive families. Information packets are given to any one inquiring about becoming a foster or adoptive family. Advertisements are routinely placed in the Sault Tribe’s newspaper.

November of every year has been designated “Foster Parent Appreciation” month and extensive promotion of foster parenting is undertaken. Some activities include articles in the tribal newspaper, ongoing public service announcements, flyers, paycheck inserts, and distribution of brochures.

ACFS, through the Sault Tribe Binogii Placement Agency, holds a child placement license with the state of Michigan. This allows the agency to license foster homes and relative placements located off the reservation via the Michigan Bureau of Children and Adult Licensing. As a matter of best practice, the agency uses the same standards of licensing for all homes whether they are issued a tribal license or a state license.