General Discussion

It’s a shame that her mother is holding out for money. I’m sure you or your sister have looked into it, but do you know if the requirement for birth mother consent has been established by precedent or was it a procedural decision by the enrollment committee? I don’t see this requirement in their code or Constitution on preliminary glance. Oglala case law doesn’t seem to have an online presence, but it seems that there could be a way to establish lineage without the birth mother’s consent? Was she born on the Pine Ridge Reservation? They might have an independent record that would corroborate her blood relation to her mother. Have any of the siblings been successfully enrolled? I know tribal bureaucracies can be more difficult to navigate than their law. I have known the enrollment process to take years for some as Tribal records often have gaps but sometimes useful documentation can be found. Often there is more than one path to establishing lineage. I hope she is able to be enrolled at some point.