Indian Placement Program

The Indian Placement Program, or Indian Student Placement Program was a program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1947 to 1996, in which Native American (i.e. those considered Lamanites in Mormon culture) students (upon request by their parents) were voluntarily placed in white Latter-day Saint foster homes during the school year, where they would attend public schools and become assimilated into Mormon culture.

The program was initially developed to respond to the needs of Navajo teenagers and even younger children who were coming to parts of Utah to work. It was felt it would be better for them to get an education. [Kimball and Kimball. "The Life of Spencer W. Kimball"] Only church members could participate in the program, which meant that children had to be eight to be involved. It should also be born in mind it was developed in an era when educational opportunities on the reservation were limited.

The program eventually became part of Latter-day Saint Social Services now LDS Family Services.

Beginning in the 1970s, however, the Indian Placement Program came under criticism. In 1977, the U.S. government commissioned a study to investigate accusations that the church was using its influence to push children into joining the program. The commission rejected these accusations, however, finding that the program was largely positive, and enjoyed emphatic support both from Native American parents and white foster parents. However, the criticism of the program continued. Supporters believed that exposure to white culture was beneficial to Native American children, and that it improved educational and economic opportunities, while critics believed the program undermined the children's Native American identity. These critics failed to consider the educational and social issues that surrounded the beginning of the program. Another factor such people ignored is that Native American identity has deep religious implications, and in some ways rejection of Native American identity is similar to rejection of Jewish identity.

In 1989, George P. Lee, a Navajo member of the First Quorum of the Seventy who had participated in the Indian Placement Program in his youth, was excommunicated soon after he had submitted to the First Presidency a 23-page letter critical of the program being phased out. However, his excommunication may have had more to do with a charge of attempted child molestation (in which Lee explained to the young girl that the Lord had commanded him to take her as a polygamous wife), to which he later pleaded guilty.

In 1996 the program came to an official end.

Notes

References

* "The Rise and Decline of the LDS Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-1996," "Mormons, Scripture, and the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson", ed. Davis Bitton (Provo: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998), 85-119.