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the benefit of Indian children where there is need for domicillary [[domiciliary]] care, broken homes, total orphanage and like conditions that require special child care.

Justification: It is recognized that the most effective means of contributing to cultural assimilation and integration of Indian people into the communities of their residence is through education. Literacy is an indispensable need of Indians, without which all doors of progress are closed to them,

Health: Every Indian should have an opportunity for medical services. In all communities where Indians have taken their place in community life, they should receive their medical assistance on the same basis as other people.

In remote areas, or in areas where racial discrimination may be a factor, the Federal Government should provide health services for the Indian people. Hospitalization, clinical treatment, sanitation and preventive services should be available to such communities.

Justification: When 10 to 16 times as many Indians are infected with tuberculosis as are other citizens in the nation as a whole; 7 times as many Indians die from pneumonia as for the nation as a whole; 6 to 12 times as many Indians die of enteritis and other intestinal difficulties as for the nation as a whole, it is apparent that special preventive and medical care must be provided.

Relocation and Placement: An adequate program of relocating Indian families in communities of their choice, including placement in permanent jobs and integration of the Indian family in the community itself, should be advanced, with adequate financing and staffing, as a means of supplementing insufficient reservation resources. (Seasonal placements in agricultural work should not be encouraged except in rare and emergency cases.)

Justification: Many Indian communities are suffering from a lack of resources in relation to population, a condition brought about by the Government's own shortsightedness in allowing Indian lands to pass out of Indian ownership. There are no job or other economic opportunities available to such people. Relocation offers one means of improving the social and economic conditions of the families and in time will eliminate the requirement of the continuance of Federal services in remote areas.

National Congress of American Indians
1953 Convention
Resolution No.1 (Page 3 of 4 pages)             6