Associate professor of public policy Randall Akee wrote an article for the Brookings Institution about how inaccurate data on poverty negatively affects American Indian and Alaskan Native children. High poverty rates have been used to justify removing American Indian children from their homes and placing them in state foster or adoptive care systems, he said. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was passed to stop this practice and “prioritizes the judgment and decisions of the officials with the most experience and understanding of local conditions and experiences — tribal officials,” he said. He added: “There are important culturally specific safety nets that exist in many American Indian communities, most of which would be unknown to outsiders.” Although poverty measurements may not be accurate, Akee said child poverty rates are still much too high on American Indian reservations.