Feds Take Over Red Lake Nation Child Welfare After Eight Child Deaths and a ‘Pattern of Inaction’

Red Lake, Minn. — The federal government has taken over the child welfare agency of the Red Lake Nation in northern Minnesota after the Bureau of Indian Affairs concluded the program failed to protect children it knew were in danger. An 11-page federal notice dated Sept. 9, 2026, ties as many as eight child deaths since 2021 to a pattern of neglect, malnutrition, abuse and overdoses, and accuses the agency of refusing to cooperate with federal investigators.

The BIA used an emergency “reassumption” to take back the program, Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog (Ojibwe for “Uplifting our Relatives”), effective Sept. 10. The same morning, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the agency’s building. The warrant remains sealed, and neither the FBI nor the tribe has said whether the two actions are connected, MPR News reported.

What the federal notice says

The notice, signed by Interior Department official Kennis M. Bellmard II and addressed to Tribal Chairman Darrell G. Seki Sr., was released in redacted form after public records requests and first reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune. It describes children who were “neglected, abused and malnourished” and a program that showed a “pattern of inaction.”

Child abuse and neglect conditions continue to rise within the Red Lake Nation.

BIA reassumption notice, Sept. 9, 2026

According to the notice, at least eight tribal children have died since 2021 from malnutrition, abuse, neglect or drug overdoses, two of them in July 2026. MPR News reported that the notice links five of those deaths to the program’s inaction. The notice itself does not include the underlying records; it cites documentation from federal agencies.

Cases the agency knew about

The notice lists incidents in which, federal officials say, the agency had contact with a family and failed to act or to tell law enforcement:

• 2022: A hospitalized child with life-threatening anemia was placed with a licensed foster provider who, the notice says, was given no instructions, medication or continuity of care.
• 2023: A child described as drug-addicted was placed with a mother the agency knew had a history of drug abuse. The child overdosed on fentanyl in July 2023 and was flown to Fargo. Staff “failed to notify law enforcement,” and the executive director “overruled a removal directive,” according to the notice.
• February 2025: A passerby picked up two children running from home; one said they were tired of being abused by their father. The agency was already serving the family, allowed the children to stay and did not report to law enforcement or the FBI.
• March 2026: Staff removed several children from their father over physical abuse, then returned them to him after learning they were being abused in foster care. The tribe did not report it.
• Foster care: A foster child was molested by a convicted federal sex offender whom staff knew was living in the home. A tribal police officer who raised concerns was told the agency could not act.
• Ongoing FBI case: A child was medevacked twice with serious injuries, first with a skull fracture and “suspicious bruising.” The agency returned the child home without notifying police and, authorities say, refused an FBI request to place the child elsewhere pending investigation (KVLY/WCCO).

The notice also cites the March 2024 Red Lake house fire in which two children were found dead with stab wounds and a third was found severely neglected after an Amber Alert. Their mother, Jennifer Marie Stately, was found guilty of murder and arson in federal court in February 2026; her sentencing before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim is set for Nov. 6.

Felons on staff and reporters exposed

Federal officials say the agency employed “a convicted sex offender and several convicted murderers and numerous convicted felons,” in violation of a federal child protection law that requires background checks for people working with children. The notice also says the program “frequently does not report criminal activity to law enforcement” and at times released the names of mandated reporters to the families they had reported.

At a Feb. 6, 2024, meeting with federal prosecutors, the Tribal Council reportedly said it “believed it no longer had an obligation to report child abuse and neglect to the FBI and USAO.” The BIA says the lack of cooperation turned into active obstruction of investigations by August 2026, and that legal requests for records went unanswered while tribal counsel said the program had no records.

The numbers that looked too good

Red Lake took its child welfare cases over from Beltrami County in 2021 and keeps ownership of its families’ data, publishing only summaries. Its 2026 report to the Minnesota Legislature set a goal of “100% family preservation” and reported that maltreatment reports fell from 641 children in 2023 to 313 in 2024, with new substantiated victims down 51% from 2021. The BIA called those figures “unrealistic data regarding significant decreases” and said the program is “not reporting accurate health data.”

What Red Lake Nation says

Red Lake Nation spokesperson Holly Cook Macarro told MPR News the tribe “is cooperating fully with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” The tribe has appealed the reassumption, and both sides have agreed to mediation. Federal law entitles the tribe to a hearing before an administrative law judge. The tribe initially said the action was limited to federal funding and that it would keep running its human services programs “to the extent not affected by the reassumption” (MPR News). Ombimindwaa Executive Director Cheri Goodwin did not respond to The Imprint’s request for comment.

What this case shows

Every child welfare system in this country, county, state or tribal, is graded mostly on numbers it reports about itself. Red Lake’s reports showed abuse falling by half. The federal notice describes children overdosing, starving and dying while those reports were filed. When an agency controls its own data, decides what gets reported to police and answers records requests by saying no records exist, families and the public have no way to check the work.

Father’s Advocacy Network has documented the same pattern in county systems across Minnesota and the country: agencies that grade their own homework, hide behind confidentiality and face consequences only when outsiders force records into the open. The answer is not a bigger budget. It is independent oversight, mandatory reporting to law enforcement with no exceptions, background checks that are actually enforced, and data the public can verify. Parents who have concerns about how a child protection agency handled their case can learn how to file a complaint.

The allegations in the BIA notice have not been tested before an administrative law judge, and the tribe has appealed. FAN will update this story as the mediation, appeal and the Nov. 6 sentencing proceed. This article is information, not legal advice.

Key facts

• Sept. 9, 2026: BIA issues an emergency reassumption notice to Red Lake Nation Chairman Darrell G. Seki Sr., signed by Interior official Kennis M. Bellmard II.
• Sept. 10, 2026: The takeover of Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog takes effect; FBI executes a sealed search warrant at the agency building.
• The notice cites as many as eight child deaths since 2021, two in July 2026, and says five are linked to the program’s inaction (MPR News).
• Federal officials say the agency employed a convicted sex offender, convicted murderers and other felons, and often did not report crimes to law enforcement.
• Red Lake took over child welfare cases from Beltrami County in 2021; its 2026 legislative report showed maltreatment reports falling from 641 to 313 children.
• Red Lake Nation says it is cooperating fully, has appealed and has agreed to mediation with the BIA.
• Jennifer Marie Stately, convicted in February 2026 in the 2024 deaths of two children, is set to be sentenced Nov. 6, 2026.

Sources

• The Imprint — BIA cites child deaths and neglect leading up to federal takeover of Red Lake Nation child welfare services (2026-10-14)
• MPR News — Feds say takeover of Red Lake child welfare program was due to pattern of inaction (2026-10-14)
• MPR News — Feds assume control of some Red Lake Nation child welfare services following search (2026-09-16)
• Valley News Live / WCCO — Series of deaths connected to Red Lake Nation child welfare program leads to federal takeover (2026-10-15)
• KAXE — FBI, BIA raid Ombimindwaa child welfare building in Red Lake (2026-09-11)
• KAXE — BIA resumes management of Red Lake family and children services (2026-09-14)
• Bureau of Indian Affairs — Red Lake Agency, Family and Children Services
• U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota — Red Lake woman found guilty of murder and arson (2026-02)

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