The Girl in the Photograph

A US senator explores the plight of children living on reservations through the story of an abused Native American child, and offers hope for the future.

“Byron Dorgan has written an important book, with compassion and understanding, about the struggle of a courageous Native American girl and her people. It is a poignant story describing the challenging life of a young Native American child who, against all odds, is a survivor.” —Walter Isaacson, New York Times–bestselling author

On a winter morning in 1990, US Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota picked up the Bismarck Tribune. On the front page, a small Native American girl gazed into the distance, shedding a tear. The headline: “Foster home children beaten—and nobody’s helping.”

Dorgan, who had been working with American Indian tribes to secure resources, was upset. He flew to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to meet with five-year-old Tamara who had suffered a horrible beating at a foster home. He visited with Tamara and her grandfather and they became friends. Then Tamara disappeared. And he would search for her for decades until they finally found each other again.

This book is her story, from childhood to the present, but it's also the story of a people and a nation. More than one in three American Indian/Alaskan Native children live in poverty. AI/AN children are disproportionately in foster care and awaiting adoption. Suicide among AI/AN youth ages fifteen to twenty-four is 2.5 times the national rate. How has America allowed this to happen?

As distressing a situation as it is, this is also a story of hope and resilience. Dorgan, who founded the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute, has worked tirelessly to bring Native youth voices to the forefront of policy discussions, engage Native youth in leadership and advocacy, and secure and share resources for Native youth. You will fall in love with this heartbreaking story, but end the book knowing what can be done and what you can do.

“Please read this book! The Girl in the Photograph is one of the most important civil rights books written in this century. . . . Once you recover from your shock, the author gives you an opportunity to participate in the change that will restore opportunity and justice to the precious children of our first Americans.” —Heidi Heitkamp, former US senator