Rosebud Sioux president urges collaboration on health care, public safety and foster care

South Dakota and tribal nations can make progress on health care and public safety during the 2026 legislative session, Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Kathleen Wooden Knife said, according to reporting by South Dakota Searchlight.

Wooden Knife told a joint session of the Legislature Wednesday that Lakota and Dakota people have lower life expectancy, which she said shows the federal government’s treaty obligations for Native health care aren’t being met. She urged tribes and the state to explore a managed care model for Medicaid that would let tribes coordinate care and negotiate costs. The State-Tribal Relations Committee endorsed a bill to create a task force to study the model, according to South Dakota Searchlight.

She also supported a bill to recognize tribal law enforcement as certified under state law and encouraged work on foster care and kinship placement for Native children.