Mom’s advocacy after murder improves system

Pamela Foster didn’t have to fight to make her community better.

After the 2016 murder of her daughter, 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, Foster could have chosen to retreat, to bear her grief in private or in the company of friends and family.

But Foster made a different, harder choice. She chose to try to repair the cracks in the system that became so apparent the day Ashlynne was snatched by a murderous stranger.

After Ashlynne’s abduction in the Shiprock area, her family tried to marshal law enforcement and find her. But poor coordination between tribal and State Police meant an Amber Alert wasn’t sent out until about 10 hours after police got word she was missing. She was likely already dead by that time. Foster has spent the last three years advocating for the system to improve, for tribal and state law enforcement to do a better job coordinating when kids are involved. Last year, thanks to Foster’s agitating, President Trump signed the “Ashlynne Mike Amber Alert in Indian Country Act,” creating a funding stream for tribes to set up and integrate Amber Alert systems.

It’s a good start. But there are still big hurdles to overcome. As reporter Elise Kaplan wrote in Wednesday’s Journal, Congress received a report this year, noting that of 100 tribes in 26 states, more than half had yet to receive training on their state’s Amber Alert systems.

So, to Foster: Thank you for working through your grief on behalf of other little girls and boys in Indian Country, in New Mexico and across the U.S.

And to her and others working alongside her: Keep going, there’s still work to be done.