Siberian Yupik peoples live in the St. Lawrence Island villages of Gambell and Savoonga, and also structured themselves as extended families. Village councils developed around the turn of the century in response to contact with western cultures. Although little information about tribal court and village council dispute resolution activity has been available until recently, Kawerak has been actively building a strong Indian Child Welfare Program for the past nine years. The increased dispute resolution activity in the regions' communities is a direct result of Kawerak's efforts. In addition, an Inter-Tribal Court is planned to serve the region.
Most villages have ordinances governing probate and other matters as well.
The Bering Straits villages, and their regional representatives, have taken a strong stand on keeping Native children in Native families. In February 1989, the Western Alaska Tribal Council, an association made up of the regional village council presidents, announced a new policy to intervene in all state Indian Child Welfare Act cases involving member children, including child in need of aid and adoption proceedings, subject to the approval of the individual village council concerned. In January 1990, the Western Alaska Tribal Council declared that Native children have the right to be raised in Native homes. The Council also declared that the natural parents and the tribe have an interest in the child's placement, and that the interests of both parties should be balanced when the placement decision is made. A subsequent policy statement ratified by the Council in April 1992 set out Kawerak's responsibilities in seeing that the member children's rights are met.