[Decision]

Hi sorry I am from Canada and we do not refer to First Nations people as Indians, nor do we call the bands tribes. I was a tad confused. I understand now thanks for the info.
It must be difficult for you to have a child with the option to adopt and then find out you cant because he would be better off with band members. This happens in Canada too. It does go back to the 1950's and earlier when Christians (caucasians) placed first nations children into Residential care, with the belief that they would be more civilized. What happened was they lost their culture, their ethnic background, their lives. The first nations peoples ways were dying to bring it back up they need their children to be raised with their own culture and background. I am sure if you would look into it you would find understanding. I do however sympathize with you.
Hugs
Melissa

[Dianna]

Here are a couple of links that give information about the Indain Child Welfare Act. The second one is about some recent Senate hearings.

http://glossary.adoption.com/index.p...re+Act+of+1978

http://library.adoption.com/Native-A...cle/663/1.html

[Johmo]

This stuff is maddening. When kids have no connection to "their" tribes other than a drop or two of blood, the system has no business calling them Indian children.

We fought against the so-called mandates of ICWA and we won. An appellate court ruled it would be unconstitutional to apply the Act's placement preferences to them.

I encourage others to fight as well. Kids are getting ripped out of homes in which they have formed deep bonds because of PC efforts to right wrongs which occured 25 years ago.

Our kids do not pine for their Native American heritage. Their ancestors left the reservation years and years ago. They have never been within a thousand miles of their reservation.

Where was the Tribe when the kids were living on the streets? If they wanted to be so involved in the kids' lives, they would intervene before social services ever gets called in.

People can't just cave in to the PC crap. They have to fight it and ask their legislators to do the same. When properly applied, The ICWA is totally legit. When improperly applied to kids who have no connection to their tribes, it is a travesty.

[tla adoptions]

the ICWA laws take precidenc eover the State laws and the Cherokee tribe fights stornger then most (with deep pockets) to place children themselves. Sadly, you don't stand much of a chance and probably in for along, expensive (10's of thousands) and probably losing battle if you decide to get a lawyer

soem tribes say the child has to be 50/50 etc. but not cherokee - any % at all and they intervene.

Your best bet is to speak with themand try to nicely gain their agreement- they do occasionally agree although not as often as other tribes.

lastly, I also tried to prove heritage (My G-Grandmother wwas full Cherokee_ but until the last 50 yers people did NOT want to be recognized as Indian so it was not put on birth certificates - the only way to claim that heritage legally is a birthcertificate listing that race or a tribal enrollment - all the tribes have an office that will look it up for you if you wonder if a family member was registered. You'll have to know full legal and married name, DOB and state of birth.

Wish I had better news for you or more encouragement to give- the peole at fault here are those that placed this child with you and led you to believe an adoption plan was a possiblity. They shouldh ave made it very clear going in that it was a temporary placement.

deb@tlaadoptions.com

[denise marie]

My husband and i did an open adoption that fail through.Our baby was Kickapoo Indian.The soical worker can get their attorney to go before the tribe and ask this child to be adopted.The tribes have their own set of laws but this can be done.If you get a lawyer that knows ALOT about the tribal laws it would be best to use one.Our daughter was cleared and we were givin permission from the tribe to proceed with her adoption.But the mother changed her mind and baby went back with her.It all worked out because she has an awsome mommy that loves and cares for her.That social worker can do MORE.But it is better to have a lawyer who is good with Tribal laws.

[Dianna]

My understanding is that the law applies to children using the same standards as the tribe uses to determine who can enroll. If the tribe uses dependency, then the law covers anyone who has documented decendency. If the tribe uses 1/4 indian blood, then the children need to be at least 1/4 blood quantum to be covered. There were some children in my husband's family who were related but less than 1/4 blood. They were adopted by a black family as they were not covered by ICWA. Our baby has decendency to a California Indian Tribe who uses decendency. He was covered under ICWA, though he has less blood quantum than the kids in my husband's family.

I understand that it can be frustrating to deal with tribes when maybe the children have had no involvement. However, if they are eligible for enrollment, then maybe they should have more involvement. Often it is not up to the children how much contact they have had. Nowadays, people tend to look for their Native American roots as it is important to them as adults.

Our son's social worker spent a lot of time interviewing tribal members and checking out a whole lot of people to make sure there was no suitable placement. We have a contact agreement where our son will have contact with his tribe and we are happy to do this. I was able to look at it like if they need us, we are here, and thank God, they did need us.

[HappyMomAnna]

Our children siblings age 5 and 1 were placed last January 2003 in an ADOPTION placement.......On November 7, 2003 we signed the Final Petition for adoption and found no less then 25-letters in the file.....from American Indian Tribes---releasing the children as there was NO proof to the birthmothers claim to be American Indian......Our attorney told us that up until a week before there had been a chance our adoption would fail if the children did belong to any tribe the tribe had the right to them....
The letters all say, This tribe will not intercede with this Adoption......as I read these releases it is scary to me---the fact we only wanted to adopt---only took the kids with the intention of adoption---and never knew this risk was there---WOW we feel we dodged a bullet.

[allabouthorses]

Hey Babs,

It was very interesting to read your post. My birth mother is 1/2 Cree, so I am 3rd generation, about 1/4 Cree. I am not entitled to a status card unless I go through the band and ask them. My amom was always mad that the Children's Aid Society didn't work that out when I was adopted. If I hadn't been adopted, it would have been much easier to find out if I was eligible for a status card. The way my amom sees it, the CAS could have sorted all that out without having to give my aparents any identifying info about my bmom.

Regarding non-native people adopting native children: I have always been very in touch with my native roots, and I think of myself as being an indian, even though society doesn't view me that way. If my amom's soul could have been planted in a native woman, I would have been very happy. Meaning, I wouldn't trade my amom for anything, but I wish I could have been raised in a native family.

Regarding ljprevo's situation: I can see why this type of thing is so important to indians, and I generally think it's great...BUT, if this child has been with you for this long, he has probably created a bond with you, and I think that at some point, the child's emotional well-being has to come before the wishes of the band. If the child's bparents felt very strongly about this, perhaps he should have been placed with a native family for foster care.

Whatever the reasons for this battle, I feel very sorry that you are having to go through this. I can only imagine how painful and infuriating this must be.

[ljprevo]

Well the b parents are nowhere near card members, come to find out, the baby's father shouted that the baby was indian in our local court. Well the local court told the agency they had to research it. So far there is no know family member that is a card holder two of the 3 tribes want nothing to do with it and are sending letters saying so to satisfy the local courts. The 3rd is doing a search and is getting nowhere.

Funny thing is Michigan law states that if a foster child has been in your home for 1 year or more you are considered the child "Physilogical parents" if the parents rights are terminated you have the first chance to adopt the child.

Our year is in on Jan 23rd 2004

God works in mysterious ways indeed.

[lisa in venice]

Our youger ds' great-grand mother was half Cherokee but not registered. Shje acknowledged her heritage and just to make sure we researched it and asked permission from the tribe. They were VERY helpful. They are one of the few trbes with a very straight forward proceedure. The question is not wheter they want this child but whether they decide to take an interest in their placement. If they do "take an interest" you can still adopt but it will take a full year from the signing of the placement papers to finalize and at any time they can decide to place the child somewhere else. It is a big risk but I have not heard of it happening. What is most likely to happen is they will make a declation of "non-interst".

lisa

[ljprevo]

Well folks this issue was resolved, but we now have a new one, if you can help or suggest anything we would appreciate it.

Foster parent rights in MI