[Jane101]

Hi Heather:

I have adopted two children through Child and Family Services, the first adoption placement was in 2003 and the second in 2005, both are now finalized. I would be happy to share information with you. I am just not sure where you are in the process? Have you decided on an agency? The question of adopting native children..well it depends on alot of factors but it can definitely be done.

Jane101

[lookingforward]

Originally Posted by blessedbybug

If the birthmom is registed, the child CAN also be, but doesn't have to be. It is your choice. We chose to because it was important to Roo's first mom that he is. And it is important to us that we preserve and celebrate his aboriginal heritage.

If I were you, I would MAKE SURE that CFS knows you are interested and willing to consider placement of a child with aboriginal heritage. This was a very specific part of the conversation in both our home studies. Even though we stated we were interested in mixed ethnicity, they specifically asked us about aboriginal history because it does have implication especially if the child is of full heritage. There are things to consider regarding band/tribal involvement that you need to be fully aware of. Although we were interested in contact with first family, we have many concerns about the band's interest in our child. From what we understand, some bands have great interest in how a child from their community is raised in all areas. We did not want to have to consult them regarding our parenting choices, esp when it comes to faith and education. I would make sure you have a specific conversation with your SW or someone who deals with these situations. But usually, children available for adoption to non-aboriginal families are ones that do not have a strong connection to the band. But it is definitely a question to be clarified.

Are you looking at a specific child??? If so, then you should be able to get some clear answers. Do they have a band number? What band are they with? Etc. If you are initerested in general, you can state you are interested in a "non-status Indian" which means that they most generally do not have band contact. That is what my DD is considered as her first mom has not been associated with her band since toddlerhood.

HTH... I tend to go on and on, sorry... that's just me! Hope it works out for you!!!

Hi Blessedbybug,
I'm new to all of this but just had a question about registration and your choice to register Roo. You decided to register Roo and have contact with the first family but not the band. How did you know that this would work out? Was this band one of those that doesn't tend to get too involved? Did you determine ahead of time whether the band had a history of taking an interest in adoptions of band members children? If so how did you determine this? If you had determined that they might want to be involved in raising your child would you have waited until Roo was eighteen to register him? Sorry for the long string of questions, just trying to make some difficult decisions but would like to do what is best for the child while trying to keep a connection to her culture.

Thanks.

Lookingforward

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by lookingforward

Hi Blessedbybug,
I'm new to all of this but just had a question about registration and your choice to register Roo. You decided to register Roo and have contact with the first family but not the band. How did you know that this would work out? Was this band one of those that doesn't tend to get too involved? Did you determine ahead of time whether the band had a history of taking an interest in adoptions of band members children? If so how did you determine this? If you had determined that they might want to be involved in raising your child would you have waited until Roo was eighteen to register him? Sorry for the long string of questions, just trying to make some difficult decisions but would like to do what is best for the child while trying to keep a connection to her culture.

Thanks.

Lookingforward

THere are no guarantees in any of this however this band is not one known to get involved in these situations when children are not born on the reserve. DS's firstmother has not had contact with the band to which she is connected since early toddlerhood. She has not lived on a native reserve (hers or any other) since that time. She did not give birth to our son on a native reserve. And, she did not consult band members about placing this child with us nor expressed any interest in their involvement . In all those decisions, she distanced herself from the band. Not only that, but she has a child she is parenting and the band has no relationship with this child. Based on all of this, we felt that we were comfortable with this decision.

[taramayrn]

Tammy - I'm just curious because when I placed my son in 2000 I had to sign an affidavit stating that I was not native, had no native blood, etc etc etc. I was so scared that if I did somehow have native blood that the "band" would make decisions for my child and where he would go.
So, did Roo's first mom have to inform the band of her decision to place him in a non-native home?

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by taramayrn

Tammy - I'm just curious because when I placed my son in 2000 I had to sign an affidavit stating that I was not native, had no native blood, etc etc etc. I was so scared that if I did somehow have native blood that the "band" would make decisions for my child and where he would go.
So, did Roo's first mom have to inform the band of her decision to place him in a non-native home?

I think things have changed a bit. She did not have to inform them of her decision, nor was she obligated to consult them, because she was not living on the reserve nor had connections with her band at the time. THis was the situation with Bug's First Mom as well, however, Bug's first mom also chose not to be registered herself. And since that is the case, then Bug is considered non-status (and only 1/8 native anyway). ANd I do believe that things are done a bit different with Metis people.

Since Roo is now final, we have all the paperwork and as many affidavits as she had to sign, there was nothing of this sort with her signature. I do believe however, that since Roo's first mom was registered, filing his original birth certificate triggered the process because we were actually notified through the agency that Indian Affairs had knowledge of Roo's birth and were requesting he be registered. After much consideration, we decided in good faith to do so, hoping and trusting that her native band would respect her wishes for us to be the sole decision makers on Roo's behalf. Again, since she has no connection physically with her people, it didn't seem to be a huge risk for us, only a benefit for Roo.

But now you have me curious... I think I'm going to contact the agency to talk more about this...

[taramayrn]

LOL now Tammy...I know I either had to sign the affidavit (I can't find it either in all the paperwork) or swear before the lawyer that I didn't have native blood. I know though I was questioned as to if I had native blood or not and that it was a criminal offense if I didn't tell the truth. I remember it being a big deal though.

[CanadianMommyToBe]

In Alberta both the Adoption Summary and the Affidavit of the Birth Mother (and BDad) are supposed to have a statement on them regarding the child's ethnic heritage and if Aboriginal heritage is indicated then if the birth parent is registered with a band we are supposed to include that information. If the birth parents are registered but do not wish to consult with the band (as in Roo's case) then a statement to that fact is usually added to the Affidavit as well.

(Can you tell I have had to draw up a bunch of these?! LOL)

Carrie

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by taramayrn

LOL now Tammy...I know I either had to sign the affidavit (I can't find it either in all the paperwork) or swear before the lawyer that I didn't have native blood. I know though I was questioned as to if I had native blood or not and that it was a criminal offense if I didn't tell the truth. I remember it being a big deal though.

Tara ~ just so I read your post right, I hope you didn't think I was doubting what you had to do at all when your son was placed. Not at all. I just haven't seen any paperwork that indicated that Roo's first mother did, in our case. I just don't want there to be a misunderstanding. It seems like the laws are constantly changing, frankly, and I can't seem to keep it all straight myself.

I was just saying that I have all the paperwork filed with the court for Roo and haven't seen anything like this. However, she did indicate her reg# in the paperwork so maybe that was what triggered the paperwork for Roo.

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by CanadianMommyToBe

In Alberta both the Adoption Summary and the Affidavit of the Birth Mother (and BDad) are supposed to have a statement on them regarding the child's ethnic heritage and if Aboriginal heritage is indicated then if the birth parent is registered with a band we are supposed to include that information. If the birth parents are registered but do not wish to consult with the band (as in Roo's case) then a statement to that fact is usually added to the Affidavit as well.

(Can you tell I have had to draw up a bunch of these?! LOL)

Carrie

Now I'm going to get Roo's paperwork to see EXACTLY what it says... all you guys are making me curiouser and curiouser...

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by blessedbybug

Now I'm going to get Roo's paperwork to see EXACTLY what it says... all you guys are making me curiouser and curiouser...

Carrie and all... I just had a minute to get to the paperwork and yes, Roo's first mom had to sign and affidavit about her status and that she did not want the Band Council and/or Chief to be consulted regarding placement. So this takes care of the question about whether or not she was required to do that in order to place with CC parents. She wasn't required but she had to stipulate to that. Between this affidavit and the fact she was not a resident of a reserve, the band had no say in the matter.

I don't know how it would be done for children who are permanent with Children's Services. And I don't know if it differs by province.

Refer to Alberta's Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (2005, Section 67) Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act

Just wanted to clarify...

And Tara... I was wrong. I should have looked at my paperwork and not relied on my memory, which is good but not very long. Sorry.

[CanMomEh]

Originally Posted by blessedbybug

Although they both are of mixed heritage, our profiles would not have been shown to their first parents had we not been open to aboriginal heritage. We were told that there were much fewer families willing to consider children of aboriginal heritage.
...

Odd because = here in Ontario and more specifically they CAS where i live - we were told that we would not be considered for Aboriginal children because neither of us have status. I have aboriginal family on my dad's side (still trying to figure out how far back) and my husband does as well ( SIL is constantly being asked by CAS re her daughters child who is in her care - what band she is with - She looks cree but we cannot get ANY information about heritage because her Grandma denies any connection - she has a very shady past.)

Either way i think it is very frustrating that there is not a national standard for these things. Not fair that AB and Maritimes have wonderfull programs and even advertising promoting adoption and in Ontario we aren;t even back burner - we fell behind the stove !

[shmode]

Originally Posted by CanMomEh

Odd because = here in Ontario and more specifically they CAS where i live - we were told that we would not be considered for Aboriginal children because neither of us have status. I have aboriginal family on my dad's side (still trying to figure out how far back) and my husband does as well ( SIL is constantly being asked by CAS re her daughters child who is in her care - what band she is with - She looks cree but we cannot get ANY information about heritage because her Grandma denies any connection - she has a very shady past.)

Either way i think it is very frustrating that there is not a national standard for these things. Not fair that AB and Maritimes have wonderfull programs and even advertising promoting adoption and in Ontario we aren;t even back burner - we fell behind the stove !

It is very sad, I keep reading stuff about Ontario that makes me happy not to live there. HS taking a year to get going, no transracial adoption of aboriginal, small percentage of adoptions compared to amount available (speaking from a public ward older child POV), and a parent training course that's 9 weeks long. It's a wonder that there isn't less adoptions than there is with the waiting time you've had to go through. I pray something comes for you soon and that in the effort of gain for Ontario, other provinces similar to yours follow suit (and we don't lose our benefits ).

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by CanMomEh

Odd because = here in Ontario and more specifically they CAS where i live - we were told that we would not be considered for Aboriginal children because neither of us have status. I have aboriginal family on my dad's side (still trying to figure out how far back) and my husband does as well ( SIL is constantly being asked by CAS re her daughters child who is in her care - what band she is with - She looks cree but we cannot get ANY information about heritage because her Grandma denies any connection - she has a very shady past.)

Either way i think it is very frustrating that there is not a national standard for these things. Not fair that AB and Maritimes have wonderfull programs and even advertising promoting adoption and in Ontario we aren;t even back burner - we fell behind the stove !

I do believe that there is some consistency when you consider CAS and ACS (Alberta Children's Services) policy. Here in Alberta there is a separate program for children of aboriginal heritage. Many children are never adopted because bands will not consent to them being adopted by non-native families, although in many cases, they are placed in non-native foster homes and raised by non-native foster parents. Just never officially adopted. I met sevl people in our foster parent training classes who were not able to adopt the children but considered them their children to raise, that it was basically a permanent placement.

Both our placements were through a private agency open adoption, where the first mothers made the decision not to have band consideration for placement. As I said previously, since they were not living on aboriginal land/reserve or associated with their bands at the time of the birth or sometime previously, they had more freedom to make the placement how they wanted. At least that is my understanding acc to our paperwork and discussion with agency workers.

I'm sorry that the adoption process there is a struggle. I have heard from others that it is a tough place to adopt. We actually stayed in ALberta awaiting our second child, turning down several job opportunities in other provinces because we didn't see that we could afford the wait in other places. I hope your journey picks up speed soon... blessings...