Disturbing comments about being adopted (Pinterest)

                    Caption: Brothers...

Repinned from Humor!

The Comments on this thread express the attitude about adoption out there - I did not comment... Trace

P's brother is always joking w/ her that she is adopted! Too funny:-)

I have this with the laughing one with a Dallas Cowboys star...and the other a diff. team to funny..

 

You could put so many funny lines with this picture! Wish I was clever enough to come up with some! Love the picture though!

My sisters used to tell me this and I cry just like that baby! Lol

:( My son IS adopted and when he read this over my shoulder he asked, "What is wrong with being adopted." Personally not finding the slogan funny.

I used to say this to my sister all the time! We also used to tell her all my mom could afford to buy her for presents were the dogs toys based on ONE picture of her chewing on a dog toy corn cob (that was brand new) Now we are best friends. Funny how emotional torture brings you close! haha

LMAO!!!! This is too funny!!!

I get you, D. My twins were adopted, too. Folks just don't get how hurtful this can be. Not whining, just saying...

 

hahaha! this is hilarious!

 

Not about adoption at all really. It's about the way siblings look for each other's hot spots. And yeah, that's pretty funny.

you would like this @E  haha

 

It is actually hurtful. I hgave my child up for adoption. It's equivilent to being mentally handicapped and being called retarded.

I completely agree with @R. Too true! I used to push my siblings buttons when we were growing up, and plenty vice versa. It's just part of growing up and I wouldn't change a thing. :)

I used to say to my brother he was found in a basket on the street jajajaja... I think it´s funny because they look like twins jijijijiji...

 

But it IS about adoption. It plays on the idea that adoption is second best, or unwanted. The child in the picture is crying because no one wants to be adopted. It really is offensive to adopted people or people who adopt. Just saying...

Do not like this. period.

 

OMG It's a JOKE....I guess some of you would be upset if you went to a comedy show...and listened to how they slash everything and everybody...DON'T make it more then it is...And this picture has been around forever with everything from football teams to this on it and everything in between....

No Kidding, A...is that the point? have you been through an adoption? Just saying.

I have 5 children of my own NOT ADOPTED....but have had several family members ADOPT including my siblings...and yes thats the point...it's a JOKE...nothing MORE nothing less...

 

hahahahahha!!!! i honestly don't think this is ANYTHING to do w/ adoption. My baby sister who is my most FAVORITE person in the world is adopted. But i remember when my little brother and i were younger we would say this to each other ALL the time!! and we totally made each other cry. hahaha love this pic! people. no one means any harm.

I'm with A., I called my co-worker special today, and I really meant he is special. But another co-worker said I was unenlightened. I wasn't saying he was special needs, I was saying he is a one of a kind. And when can we get mad at all the PC people for trying to make everyone feel bad all the time. Stop it.

exactly...... my boys do it to each other all the time...it's a joke not meant to hurt....and I know when Hansol posted it...that is not what he intended....

♥

That is hilarious

For B, A and J, they had J convinced he was adopted.. crazy kids!!

Great Laugh!

SO CUTE!!

 

i have ths with B laughing and the A crying. too funny!

That's too funny

hahaha verrry funny

So funny

Love it! Makes me giggle.

My daughter is adopted, I don't dig it and truly I'm very thick skinned. Poor taste

I too look for the humor in most things, and I did say that I loved the picture as it has so many funny possibilities. I agree that it truly meant no harm. However, I'm leaning with Daisy and Heather here. Maybe a more appropriate caption. Still..., love your photos Hansol!

Awww....Cute!

I guess I'm just asking folks to consider that, even when said with good intentions, words can hurt. Yes, this picture is adorable: it is the comment that can cut like a knife to someone struggling with their origins. Kindness is the best gift we can give one another.

lol

 

OMG! This is funny

 

siblings. joke. adults, stop overreacting. it's FUNNY

i think this is funny, i would always tell my sister she was adopted. we still joke about it 15 years later and we're best friends now.

A few people here have posted that they have adopted friends, nieces, etc. and they still find it funny. I can't help but notice that no one who is adopted or has an adopted child finds it funny. I know that no one means to be mean, and it is just a different perspective for those who are not adopted themselves, but trust me, it is totally offensive to an adopted person.

So not funny... I am at a loss for words but this is what a century of adoption propaganda creates.... Trace

How insane are we? Let’s look at UTAH!

By Trace A. DeMeyer

It is rare I am this pissed off! (Watch out anyone in my vicinity)
Utah apparently is (or was) coaching pregnant moms to NOT notify the father of the child so the adoption agency (predators) could complete the sale-transaction of the soon-to-be-born-infant.
Why am I fuming at this? My own birthmother didn't want to meet me or god forbid, have anyone find out about me BUT when I found my dad, he asked “how soon can you get here?” I got to meet him three weeks later in Illinois and EARL was indeed my DAD!! (Sometimes men have more compassion than women - and in my own experience, my dad truly loved me, even though he didn’t raise me.)
There always seems to be a long waiting lists of adopters, right? Has anyone considered how or why we are becoming so infertile?
When did we descend into this madness of selling babies?
Don’t you get it? This is commodification of human life. This is the low point for humanity.
The Utah Supreme Court had ruled earlier that deception was part of the adoption process in Utah. Utah has the most conservative adoption laws in the U.S. that favor the birth mother and apparently prefer it that way – much less hassle getting the baby-daddy involved, right?
How insane are we? Why do I say insane? MONEY! I am yelling in CAPS because I see how insane we are as humans and how blind we are as to what is happening to babies. BABIES!!
Number ONE: Babies do not choose to be adopted. (I didn't)
Number TWO: No one would ever choose to be abandoned or orphaned! (I didn't)
The fact is: babies are so incredibly confused, demoralized and terrified when their mom disappears (within 45 minutes), it affects us for the rest of our lives. OUR ENTIRE LIFE!
I know this from experience and my memoir is about this... and some people in UTAH are completely insane...

"After a Colorado father went through four years of legal battles to get custody of his daughter - who was put up for adoption without his consent - 9NEWS uncovered evidence of a system in Utah where agencies are coaching mothers to deceive fathers out of their parental rights.
Utah adoption lawyer Wes Hutchins says he has audio recordings as proof. The way some adoption agencies handle birth mothers Hutchins claims "is an invitation for birth mothers to lie, cheat and defraud birth fathers into thinking they don't have anything to worry about."
"The idea that the birth mother can travel from any state to Utah and be in Utah for two or three days and then give birth to a child and then leave the state with the sole purpose of cutting off the rights of the biological father has to stop," Hutchins said.

http://www.9news.com/moms/article/267332/499/Recordings-of-adoption-agencies-coaching-moms

And another blogger posted on UTAH: http://larahentz.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/2883/ (LARA HENTZ is also my blog on wordpress)

Resignation Letter From the President of The Utah Adoption Council
http://www.adoptivefamiliescircle.com/groups/topic/Resignation_Letter_From_the_President_of_The_Utah_Adoption_Council/#reply-18189

When I am this pissed, I usually tear apart a room in my house and clean... Looks to me like the living room needs work...

(click on comments [in blue below this post] and please let me know what you think)

MN needs permanent families for foster kids



This is me learning to walk in my foster home
which became my adoptive home (in 1958)

Read here: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/05/06/ramsey-county-needs-permanent-families-black-kids-adoptions-advocates-work-reduce-nu

"Common questions about adoption tend to be along the lines of considerations, like how long it takes (four months on the average), whether a family can adoption more than one child at a time (yes), and whether an agency will help if problems arise with the adoption (yes). A FAQ (frequently asked questions) checklist is available at www.co.ramsey.mn.us.
...In Ramsey County, where Black youth are 20 percent of the child population, they make up 54 percent of the those in out-of-home placement. This is compared to 13 percent Hispanic, eight percent Native American, four percent Asian American and 33 percent White. The consequence is of no small impact....
...In addition, of course, to safeguarding youngsters in the community, there are other benefits. Such as voluntary, employer-funded policies for workers who adopt; financial reimbursement for adoption expenses ($500 to $25,000 per adoption, the average policy offering a maximum of $5,000); paid leave (employers provide one to 18 weeks, the average time being six weeks); and unpaid leave in addition to FMLA ranging from a week to a year (the Family Leave and Medical Act requires companies of 50 or more employees and all public agencies to grant 12 weeks of unpaid adoption leave)."

Sadly Minnesota has sealed its records and I am unable to access my adoption file and original birth certificate...and they continue to push closed adoptions... I never want a child to be without a home...but we adoptees need to connect with our birthfamilies on a constant basis... Trace

Cash incentives for adopters?

By Trace A. DeMeyer

That headline "CASH INCENTIVES FOR ADOPTERS" is the kind that keeps me up late.  An adoptee friend sent a story from Louisiana about cash incentives for people to adopt. (Read here: http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=380)

Yes, these ideas are from our good ol' federal government.

The Adoption Incentive Program was created as part of the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which authorized incentive funds (like bonuses) to states that increased the number of children adopted out of foster care. This plan actually saves the states money, because once a child is adopted, the state no longer pays a monthly check to the foster parents.

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (quite a fancy name) provided stronger incentives (more money) for states to find children adoptive homes (especially for older children and children with special needs). Let’s call them Special Children for this blog.

Why cash? People who plan to adopt still prefer white babies, as to be expected per adoption propaganda.

Why babies? Adoptive parents are convinced they can mold the baby to their expectations, the earlier the better.

For each SPECIAL child in Louisiana, the incentive awards are $4,000 for each foster child adoption; $4,000 for each special needs child; and $8,000 for each child age nine or older. Some of these things you simply cannot make up. Perhaps this is why the Mormons especially tend to foster and adopt several children at one time. One Dine friend was one of 10 adopted by a Mormon family who also made them work outside the home.  We are talking serious cash coming each month per foster child - from the state and from the Mormon's own church coffers.

If a person wishes to raise and parent a child, even a Special Child, why would there need to be a cash incentive?

Well, let me see… These are kids who have been in the system a long time, or they are labeled bad kids because they act out their frustrations, or they are damaged goods because of abuse (emotional, physical or sexual) by caregivers and parents. There are horror stories that circulate among adopters that some of the older ones won’t bond.

A parent would have to be bribed with cash to adopt a damaged kid, right? What kind of parent would that person be, really?

In total, HHS awarded more than $32.5 million to Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

These are your tax dollars. 

In a perfect world, if you want to raise and parent a child, you call your Department of Children and Family Services and get trained to be a foster parent. You do not legally adopt but become the child's legal guardian and you preserve contact with the child's first family. In this perfect world, federal dollars are spent to preserve, not separate, children from their families.

All Children are sacred and need our protection. Why aren't we there yet?

Kansas Supreme Court strongly supports ICWA #NDN

In re T.S.W., Kansas ICWA Case on Finality for Appeal and Placement in Private Adoptions by Kate Fort via Turtle Talk

Here.

The Kansas Supreme Court again comes out with strong language in support of ICWA. In addition, the case, which has a complicated procedural history given the actions of the private adoption agency, provides an interesting analysis of what is a "final order" in an ICWA case and a discussion of the collateral order doctrine:

Under the circumstances presented here, we conclude the district court's order permitting a deviation from ICWA's placement preferences did not dispose of the entire merits of the case and left open the possibility of future action by the district court with respect to T.S.W.'s placement. Thus, the Tribe has not appealed from a "final order, judgment or decree" under K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 59-2401a(b)(1), and we lack statutory authority to hear this appeal.
But that holding does not end our analysis. Alternatively, the Tribe urges us to exercise jurisdiction under the collateral order doctrine. That doctrine, which we sparingly apply, provides a narrow exception to the final order requirement. It "allows appellate courts to reach 'not only judgments that "terminate an action," but also a "small class" of collateral rulings that, although they do not end the litigation, are appropriately deemed "final." [Citation omitted.]'" Kansas Medical Mut. Ins. Co., 291 Kan. at 611-12 (quoting Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 599, 605, 175 L. Ed. 2d 458 [2009]).

This case is also an illustration of the difficulties of ICWA and private adoptions. The adoption agency initially refused to consider any placements provided by the Cherokee Nation if the families couldn't pay the $27,500 fee:

In this case, we need not extensively consider whether the Agency followed the placement preferences before seeking a deviation from those preferences. It did not. While the Agency made some effort to satisfy the second placement preference when it requested the Tribe provide available adoptive family profiles, the Agency impermissibly qualified its request in at least two ways. First, the Agency provided the Tribe with Mother's extensive "criteria" for any prospective adoptive family. Second, the Agency specified that prospective adoptive families be able to pay the Agency's $27,500 fee requirement. And while the Agency eventually indicated a willingness to modify its fee based on an unspecified sliding scale, the parties never agreed as to the parameters of that scale because Mother chose a non-Indian family based on profiles presented to her from the Agency.
Essentially, the Agency grafted its substantial fee requirement as well as Mother's placement criteria (which ironically specified that the adoptive parents be Caucasian) onto ICWA's placement preferences. Common sense dictates that ICWA's placement preferences cannot be undermined in this manner. In fact, the Agency's actions appear to fly in the face of Congress' intent in enacting ICWA. See Holyfield, 490 U.S. at 37 (ICWA "'seeks to protect the rights of the Indian child as an Indian and the rights of the Indian community and tribe in retaining its children in its society' . . . by establishing 'a Federal policy that, where possible, an Indian child should remain in the Indian community'" and ensuring that Indian child welfare determinations are not based on a white, middle-class standard that often forecloses placement with an Indian family).

The Court found that the agency and the lower court did not follow the placement preferences of ICWA, even after the Nation provided 17-20 (!) potential adoptive families for the child, and reversed the decision.

Pa. man solves missing child case - his own

(CBS News) A year ago, a Philadelphia man clicked on a website for missing children, and found a picture of himself. That discovery sent Steve Carter on a search to unlock the secrets of his past.

Carter always knew he was adopted, but when got older, he started to wonder who his biological parents were. That curiosity and a simple web search took him on a journey that would change his life and even now, there are parts of his story that remain a mystery.
Read here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57419742/pa-man-solves-missing-child-case-his-own/

The following is a gallery documenting Carter's incredible life journey as featured on "CBS This Morning."

On June 21, 1977, 5-month old Marx Panama Moriarity Barnes disappears with his mother, Charlotte Moriarity, from Haaula, Hawaii. They are reported missing three weeks later. Marx's father, who is not married to his mother, launches an all-out search, but finds nothing.
Credit: Steve Carter

#NDN First Nations Holocaust - Try Not to Cry

An Open Letter to Archbishop Dermot Martin and the Bishops and Clergy of Ireland, from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State Issued to a meeting with Archbishop Martin on May 4, 2012

My name is Kevin Annett and I am the Secretary of the five-nation body known as The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS). I am speaking on behalf of the ITCCS and our affiliate organization in Ireland.
Our coalition represents over fifty organizations in Canada, the United States, Ireland, England and Australia, including many survivors of church terror. We have also been recognized by seven aboriginal nations in North America, and been authorized by them to recover the remains of their relatives who died in Catholic Indian residential schools and orphanages; and to bring to justice those responsible for the death of over 50,000 children in these church-run institutions.
Let us state clearly that the time for polite talk is over. The Roman Catholic Church has imposed and is perpetrating a reign of terror and crimes against humanity on generations of children, is actively concealing those crimes and protecting child rapists and murderers in its ranks, and has shown no desire or capacity to change the policies or practices that allow these unspeakable crimes to continue. Nevertheless, on behalf of the nations and survivors we represent, and the Executive Council of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, I have been authorized to give the Church a final opportunity to change, by presenting the following demands to the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, as we have already done to Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, and Vatican officials.
The following concrete actions by the Church are required if justice is to be won for its victims and if the crimes it has committed and continue to cover up are to end.
If the Church fails to abide by these basic commandments of humanity and the law, we will take permanent action to end its criminal regime.
1. The Church must issue full reparations to all of its victims, including by paying for all of their medical and counseling bills, the cost of their rehabilitation and retraining, and for any of their disabilities and losses.
2. The Church must surrender for a proper burial, without conditions and at its own expense, the remains of all those who died in its institutions or while under its care.
3. The Church must return all land and property taken from its victims, and restore all of the wealth generated by its exploitation of them as children, including the wealth created from their unpaid or low paid labor.
4. The Church must surrender without conditions all of the evidence of its crimes against children, and all of those persons responsible for committing these crimes and concealing them, including its highest officials. The Church must fully disclose this evidence and participate without conditions in all public investigations into its crimes.
5. The Church and its guilty parties cannot hide behind so-called diplomatic immunity or other privileges to evade justice and avoid prosecution. The Vatican must end its official cover up and annul its policy known as Crimen Sollicitationis, which compels Catholic clergy to conceal crimes committed against children in their parishes.
6. The Church must immediately expel and defrock all known child raping priests, officials and employees in its ranks, and defrock any clergy who harms a child or conceals such harm.
7. All clergy and Church officials must agree to be licensed and monitored as public servants, and take a legally binding, public oath to protect without conditions the rights and sanctity of children and disclose any harm done to them.
8. The Church must forgo and withdraw from all of the tax exemptions, financial concordats and agreements, and other special privileges presently granted to it under the laws of nations.
9. The Vatican must agree to the annulment of its status as a so-called state, and free its congregations and dioceses from its authority so that they may act according to the wishes and needs of their respective communities and their faith, and not the political and financial requirements of the Vatican.
10. All of the wealth accumulated by the Church and the Vatican Bank through land theft and conquest, and from tax exemptions, concordats, and from its operations around the world that have harmed children through the exploitation of their labor, such as the Magdalene Laundries and Indian residential schools, must be returned to its victims and to the poor in general through a direct, public redistribution of that wealth, as Christ himself commands.
We have been instructed to inform the Bishops of Ireland, as we have notified the Vatican, that they have until September 15, 2012, to agree to these demands and implement these ten measures. If they fail to commence to do so by midnight of that date, we will enact the following measures:
1. The Roman Catholic Church will be formally and forever banished from our communities, and measures will be taken to legally and practically prevent it from operating;
2. Roman Catholic churches, agencies and offices around the world will be permanently disrupted and occupied as part of an ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience; and
3. Our International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State will reconvene its court, and will seek the immediate detaining for questioning of the highest officials of your Roman Catholic Church, including Pope Benedict, on charges of obstruction of justice, criminal conspiracy, and crimes against humanity. It is time for all people of conscience within the Church to choose who they will serve: a self-governing, criminal church system that sets itself above the law and God – or its suffering victims, and justice.
We urge Catholics to choose life, by making these ten steps a reality. Otherwise, the Roman Catholic Church will have forfeited its right to operate in our communities and in our world. By this declaration, we are lending our active support to the Irish survivors of rape and torture by the Roman Catholic Church who are meeting with Archbishop Martin today. These survivors include members of ACCAW, the ITCCS, and Magdalene laundry victims. We stand as a united front with these brothers and sisters, and with all victims of Church terror anywhere in the world. We will never stop until justice is achieved, and the reign of terror against children everywhere is ended. We will be sharing this letter with our affiliates around the world, as well as with the global media, judicial bodies, and governments. We welcome a formal response from the office of Archbishop Martin, and we call upon the Church to accept the demands and wishes of the Irish survivors who are meeting today with Archbishop Martin.
Signed on behalf of The Executive Council of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State
Reverend Kevin D. Annett,
ITCCS Secretary Gerry O’Donovan,
ITCCS Ireland Dave O’Brien,
ITCCS Ireland
Issued May 4, 2012 by ITCCS International (Brussels) genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca


This email was sent by Jeremiah Jourdain on behalf of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) and Kevin Annett - Eagle Strong Voice (adopted May 2004 into the Anishinabe nation by Louis Daniels - Whispers Wind).
Kevin can be reached at hiddenfromhistory1@gmail.com or kevin_annett@hotmail.com - and phone messages can be left for him at 250-591-4573 (Canada).

Please share this on your blog, retweet and share on your social networks... Trace

The Canary Effect (on Indigenous People)

The Canary Effect ►Devastating effects on Native Americans◄ from ◄☼ First ♥ People ☼► on Vimeo.
The Canary Effect is a 2006 documentary that looks into the effects of that the United States and its policies have on the Indigenous peoples (Native Americans) who are residents. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Stanley Kubrick Award at the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival (Michael Moore hosts).

The movie was directed by Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman, who are both members of LA Based alternative pop group The Bastard Fairies. The documentary was released on DVD in 2008.           

Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon

Where Did Joseph Smith Get His Ideas
for the Book of Mormon?

By Sandra Tanner

One of the claims often made by LDS people is that there was no information on the Indian ruins in Mexico and Guatemala available prior to 1830. Actually, numerous books recounting similar ideas as those in Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon had already been published.
Many of the books published on the American Indians claimed a possible tie to the lost tribes of Israel. The Book of Mormon follows this idea and claims that the main group in the story is Israelites from Jerusalem. Other ideas found in the Book of Mormon that are also found in books of Smith’s time include: two groups warring against each other, a white group destroyed by war, horses, use of the wheel, mammoth bones, Hebrew writings, Egyptian influence, the use of stone boxes, written records, temples, grand ruins, highways, fortifications, etc. These commonly held theories prepared the way for people to more readily believe the Book of Mormon.
However, current findings and non-LDS scholars now reject these ideas and see no relationship between the American Indians and Hebrews or the civilization depicted in the Book of Mormon.
Below is a partial list of books published prior to 1830 dealing with the Indians (condensed from Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon, Dan Vogel, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1986, pp. 105-132).

---

Adair, James, The History of the American Indians, London, 1775.

• Adair’s evidence for the Indian-Israelite theory consists of twenty-three parallels between Indian and Jewish customs. For example, he claims the Indians spoke a corrupt form of Hebrew, honored the Jewish Sabbath, performed circumcision, and offered animal sacrifice.

Boudinot, Elias, A Star in the West; or a Humble Attempt to Discover the Long Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, Trenton, 1816.

• He relies heavily on evidences compiled by James Adair. He also mentions the Indians’ lost book of God.

Burke, Edmund, An Account of the European Settlements in America, 2 vol. 2nd ed., London, 1758 — many editions including one in 1808.

• Mentions the Mexican and Peruvian temples.

Cusick, David, Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations, Lewistone, NY, 1827.

• Records Indian fables, which he believes, support the mound builder myth. One fable, for example, speaks of the descendants of two brothers continually at war with the other until one group is finally destroyed in North America.

Flint, Timothy, Recollections of the Last Ten Years, Passed in Occasional Residences and Journeyings in the Valley of the Mississippi, Boston, 1826.

• He mentions the idea that the Indians were Jewish but does not commit himself on the subject. He describes various burial mounds and fortifications of North America and mentions the discovery of mammoth bones and stone coffins.

Haywood, John, The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, Nashville, 1823.

• Compares American antiquities with those of Hindus, Egyptians, and Hebrews. He describes North American fortifications and Mexican temples, use of metals, including steel, copper and brass plates, describes stone boxes, possible use of the wheel and horse in ancient America, and concludes that the mound builders were a white people destroyed by the Indians.

Humboldt, Alexander, three different books on American Indian; one 4 vol. set was titled Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Baltimore, 1813.

• Describes Mexican fortifications and temples, use of metals.

Imlay, George, A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America, London, 1793.

• Discusses, among other things, the practice of the mound builders to bury their dead in stone boxes.

Israel, Manasseh ben, The Hope of Israel, London, 1652 and 1792.

• Includes story of a remnant of the ten tribes of Israel being discovered in Peru.

Juarros, Domingo, A Statistical and Commercial History of the Kingdom of Guatemala, London, 1823.

• Claims Indians from the Old World, claims original inhabitants arrived in the New World shortly after the dispersion from the tower of Babel, describes Guatemalan fortifications, buildings, temples, and palaces, including the ruins of Palenque.

Loudon, Archibald, A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives of Outrages Committed by the Indians, in Their Wars with the White People, 2 vols. Carlisle, PA, 1811.

• He supports the ten tribe theory, mentions that the Spaniards dug up Indian tombstones covered with Hebrew characters, and compares Peruvian temples to Jewish synagogues.

McCulloh, James H., Researches on America; Being an Attempt to Settle Some Points Relative to the Aborigines of America &c., Baltimore, 1817.

• Discusses various theories explaining Indian origins, problems of transoceanic crossing, and discusses the theory that the mound builders were a white group more advanced than the Indians.

Mather, Cotton, India Christiana. A Discourse, Delivered unto the Commissioners, for the Propagation of the Gospel among the American Indians, Boston, 1721.

• Suggests that those in the Old World could have sailed to America.

Mather, Samuel, An Attempt to Shew, that America Must Be Known to the Ancients, Boston, 1773.

• He believes that America was populated by two major migrations, one from the tower of Babel and the other, centuries later, from Asia or possibly Phoenicia. He also subscribes to the theory that ancient America was visited by Christ's apostles or perhaps by some of the seventy.

Mills, Nicholas, History of Mexico, London, 1824.

• Describes Mexican pyramids and compares them with those of Egypt.

Moulton, William, A Concise Extract, from the Sea Journal of William Moulton, Utica, NY, 1804.

• He describes his visits to ruined Peruvian cities with "large palaces" and "elegant buildings" and Incan highways running over a thousand miles.

Niles, John Milton, A View of South America and Mexico, New York, 1825 (various ed. after that).

• Describes palaces and temples in Peru.

Parrish, Elijah, A New System of Modern Geography, Newburyport, MA, 1810.

• Parrish wrote his geography for use in New England schools. He describes mounds in North America and the Peruvian temple at Cusco. Includes a comparison of Indian and Israelite customs.

Poinsett, Joel Roberts, Notes on Mexico, Made in the Autumn of 1822, Philadelphia, 1824.

• Mentions the Mexican tradition of the Flood, notes their immense pyramids and long paved roads, and mentions their hieroglyphic drawings and knowledge of astronomy and metallurgy.

Priest, Josiah, The Wonders of Nature and Providence, Displayed, Albany, 1825 and 1826.

• A compilation of many previously published works, includes an extract from Francisco Clavigero's History of Mexico recounting the ancient Mexican traditions of idolatry and human sacrifice and a portion from Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews detailing evidence that Indians were of Hebrew origin.

Rio, Antonio del, Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, Discovered Near Palenque, in the Kingdom of Guatemala, London, 1822.

• Rio describes various ruins at Palenque, includes plates of some of the structures, several Mayan codices. He suggests that the ancient Americans came by sea. He also mentions the tradition of an eclipse in AD 34 and speculates that the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl was St. Thomas preaching the gospel in ancient America.

Sewall, Samuel, Phaenomena Quaedam Apocalyptica, Boston, 1697 and 1727.

• Suggests that the Indians are Israelites, that America might be the place of the New Jerusalem, and that the 'other sheep' mentioned in John 10:16 are the American Indians.

Smith, Ethan, View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of Israel in America, Poultney, VT, 1823 and 1825.

• Ethan Smith's is by far the most important and interesting work dealing with the origin of the American Indians and the mound builders. Suggests that the first settlers of the New World were the lost ten tribes of Israel. Includes extracts from von Humboldt's description of Mexican antiquities, Atwater's description of the mounds, and evidence from Adair and Boudinot to connect Indians with the lost ten tribes. He also mentions the Indian legend of the lost book of God, which would one day be returned.

Sullivan, James, The History of the District of Main, Boston, 1795.

• He maintains the Ohio fortifications were built by people from Mexico and Peru because North American Indians did not possess the knowledge to construct them.

Thorowgood, Thomas, Jews in America, or, Probabilities That the Americans are of that Race, London, 1652.

• He mentions the notion that the gospel was anciently preached in America. Emphasized the millennialistic nature of his Indian-Israelite identification and the importance of the Indians' conversion to Christianity.

Walton, William, Present State of the Spanish Colonies, 2 vols. London, 1810.

• Mentions the Indian belief in the Creation and Flood and includes a description of Mexican architecture and metalwork.

Williams, Roger, A Key into the Language of America, Boston, 1827.

• He believes that Indian language is a form of Hebrew and that their customs resemble those of the Jews. Although he is tolerant of the Indians, Williams believes their religion is devil inspired.

Williams, Samuel, The Natural and Civil History of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 1809.

• Discusses various theories of Indian origins. Mentions the discovery of mammoth bones in North America.

Worsley, Israel, A View of the American Indians, London, 1828.

• Relies heavily on Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews. Believes mound builders had been destroyed by the Indians, mentions the discovery of large stone crosses in Central America and records the Indian tradition of a lost book of God.

Yates, John and Joseph Moulton, History of the State of New York, 1824.

• They describe mounds and fortifications in their state and neighboring states, as well as the ruins of an ancient city near Palenque. According to them, these mounds, part of a great chain running down through Mexico and into South America, were built by a separate race of white-skinned people who were destroyed by the Indians. They mention the discovery of hieroglyphic writing and mammoth bones, and include reports that Indians in certain locales possessed the signs and tokens of Freemasonry.

---

The claims of Israelite origins, Hebrew and Egyptian writing, knowledge of the wheel, use of the horse, Freemasonry, a white race destroyed by the Indians, etc., have been refuted by current scholars.
But the existence and popularity of so many books making these claims prior to the publishing of the Book of Mormon demonstrates that Smith could have gotten his ideas for the Book of Mormon from sources in his community.

History continues to be an intrepretation and religion often its misguided messenger...Trace

The Aleut Tragedy

PLEASE WATCH THIS:

One point many Native Americans make repeatedly is our history has been altered, changed or not taught.
This documentary The ALEUT STORY narrated by Martin Sheen proves this point...

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/aleut_story

Author Susan Devan Harness - on Lost Birds/adoptees!

The Land of Gazillion Adoptees Podcast Conversation with Susan Harness, author of Mixing Cultural Identities through Transracial Adoption: Outcomes of the Indian Adoption Project by kostvollmers I have known Susan since 2008 when we gave a talk on Stolen Generations in Wisconsin. She is brilliant, her book is excellent and this podcast about American Indian Adoptees is so important  - please click on headline and listen and share with other adoptees and parents of adoptees ... Trace AND: this posted today _ May 3, 2012: Sandy White Hawk’s Response to Susan Harness by kostvollmers

Deportation Cases: Adoptees

As I wrote last year, children who were adopted by Americans have absolutely no idea who they are or where they were born or where their home country is - until they are old enough to read and ask questions.
Do you think a child knows or understands what it means to be a citizen? Hardly. It depends on their age, if they remember being brought to the USA for adoption.

The following stories on Pound Pup Legacy should shed a bright light on this horrific situation for adoptees who did nothing but be adopted by Americans.
Because their adoptive parents didn't get them their American citizenship, now they face deportation, immediate expulsion from America. Yes, a few of them have committed crimes, mostly minor, but in any case, how does an adoptee return to their place of birth when they have no recollection of their people or place or language?
Again, the billion dollar adoption industry pumps up the propaganda to convince more and more people to adopt - even today....to make money... [sigh] ... Trace

http://poundpuplegacy.org/deportation_cases
http://splitfeathers.blogspot.com/2012/03/adoptees-deported-by-us-yes.html

And last year's blog post ILLEGAL ALIENS: Deported Adoptees: http://splitfeathers.blogspot.com/2011/04/illegal-aliens-deported-adoptees.html

Link: Stop Deporting Adoptees: by John Raible
http://splitfeathers.blogspot.com/2011/11/stop-deporting-adoptees.html


If you want to know more about my memoir:
Order a copy
Read an excerpt
Watch the trailer

Guillotine Effect of Adoption

"Neither Here Nor There...": "The 'Guillotine' Effect of Adoption" by Myst: The "Guillotine" effect of Adoption by Myst, who blogs at: " Living in the Shadows"   

Excerpt:

"Thus, the Guillotine. The child experiences this (besides other experiences) by way of his or her family tree being brutally cut off and all those who went before her or him, all those who existed in her/his family for generations stretching back in time, wiped away. By law, adopted persons are magically grafted into their adoptive families' heritage... negating the fact they have another family, another heritage - one that flows through their veins, shows in their personalities, in their being. The guillotine of adoption law wipes it all out."

Many adoptees who I talk with say this brutal cut-off and severing of our connection to family and tribe makes it hard to fathom WHO could write such brutal laws and insist today they are still right and good. Who did this? Who made these laws - church leaders? politicians? Who could be so cruel and barbaric to cut-off any chance of adoptees contacting their natural parents and tribal families? 
Every single closed adoption law needs to be overturned and erased forever ... Write your state governments and tell them your story - why adoption laws need to change - tell them about our history as American Indian adoptees...  Trace, an adoptee for life.....






Read more about the Guillotine:

The death room at Plötzensee - The guillotine can be seen in the foreground, and the gallows in the background.

FYI: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Guillotine

The Nazi Party employed it extensively—twenty guillotines were in use in Germany which, from 1938, included Austria. In Nazi Germany, beheading by guillotine was the usual method of executing convicted criminals as opposed to political enemies, who were usually either hanged or shot. An exception was made for the six members of the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance organization, who were beheaded in 1943. The Nazis have been estimated to have guillotined some 40,000 people in Germany and Austria—possibly more than were beheaded during the French Revolution.^[3]

NICWA Conference Addresses Challenges of the Indian Child Welfare Act

NICWA Conference Addresses Challenges of the Indian Child Welfare Act

Excerpt:
"Increasing national and state compliance with the ICWA law includes getting accurate information out to the public about the real story of the act and how it impacts Indian children and families, said NICWA Executive Director Terry Cross. To that end, much of the conference focused on strategies in working with the media.
“The media plays a crucial role in telling this story,” Cross said. “Typically the mainstream press picks up a story regarding ICWA only when a non-Indian family has somehow been injured.”
Conference attendees were encouraged to work with the press and alert the NICWA office about local stories involving the ICWA law. “We are finding that it’s possible to defuse an explosive situation by simply getting factual information out to the press,” Cross said...."

Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/04/27/nicwa-conference-addresses-challenges-of-the-indian-child-welfare-act-110270 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/04/27/nicwa-conference-addresses-challenges-of-the-indian-child-welfare-act-110270#ixzz1tG1Xblya

Mary Annette Pember did a fantastic job reporting on this conference!! Trace

Using the Indian Child Welfare Act to petition court

A friend sent this and I wanted to share!  If you are thinking of opening your adoption and know the state you were born, the INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT can be used to petition the courts and judge to get your tribal information:

Excerpt:

One section of the ICWA is of particular interest to adoptees. Section 1951b states "Upon the request of the adopted Indian child over the age of eighteen, the adoptive or foster parents of an Indian child, or an Indian tribe, the Secretary shall disclose such information as may be necessary for the enrollment of an Indian child in the tribe in which the child may be eligible for enrollment or for determining any rights or benefits associated with that membership. Where the documents relating to such child contain an affidavit from the biological parent or parents requesting anonymity, the Secretary shall certify to the Indian child's tribe, where the information warrants, that the child's parentage and other circumstances of birth entitle the child to enrollment under the criteria established by such tribe."

Essentially this section directs the State to give adult adoptees of Native American heritage who request it, their birth information, so that they may enroll in their tribes. The section does allow for birthparents to file a veto, but even then the adoptee is entitled to tribal notification so that they may process their tribal rights and privileges. You can read the entire ICWA on the Web (use google search).

There are a few problem areas with using the ICWA.  Many adoptees are of enough Native American blood to qualify for enrollment in their tribes, but there is nothing documented that verifies that information.  Before a judge will open a file under ICWA s/he will often demand some sort of proof that the adoptee is NA at all, proof that most adoptees will simply not have. But in other instances, the agency that handled the adoption, or the court file itself, will contain notations that you, the adoptee, do have NA ancestry.

If you have received non-ID from a source that states this, include a copy with your court petition. You will also need to include a copy of the ICWA in order to make the judge's work easier and predispose him/her to wanting to help you. If you have any information at all that you are even the smallest bit Native American, you should use the ICWA in your petition. Include affidavits from family members (adoptive and birth) who have told you that you have Native American blood, as well as any 'official' agency or other documents to support your claims. Remember that most tribes have small blood quantum requirements, and you should not feel guilty about using the ICWA. The intent of this law is to ensure that those of us who are entitled to tribal membership by birthright, have the *choice* to join our Native American communities.


[ADOPTEES: please contact the adoption agency, if you know who it was, or ask your adoptive parents what they were told and ask them to request the entire adoption record in the state you were adopted. WHY?? Since your adoptive parents signed papers to adopt you - they have a right to request a copy of your file and adoption records.  If you are 18, you are an adult and can petition the courts. The Indian Adoption Projects was a secretive measure to assimilate children and change us - but it doesn't work - you are still Indian, no matter where you were raised... Indian Blood is loud... Contact me if you need to know the laws in your state and contact NICWA and request all the information they have to help adoptees... Trace]

National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA)

5100 SW Macadam Avenue, Suite 300
Portland, Oregon 97239
Telephone: (503) 222-4044
Fax: (503) 222-4007

Hours: Monday—Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

DNA tests: Finding the Truth and your Family

Finding the truth and family is what we adoptees live for, right?

I have wanted to write about DNA tests for quite some time, since it concerns Lost Children/American Indian adoptees who may find themselves in the snarky position of having to prove their blood while in reunion with tribal family - often years after the adoption.

Why years? It takes time and money (and lawyers sometimes) to open sealed adoption files.

How do you prove you are? DNA - it's absolute, it's blood and tests results can't be disputed.

I have a close American Indian friend who just did the DNA test with her mother's brother and indeed, she is related to her mother's family and her mother's tribe in Minnesota  - no question, it's absolutely true.

Why was this so important to do? Since her mother had already died, my friend had found her siblings.  It was her mother's children who doubted who she was.

Yes, that hurts. It really really hurts.  After all you have endured being separated from them, then you find your own brothers and sisters question your legitimacy.  Her siblings were raised by their mother, and their mother had told them they had a sister out there lost to adoption.

Yet these siblings could not and do not comprehend what my friend lived through or felt. My friend's siblings lacked compassion for her and her loss; they had their mother their whole life and now my friend would never meet her own mother since she had already died.

These are the snarky scenarios of adoption reunions and we have to know about them. It can be complicated and DNA can be costly! You never know what you will face until you get into your reunions.

What I also want to mention is my friend had no problem with her natural dad's family when she found them and their tribe. Her father's side had no doubt who she was or is...  So there are big differences in families and tribes - definitely.

In finding the truth, the painful part of reunion in Indian Country might be your own brothers and sisters who throw you a curve and demand proof of who you say you are...!

I warn adoptees - be prepared for all these scenarios.

Another friend Rhonda, who I mention in my memoir One Small Sacrifice, had to do DNA with her uncle because her father had already passed on by the time she could open her adoption in Michigan. Rhonda met both her father and mother's sides of the family and had a good reunion with her brothers, her mom's sons. DNA was required for her to be enrolled with her father's tribe.

For me, I did DNA with my natural father Earl back in 1994 - that seems like a lifetime ago. It was so expensive - around $500!

I saved the test results and the polaroid photo they took of Earl and me like it was the greatest gift anyone ever gave me.  We needed to do DNA because neither of us was sure. And indeed, 99.9% DNA positive, Earl was definitely my dad.

If you need to have a DNA test, contact me. Others on Facebook are making recommendations I can share with you... I had mine done at a lab in Springfield, Illinois.

Be well and be strong in search and reunion....I am here if you need to talk... Trace

NUMBERS: How many children were taken by IAP?

"As for the Indian Adoption projects (IAP), I needed a calculator. If the Native American population was 2 million and if just one quarter of all children were removed (via adoption) before the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, then on-paper, 80,000+ children were removed from their families during the early to mid-1900s. If the population of American Indians was 3 million, then over 100,000 babies were removed.

"I hated this math…85 percent of children were removed by adoption in 16 states. That’s genocide.

"Genocide, by my definition, means a community of people were culturally killed, wiped out or literally made dead for political and/or economic reasons. Strong words but true. Some of us are your next door neighbors. Some of us are not correctly listed on the census. Some of us are Indian only when we look in the mirror."

This is an excerpt from my memoir One Small Sacrifice. On Amazon.com.

Order a copy
Read an excerpt
Watch the trailer

Thank you for reading my blog and sharing this history with everyone... Trace 

Google Images and search tips for adoptees

Photo: Andrew Miller/For The Times of Trenton

Carla Hill, 44, poses for a portrait at her desk at Foundation Academy Charter School in Trenton on April 20, 2012 with a scrapbook her birth mother Linda Person gave to her last year. Hill found out at 23 she was adopted and has been looking for birth family for years when a Google images search last year helped her finally find her family.
This is one of the great tips I found recently. Here is the link to her story: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/04/search_and_social_media_bring.html

And as I posted prior, use Google Alerts with your birth info http://splitfeathers.blogspot.com/2012/03/adoptee-use-this-search-method.html

People decide to trace their genealogies for many reasons, adoptees searching for biological relatives and ancestors... A group called the Missing Connection is something I recommend you do with other adoptees you've met in your state. Here is one based in New York State and another in Virginia.

Genealogy group forming in Lowville

By STEVE VIRKLER , TIMES STAFF WRITER, TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012CLE OPTIONS

LOWVILLE, NY — A group for genealogy buffs is forming in connection with an organization created two decades ago in Watertown, New York. The Missing Connection will hold meetings from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at the Lowville Free Library, 5387 Dayan St.

"There is just so much information out there,” said Katharine B. Manning, who is heading the local group. Forms and reference information will be available, and guest speakers and field trips to a cemetery may be planned. There is no charge for joining the group. Manning said she got involved with genealogical searches while seeking information on the biological parents of her father, who was adopted. “I had all this information, and it just blossomed from there,” she said.

Now, with the help of Internet site www.ancestry.com and other services, she has traced her lineage back 23 generations to the 1200s. People decide to trace their genealogies for many reasons, from searching for biological relatives among adoptees to simply looking for any prominent ancestors, Ms. Manning said.
Networking among genealogists is helpful, as different people may be able to suggest alternative search methods, she said.
Ms. Manning said she has reserved dates for April, May and June and plans to assess the interest in continuing the group after that three-month trial period.  For more information, contact Ms. Manning at 376-1630 or look for “The Missing Connection — Lowville Group” Facebook page.

“We just want to give people resources where they can search their family trees,” said Susan J. Palma, who formed The Mission Connection in 1992 in Watertown. Palma, then Susan Boyce, started the group to help reunite adoptees with their biological parents and siblings, assisting with roughly 100 reunions during its eight years in the north country, she said.
Now living in northern Virginia, Mrs. Palma recently restarted the group there. While still available to assist with adoptive-specific searches, she decided to broaden the revamped group’s focus on genealogy in general.
“We just hit it off instantly,” Mrs. Palma said.
According to its website, The Missing Connection’s mission is to promote genealogy, provide help and educational aid to researchers and preserve the heritage, history and genealogy of families who settled in the area.
For more information, visit http://www.themissingconnection.org.

Adoptees have to be creative when they search! These tips are great useful ideas!... Trace

The Stolen Generations

Full story: http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/04/21/the-stolen-generations/

Excerpt:

Adoption as Cultural Annihilation

It is important to remember that many of the services Canadians take for granted, such as education, health care, and social welfare programs are in the main, designed and administered by the provinces and territories.

However, the federal government has been asserting its authority over “Indians and Lands of the Indians” since 1763. While is still remains unclear whether this includes all Inuit and Métis, it remains true that First Nations must turn to the federal government, not the provinces, for many services.
Canada did not spring from the skull of Zeus fully formed. The development of social programs and services has been incremental. Before the mid 1960s, there was no organised federal child welfare system. The provinces each had their own system, but nothing was in place for First Nations people.
In the mid 60s, agreements started to be formed between the federal and provincial governments to provide some child welfare coverage in First Nations communities. To be brief, the approach was “take first, ask questions later (if ever)”.
The similarity to tactics used during the height of the Residential School system is eerie. Aboriginal children were taken en masse from their families and adopted out into non-native families:

Child welfare workers removed Aboriginal children from their families and communities because they felt the best homes for the children were not Aboriginal homes. The ideal home would instill the values and lifestyles with which the child welfare workers themselves were familiar: white, middle-class homes in white, middle-class neighbourhoods. Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal parents and families were deemed to be “unfit.”

Research has shown that in British Columbia alone, the percentage of native children in the care of the Child Welfare system went from almost none, to one-third in only 10 years as a result of this expansion. This was a pattern that repeated itself all across Canada.

I was very pleased to find this blog post - please subscribe to âpihtawikosisân - I did! Trace

Abusive Adoption Practices (abstract and links)

The Aftermath of Abusive Adoption Practices in the Lives of Adoption Triad Members: Responding to Adoption Triad Members Victimized by Abusive Adoption Practices
by David Smolin and Desiree Smolin (via email)

Abstract:
The above-titled presentation was given as a plenary presentation at the Annual Symposium of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) on April 18, 2012. 
It is important to note that the original context for this presentation is Intercountry Adoption to the United States. However, some of you may find some of these points relevant to domestic adoption issues as well as Intercountry Adoption to other nations (Canada, Italy, Spain, etc.)

Especially at the event itself, with our own commentary added, this was a presentation not just on abusive adoption practices, but especially on how the intercountry adoption system, as shaped by the United States government and United States adoption agencies, is “designed for failure.” Abusive adoption practices thus are not merely problems in themselves, but are symptoms of a system that chronically produces abuses and breakdowns in the system: a system that fails to self-correct and thus is self-defeating.

Further, these features of the current dysfunctional system were not necessarily inevitable, but have arisen from specific choices made during the construction of the system by the U.S. government and U.S. agencies. The governing rules they advocated for, and chose, created the dysfunctions that have doomed the system to continuing cycles of abuse.

This is very much a presentation about the inestimable human costs of those failures for all those impacted by adoption: not only adoption triad members, but also siblings, extended families, communities, and even nations. It is also a presentation about a system that fails to assist or recognize its own victims.

The presentation is very much of a joint project: each of us wrote about half of the material, and each critiqued the other’s materials. The process of converting material into PowerPoint format was done initially by Desiree, although again the final product was reviewed, modified, and critiqued by both of us. Overall, the concepts and information presented represent years of working together to analyze adoption systems.
We certainly do not expect everyone to be happy with these materials and critiques may come from all sides. Please keep in mind that the PowerPoint cannot embody all that we said; also please keep in mind the original audience and occasion for the presentation. We welcome vigorous and respectful dialogue, from which we hope to learn, as so much of what we do know to this point in time is due to the many people who have shared their experiences and thoughts with us.

For discussion and further commentary, please go to the blog: http://fleasbiting.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

David and Desiree Smolin

Link: http://works.bepress.com/david_smolin/12

I do hope everyone will watch this presentation - we need to be informed about the billion dollar adoption industry and its practices... Trace

SC high court takes up Indian child adoption case

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP/Native Times) – The South Carolina Supreme Court is taking up arguments in a custody case involving a Charleston couple, an Oklahoma father and a federal law meant to protect Native American children.

Because it’s an adoption case, Tuesday’s arguments are closed.

The case pits the couple who nurtured a 2-year-old girl named Veronica against the child’s biological father, a Cherokee Nation citizen who took her to Oklahoma late last year after winning custody.

The case also concerns the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The 1978 law was passed because many Indian children were being removed from their homes by public and private agencies.

The act gives the child’s tribe and family the right to a say in decisions affecting the child.

http://www.nativetimes.com/news/tribal/7098-sc-high-court-takes-up-indian-child-adoption-case