Facebook ablaze with #BABY VERONICA

By Trace A. DeMeyer

Facebook is ablaze with comments about the loss of Baby Veronica. All of us adoptees are in a state of shock, disbelief and grief. We imagine the Capobiancos are celebrating (or posing for pictures). Levi, an adoptee who contributes to this blog posted this:

Levi EagleFeather Well folks, looking on the bright side if there is such a thing. I'm really proud of all of you even though you don't know me. The fight is just beginning! We're just beginning to get organized and starting to come together. Remember there are a lot of us whose adoptions never so much as saw the light of day! I think this might be a turning point for a lot of us. It's good to see you all so pissed off. I think that's a good sign really. When I was taken away, Mom and Dad didn't have much of a chance to fight and all the rellys were back pedaling hoping they weren't next. That was way back in the sixties, way before ICWA. Dad died from the shame of not being able to protect his blood and Mom well... she's still a bit lost under the weight of it all. I know losing one, hell losing any, of our kids is terrible. We're not points on a scoreboard like the dominant culture plays us to be. But I've been around awhile at least long enough to see and know that you, especially my sisters, your hearts aren't on the ground anymore like our grandmothers and mothers were after the massacres, forced boarding school days and early adoption era. I can see that pretty clearly. I think it's because we've all been away and we've learned that they're human beings too even though they might have forgotten. Plus we know a little bit more about how they think and yeah we're learning how to fight fire with fire. Us Brothers gotta learn all over again how to fit in, but we can fight too. I think its important for us all to understand that as individuals we have limitations but together our only limits are the strength of our connections and our collective will. Anyway, don't forget to breathe, the fight aint over yet. Adoption hasn't gone away and neither will we. I'm sure of that!

Well said, Levi. People ask how can this happen? Adoption is an industry, a money-making machine. But with this beautiful little girl, with Baby Veronica, a new war has begun in Indian Country.

I wanted to share an excerpt from my memoir ONE SMALL SACRIFICE:

State Secret

            After my 1958 adoption hearing in a Wisconsin courtroom, I was legally re-named Tracy Ann and handed to Sev and Edie DeMeyer.

            Trained as foster parents, Edie and Sev, my mom and dad, had tried to have their own babies but couldn’t. Adopting me meant they’d have their family, first me, then hopefully a boy.

            Amid the oohs and ahhs of this joyous occasion, had my new family considered my heredity, or the egg and sperm that created my body, and my DNA? Had anyone considered what I’d experience being thrust into a sea of new faces?

            No, they celebrated. They had no idea I was devastated by the loss of my own mother.

            Edie and Sev knew they had a big job ahead, raising me and Joey (who they named Joseph William). They assumed we’d be OK. No one said otherwise.

            They didn’t know (or seem to care) who I really was.  My Indian blood was secret. We did not talk about it.

            Obviously I’d adapt. Their identity would become my identity.

            As a teenager, I decided to open my adoption. I knew it would require patience and probably miracles.

(to be continued)

And I want to add Cassi's blog post A FAMILY DESTROYED - please read: here