Tribal, National, and State Leaders Convene to Develop Strategy for Improving Spirit Lake Child Protection

Director of Bureau of Indian Affairs, representatives from North Dakota's elected leaders, and others join Spirit Lake Chairman in new initiative to improve child welfare services.

 

FORT TOTTEN, N.D., July 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 

This week 26 key decision-makers from the Spirit Lake Tribe, federal and state governments, as well as local and national private organizations met to kick off a comprehensive strategy called the "Spirit Lake Child Welfare Improvement Project." The purpose of this gathering was to convene decision-makers to craft a vision and an initial plan for the improvement of the child welfare system at Spirit Lake.

"No matter what culture, race, or background we come from, children are sacred," said Spirit Lake Chairman Leander "Russ" McDonald as he opened the convening. "This meeting is critical to bringing together assessment information and available resources to build a strong foundation for addressing child safety."

Attendees included leadership from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (US Department of Interior), Administration for Children and Families (US Department of Health and Human Services), the state of North Dakota, representatives from elected officials in North Dakota, Casey Family Programs, and the Center for Native American Youth. All are committed to working collaboratively to improve the lives of Native children.

"I am very excited about this group coming together to develop an action plan to address needs within the Spirit Lake Tribe's child protection services, tribal social services, law enforcement, and judicial services," said Spirit Lake Chairman Leander "Russ" McDonald.

As a result of the leadership meeting, a plan and timeline was created and implementation teams with representatives from across the participating agencies and organizations. The efforts will include: technical assistance, community engagement, leadership engagement, coordination of emergency services, strategic mapping and planning, and assessments of child welfare, law enforcement, and social services.

"The fact that we had all of these stakeholders here together with the same mission and focused on moving forward for the benefit of the children of Spirit Lake is a positive move toward building a more collaborative, meaningful partnership," said Michael Black, leader of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who attended the meeting. "As the director of the BIA, I am proud to be a part of it."

"One meeting will not solve all the issues, so additional sessions over the next several months will refine the vision, add detail," remarked Anita Fineday, managing director of Casey Family Programs' Indian Child Welfare Program. Casey Family Programs provided the support to hold the leadership meeting as well as two-days of training with those involved in the hands-on child welfare work at Spirit Lake.

"We are proud to be a part of this collaboration and effort drive new resources to address the needs of the children at Spirit Lake," said Erin Bailey, executive director of the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute. "Former US Senator Byron Dorgan who created our organization has long worked with the Spirit Lake Tribe."

Spirit Lake Dakota Nation is a federally recognized Indian tribe in North Dakota. The tribe's reservation was established by Treaty between the United States Government and the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Bands in 1867. The Reservation is located in East Central North Dakota. According to the Spirit Lake Tribe Enrollment office there are approximately 7,200 tribal members.

Casey Family Programs is the nation's largest operating foundation focused on safely reducing the need for foster care and building Communities of Hope for children and families across America. Founded in 1966, Casey Family Programs works in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to influence long-lasting improvements to the safety and success of children, families and the communities where they live, including in Indian Country.. For additional information, please call (206) 282-7300 or visit www.casey.org.

Center for Native American Youth is dedicated to improving the health, safety and overall well-being of Native American youth through communication, policy development and advocacy. Founded by former US Senator Byron Dorgan in February 2011, the Center is a policy program within the Aspen Institute, headquartered in Washington, DC. The Center works to strengthen and create new connections as well as exchange resources and best practices that address the challenges facing Native youth. Visit the Center's website for a comprehensive list of resources available to young Native Americans, tribes and the general public. For more information, visit www.cnay.org

SOURCE Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute


RELATED LINKS
http://www.cnay.org/

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Catholic groups lose residential school argument

SOURCE

 By Kathleen Martens
 APTN Investigates

WINNIPEG – Priests, nuns and oblates have lost a small court battle related to residential school documents.
More than 30 Catholic organizations across Canada tried to stop the new National Research Centre (NRC) from participating in a hearing on the future of survivor testimony.
But Justice Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court decided otherwise. On June 14th, he granted intervenor status to the centre which will be located at the University of Manitoba.
Groups including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat are at odds over whether to archive or destroy documents collected through the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). So Perell will hear arguments from the centre and other groups seeking his direction on what to do with the documents. The hearing will happen July 14-16 in Toronto.
The IAP is a confidential, legal process where former students disclose the abuse they suffered to be eligible for financial compensation. It was created to help resolve claims of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and other wrongful acts perpetrated by school staff and students.
The agency in charge of the IAP argues these highly personal and sensitive accounts should be destroyed. But the TRC wants to preserve them as part of the historical record.
As APTN Investigates reported last week, some survivors favour saving their stories, so their suffering is not forgotten.
The NRC will be directly affected by the decision because it is mandated to archive information collected by the TRC.
The 33 Catholic groups argued the NRC didn’t meet intervenor status due to self-interest. But argued it could be a “friend” of the court and only offer information, without the legal standing that intervenor status would give. They also said Perell’s court did not have the authorization to add the NRC to the case.
But the judge, who is one of nine national supervising judges of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), disagreed.
“In my opinion, the NRC satisfies the criteria for being added as a party to the [Request for Directions] RFDs and that it would assist the court in having its evidence and argument. In this regard, it is worth noting that the court in providing directions pursuant to an RFD is not just exercising its adjudicative function, but it is also exercising its administrative authority to supervise a class action settlement,” the judge said in the nine-page decision.
“While not a party to the IRSSA, the NRC is already a participant in the administration of the RFDs, and it has an interest that may be affected positively or negatively by the outcome of the RFDs. Depending on the outcome of the RFDs, which remains to be seen, responsibilities, and obligations may be imposed on the NRC.”
Perell also said the administration of the IRSSA is an ongoing responsibility of the courts across Canada.
“The court has an ongoing obligation to oversee the implementation of the settlement and to ensure that the interests of the class members are protected. Where there are vulnerable claimants, the court’s supervisory jurisdiction will permit the court to fashion such terms as are necessary to protect the interests of that group,” Perell added.
The Catholic groups, who are a “party” to IRSSA and oppose NRC involvement, are:
Les Oeuvres Oblates de l’Ontario, Les Residences Oblates du Quebec, Soeurs Grises de Montreal/Grey Nuns of Montreal, Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns) of Alberta, Les Soeurs de LaCharite des T.N.O., HotelDieu de Nicolet, The Grey Nuns of Manitoba Inc.- Les Soeurs Grises du Manitoba Inc., The Sisters of Saint Ann, Sisters of Instruction of the Child Jesus, The Sisters of Charity of Providence of Western Canada, Immaculate Heart Community of Los Angeles CA, Missionary Oblates-Grandin Province, Les Oblates de Marie Immaculee du Manitoba, Oblates of Mary Immaculate-St. Peter’s Province, Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the Province of British Columbia, La Corporation Episcopale Catholique Romaine de Grouard, Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Keewatin, The Catholic Episcopale Corporation of Mackenzie, Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Prince Rupert, Sisters of Charity Halifax, The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kamloops Corporation Sole, Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Halifax, Sisters of Presentation, and Roman Catholic Archiepiscopal Corporation of Winnipeg, Les Soeurs de Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, Les Soeurs de Saint-François d’Assise, L’institut des Soeurs du Bon-Conseil/Les Soeurs de Notre-Dame du Bon-Conseil de Chicoutimi, Les Soeurs de Saint-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe, Les Soeurs de Jésus-Marie, Les Soeurs de l’Assomption de la Sainte-Vierge, Les Soeurs de l’Assomption de la Saint-Vierge de l’Alberta, Les Soeurs Missionnaires du Christ-Roi, and Les Soeurs de la Charité de Saint-Hyacinthe, andThe Sisters of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie.
The Adjudication Secretariat says it has received 37,716 IAP applications and resolved 20,413, so far, with 17,303 in progress. Approximately $2 billion has been paid in compensation and legal fees.

BOOK LAUNCH: Called Home: Book Two: Lost Children ...

CALLED HOME: BOOK LAUNCH: Called Home: Book Two: Lost Children ...:   List Price: $15.99  Blue Hand Books...

(click above for Media blog and HERE to buy a copy)



48 contributors who are First Nations/American Indian Adoptees:

Table of Contents

• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• HISTORY: Split Feather Syndrome
• QUOTES
Called Home
• The Indian Wars are Not Over
• Sooner or Later, All Lost Birds Come Home
• Caught in the Middle
• Two Families
• Blue Bear
• In Search of Julio
• Finding the Truth
• 5 Siblings—Found in the Wind
• White Earth Adoptee…Who am I?
• Maybe El Reno… Somewhere Near Oklahoma City
• Split Feathers
• Welcomed
• Josie/She's There In My Bones
• It's a Wild World
• When Love Cannot Conquer



• Michelle's Spirit Can Now Rest
• On the Red Road
• I am Cynthia with Two Birth Certificates
• Wolf Clan
• Lost Bird Jefferson
• Baby V
• The Holocaust Self
• History: Project Papoose
• History: The Rainbow Project
Updates TWO WORLDS adoptees
• Finding Our Meaning
• UUTUQTUA, COMING HOME
• Family Gatherings
• Lost and Now Found
• Eleven Months/Eleven Years
• Unringing the Bell: Annulling My Adoption
• Seven Year Cycles
• Finding Peace, Coming Home
• “Home at last, Thank God I am home at last”
• Knowing You Are Not Alone
• Lost



• She Went Home
• I Am Home
• Fresh Flesh: Ronni and me
• The Path from Separativeness to Oneness
SEARCHING
• Brit Reed
• Kim Dupre
• Catie Ransom
• Drew RedBear Rutledge
• Karla Mena
• Lisa Bos
• Michael Pintozzi
• Marylyn Jean Chrismer
• Doreen Evelyn Sinclair
• Mary Thompson
• Amelia Cagle
• DNA: The New Normal


• Image Credits
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors/Editors
• Come Home

Indigenous Adoptee Gathering 2014 Ottawa

Indigenous Adoptee Gathering 2014 Ottawa

A few of us got together and decided it was time to gather and share some knowledge, learn from each other and support each other. We have so much knowledge to share but with that knowledge we understand there is pain and healing that needs to happen.  Preperations are happening to make sure adoptees/survivors spiritual, emotional and physical needs are met so that that gathering is a safe enironment for all adoptees are in different places of healing. 

It is time to come together and talk, share and support each other on our journeys. This event is exclusively for adoptees and foster care survivors and created by adoptees/foster care survivors.

September 20th and 21st, 2014  promises to be a weekend of sharing, healing, tears, hugs, ceremony, talking, listening, eating and laughter!

To register as an adult adoptee or foster care survivor please visit our registration page: http://adopteegathering2014.wordpress.com/registration/

To register as an Indigenous Arts and Craft Vendor : http://adopteegathering2014.wordpress.com/get-involved/indigenous-arts-crafts-vendors/

To register as a volunteer : http://adopteegathering2014.wordpress.com/get-involved/volunteers-and-support/

To register as a artist, musician or performer for the free sober entertainment evening: http://adopteegathering2014.wordpress.com/jam-sessiontalent-show/

To donate please visit our site: http://adopteegathering2014.wordpress.com/how-you-can-help/

Indigenous Adoptee Gathering Committee: adopteegathering2014@gmail.com (email)

#IAG2014Ottawa on Twitter

Proud To Be and Resilient

Proud To Be and Resilient

Proud To Be and Resilient

Proud To Be and Resilient

Apache Wisdom

Wisdom of Coyote: Apache Wisdom: Nana: LOOK AT HOW THE ANIMALS CARE FOR THEIR YOUNG: Paul Ortega is a longtime friend, and is a Mescalero Apache.



We have a responsibility to all children.. this speaks to that... Trace

Not getting better, Native kids in foster care

NCJFCJ Disproportionality Report of Children in Foster Care for FY 2012

  SOURCE

Page 9 of the report has Native American Disproportionality Rates by State.  21 states have over-representation of Native kids in care, including Michigan (1.3, and 1.9 in entries to care), Wisconsin (4.1), Minnesota (13.9) and Iowa (4.5).  Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota have worse numbers than 10 years ago (page 3).

Report Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care for Fiscal Year 2012 (pdf). Website here.

[Note: There were 16 states who grabbed Native kids (85%) at an alarming rate pre-ICWA. Who were they? Those with the largest Native tribal populations like Michigan, South Dakota,Wisconsin and Minnesota. Things must change so Native foster families are now being recruited but the states are not cooperating - Is this racist?  Trace]

Adoptees getting results with Facebook Pages

what adoptees are doing on Facebook

By Trace A. DeMeyer

Soaring Angels on Yahoo Groups is a fantastic resource for adoptees. They offer help and hope.
This just posted about an adoptee who used Facebook to find his mom or rather she found his page.
To me, there is a cruelty in the ignorance of lawmakers who deny us our own families and information.
Use Facebook to create a page today. Use the word ADOPTED and details from your non-identifying information like Dan did.  You can also get a special gmail email from google like the woman did above....

My Mom has found me!!!!!!
Her friend found my Facebook search page!

I created a page titled with my birth name, date of birth, and the word ADOPTED
I posted snippets of my non-ID as well as pictures of me throughout my life.

I had burned out hard on the whole search and politics of adoption, and had left the page just in case, but rarely looked at it.
Mom sent a message with her phone #, and by the time I had reverse searched on white pages, she called me!

We've been seeing each other at least weekly, this being the first weekend we missed.
It's been about a month, and all is well.
I've met a bunch of in-laws that have taken me in as family.
I also found that I have a half brother that grew up within 10 miles of me, same school system, same middle school, cross town rival high school. He doesn't know about me, but our father skipped out on both of us, though he did marry half bro's mom.

Thank you for helping and putting up with my 'tude over the years.

I would like to suggest a similar page to augment the many poster pics people are sharing on FB. Those pics are great, but can get lost in a timeline very quickly. The page stays constant, and a good way to get messages, as well as providing a place for more info and clues for who's being searched for.

Thank you all again, and bless your search efforts!
Dan

Why some adoptees chose to do DNA

By Mary Charles

I somehow don't believe the intention was for us (adoptees) to find our homes using DNA. But when I came across these "family" finders, my journey went full speed ahead.

Being an adoptee, I originally just wanted to know my ethnicity. To confirm what I felt in my heart but I never had access to the truth. I was told my birth father was 1/4 Aleutian Indian from Alaska. At the time, the DNA company also offered medical evaluation to help see if you may possibly carry genes to hereditary diseases. The government stepped in and laid that service to rest.  I literally had no concept of having a relative who shared DNA with me.  I didn't even hope to find anyone when I submitted my spit.

     

So, I spit in the cup and sent if off last fall. My results were astonishing. My DNA read 51% European and 49% Native American and Asian. That was news.

The biggest shocker was a 25% DNA match that the company saw has me being this man's aunt. We had the same exact birth date only a year apart. He was 99.9% European and an adoptee as well. I did my little chromosome research and quickly concluded that he was my half brother although every search angel, friend and even my half-bro could not believe our connection. I went with my instinct, we made quick friends and he helped me out.  At some point, he was given the name of our birth mother and some notes from Catholic Charities about her. 

     

It took a few months and I did locate her which was also confirmed through another 2nd cousin on my DNA listed from her family tree. But, this is where making connections and contacting your closest cousins on your DNA list comes in handy. Also, contact cousins who have taken the time to make family trees and have a genuine interest in genealogy. E-mail as many as you can. Some will be so happy to help, others you will hear nothing. When you get names, just send quick emails like, "Hi cousin, do you have so and so on your list?"  Friend them on the social media as well. 

In time my birth mother furnished me the name of my birth father and acknowledged she did indeed adopt out my half brother a year later. When I posted my fathers name on the social media it flew like a wildfire. In a matter of hours I had a gazillion Alaskan Native relatives who wept, called me on the phone and sent photos of my father who died in 1992. They know about us. They do want us back. 

     

I am now in the process of doing even more DNA tests with my relatives. The State I was born in has closed records and are still defiant. When I sent for my non-ID, they would not provide me with any information on my birth father when I specifically asked for his ethnicity. Concluding, they are still trying to keep us unaware and I find it so very racist. To give me the white card and to think it's OK. 

My father was full blood Koyukon Athabascan. My birth mother has since told me that the hospital asked her what my ethnicity was because they were not sure if I was half "black" at the time. She told the hospital my father was full blood Native and to this very day are still trying to hide it by not providing me with my records. Records they probably falsified anyway by lowering his blood quantum and changing his tribal lineage. Man, wish I could sue their asses. 

OK, back to DNA... my family in AK and I have submitted DNA to provide lineage. The tribe understands that the government won't be of help and will accept our DNA samples for enrollment purposes. I am waiting results. Like I said, go for it. They want us home.

     

For those who are apprehensive about searching and being non-loyal to your adoptive folk: Get your wings on. Your life is about you. You cannot be the best person in this life unless you fulfill your inner calling. Take control of and start the path your feet are ready to walk. There you will feel fresh wind in your hair and lift your wings to take flight.

Thank you Mary! Mary is one of the contributors to the new anthology CALLED HOME which will be published soon! I posed this question on Facebook, asking Native adoptees why they chose to do a DNA test...Trace

COPING TOOLS: No, I'm not crazy

Reposted and edited from 2013

By Trace A. DeMeyer

I still think about integrating parts of my persona that were buried or stunted or created under stress as an adoptee growing up with biological strangers called mom and dad.

I posted on Facebook in 2013 how I'd experienced huge chunks of CRAZY, patterns of unhealthy behavior and even how big blocks of memory seemed hazy or gone. This does not make me special at all or any different (or better off or worse off) than other adoptees.  But if I am to heal myself, I need to know how I coped as this little girl who lived in fear and confusion so I can let her go.

My crazy hazy chunks of time were in fact self-preservation – it was the only way I could handle what I had to face to avoid fracturing or destroying my delicate developing mind. (And this did happen to others living in a dysfunctional setting in childhood.) I am now aware I had various coping tools, as did my friends.

One of the best tools was a vivid imagination. Another one: listening to the voice inside, a voice of sanity and clarity. Another tool was determination. I was determined to survive and very determined to create a safe environment for myself as a young adult, when I could move physically and emotionally away from where I was raised.  I was determined to open my adoption and find my relatives and my ancestry. I never lost that determination. I grew resilient and strong.

I had a conversation with my friend and co-author Patricia [Two Worlds: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects] about this process of integration, how we created little people who could handle situations, a character and persona tougher than us – and now as grown-ups, these little people are no longer needed.  I am not suggesting we had multiple personalities. That is too psycho-speak for us.  As babies and toddlers, we were confronted with strangers who called themselves our parents and they had their own instability. (Both of us had an alcoholic parent). Their imbalance caused our childhoods to be terrifying and unstable. That can put us in a situation of weakness and vulnerability. Our real fears made us very unstable and distrusting.

We chose to survive so we had to be outwardly creative in some way.  Being creative is an outlet for a grief this enormous. Patricia is definitely an artist and I was a musician – and we both kept journals. Add to that we are abandoned as infants and not nurtured and denied the bonds with our mother-creator. That also created an instability and frailty that carried forward from childhood to adulthood. This trauma is the PRIMAL WOUND (coined by Nancy Verrier).

Remember the movie The Three Faces of Eve? Though Eve was an adult, she had created personalities who could stand-in for her. One movie that terrified me was SYBIL. Sally Fields played a child who was terribly abused and created numerous personalities who stood in for her while she underwent the abuse.  In therapy, these movie characters found out they had created stand-ins, what I call the little people. When they are no longer needed they can melt away. Or integrate back into the soul.


There are couples right now holding a bake sale, asking their friends to raise money so that they can adopt an orphan. That is crazy – dangerously crazy! Why? Adoption has serious side-effects and the adoption industry is careful not to disclose this. (One of the reasons adoptive parents are re-homing their adoptees is because they were told babies are blank slates but as we grow into kids who don't and can't adjust and be the child they want.)

The fact is adoption is human trafficking.  If a child is taken from their natural parent(s) and sold to strangers, that is trafficking.  If money is exchanged for children and babies, that is trafficking. If lawyers and judges and adoption agencies charge money to handle babies for sale, they are trafficking in humans.

I do write this as a survivor of human trafficking, what was a closed adoption that I opened.  I write this from a place of sanity and balance, after years of working on myself, knowing myself, finding my relatives, and yes, learning the truth.

No, I am not crazy.

Task Force Aims To Recruit More American Indian Foster Families

Anne Artley |May 12, 2014 | SOURCE

Indian Child Welfare Act Task Force (Kenneth Ramos)

The way Navajo Indian Leland Morrill sees it; he was a victim of trafficking when he was four years old. In the 1970s, Morrill, 48, was living with his grandparents on the Arizona Navajo reservation. His mother had died in a car crash a few years earlier. Besides one picture, her relatives were all she left behind for her young son.
But, as the state government would soon decide, that wasn’t enough.
The Morrill grandparents lived in a hogan, a Navajo Indian dwelling made of dirt, branches and mud, with an open fire pit. Morrill’s grandfather was blind. One day, when his great-grandmother went out with the sheep, Morrill stepped into the fire.
At the hospital, doctors determined that he suffered from first, second and third degree burns, broken bones and malnutrition. Morrill said the last affliction was through no fault of his grandparents.
“There was no electricity and no running water on the reservation. I would say everyone in that area was malnourished,” Morrill said.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a federal organization designed to provide services to American Indian tribes, placed Morrill with a Caucasian Mormon couple as foster parents. The BIA paid them $65 a month to give him a home. Soon after, the Morrills adopted Leland and moved the family to Canada.
Now, tribes across the nation are trying to recruit Native American foster families to keep their children in the tribe. Morrill has fought on the front lines in this effort. He filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl last year. The case interpreted the Indian Child Welfare Act and concerned a Cherokee girl whose mother adopted her to a non-native family without her father’s consent. The father, who ultimately lost, sought to obtain custody of his daughter again.
“I know the inequality of children not being able to speak for themselves,” Morrill said. “Who’s going to speak for them?” Fifteen years would pass before Morrill himself saw the Navajo reservation again.
During that time, Leland Morrill was one of about 2,000 Navajo children adopted annually by a Mormon family, according to the blog American Indian Adoptees.  This was due to the Indian Adoption Project, a plan launched in 1958 by the BIA and the nonprofit Child Welfare League of America. The project paid states to remove American Indian children and place them in non-native or religious families to assimilate them into ‘conventional’ society.  One goal was to give them opportunities the impoverished reservation could not provide for them, according to Reuters.
In the 1970s, Indian leaders went to the Senate and demanded an inquiry into the large numbers of their children disappearing. William Byler, the executive director of the Association of American Indian affairs, testified that under current conditions, tribal survival looked grim, according to American Indian Adoptees. In response, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978. Under this law, states must do everything possible to keep Indian children with their families, or at least send them to Native American adoptive or foster families that the child’s tribe selects.
But many states, such as New Mexico, Alaska and California, lack licensed Indian foster families.
In Los Angeles, about 200 American Indian kids are in the foster system and the city has no licensed foster families, according to L.A. children’s court judge Amy Pellman. In California, 439 Native American children entered foster care in 2012. This is a large number, given that Native Americans make up slightly over one percent of the state’s population, according to the Child Welfare Dynamic Report System, a joint effort of the California Department of Social Services and the University of California at Berkeley. The disproportionate amount suggests that welfare agencies still may pull Indian children from their homes too quickly, which children’s social worker Roberta Javier confirmed.
“When I was growing up, I had a cousin in my adoptive family who stepped into a pile of burning trash,” Morrill said. This was similar to the incident Morrill suffered that resulted in his removal from his Navajo grandparents. “When I asked my adoptive family why he didn’t get taken, they had no response.”
Javier, who is Cherokee and Sac & Fox Indian, formed a task force with other Los Angeles Natives to recruit more foster and adoptive families. They are working on a public service announcement to air on local TV channels and FNX, a Native American channel. The key message, ‘lend a hand,’ evokes a cultural ideal. Morrill attends the task force meetings and has contributed ideas, but is not a member of any committee.
“It’s traditional in Native American culture when you see someone who needs help you step up. It’s part of being in a collective community,” Javier said.
Adopted Native children are often disconnected from their culture. Growing up, Morrill’s foster parents raised him in the Mormon Church. They did not teach him anything about his tribe or its customs.
“My dad once took me on a business trip to Pine Ridge reservation (South Dakota). I don’t think he really understood the importance of culture,” Morrill said. The reservation is home to the Oglala Sioux, a tribe that Morrill does not belong to.
Even if non-native adoptive parents do show appreciation for their child’s background, children can still feel alienated without others around like them. Jennifer Varenchik, 42, an adoptee and member of the Tohono-O’odham tribe, said her adoptive dad researched her tribe and hung their baskets in the house. But she said still felt like an outsider in her predominately white neighborhood.
“When I was in sixth grade, a black family moved down the street and I was so happy because I wouldn’t be the only one with dark skin,” she said.
But when Varenchik tried to learn more about her roots, the process was not as natural as she expected.
“I took some Native studies classes in college, but it felt really foreign to me,” Varenchik said. “I felt like it should have a deeper meaning, but it didn’t.”
After finishing college at St. Mary’s, in Moraga, Calif., Varenchik moved to Los Angeles, which she knew had a large urban Indian population (the second largest in the U.S., according to Indian Country Today Media Network). She started work at United Indian American Involvement, a nonprofit providing service and support to American Indians in California, and began attending powwows. She even reconnected with her biological siblings on the reservation in Arizona.
But not every adoptee’s story ends as happily. Javier’s own painful experiences compelled her to campaign for more Native foster families.
“I’ve been in 17 foster homes from the ages 6-16. I was separated from one of my (biological) sisters who then got lost in the system. A social worker took her to a group home and my sister ran away. Four days later, her social worker killed herself so there was a disconnect (in information),” Javier said. “It took me 25 years to find my sister.”
The task force efforts began two years ago, but members have yet to find a single foster family. They are collaborating with Los Angeles County, but Javier cites a lack of cultural awareness among officials as part of the problem. She gave the example of the county sending a non-native woman to an American Indian church sing to speak on the shortage of foster parents.
“This is like sending an African-American to recruit for a Chinese home,” she said.
But more Native adoptees are coming together to talk about the issue. Morrill has started a blog and a Facebook page where he shares his story and circulates others’.  He said his efforts are “normalizing the craziness of what it’s like to be an adoptee,” and helping disconnected Natives repatriate to their tribes. Though Morrill and Varenchik cannot control the past, they are combining their influence and education to improve the future for other American Indians.
“I’m the opposite of the people on the reservation, but I’m fighting for their rights and their children’s rights,” Morrill said.

Reach Staff Reporter Anne Artley here

Leland, Diane Tells His Name and I will be speaking at the Tribal Star ICWA conference at the PALA RESORT in CA on May 22 about what needs to happen for our Native children today....Trace

Adoption Illusions and Stockholm Syndrome

By Trace A. DeMeyer

 

"...I’ve been thinking about this concept for a long time. Adopters, when it comes right down to it, count on Stockholm Syndrome. Children who don’t succumb are labelled RAD.
Whenever I encounter an infertile woman so desperate to be a mother that she’ll bring home a stranger’s baby and force it to live in her fantasy, I always secretly wonder what she would do if she were single and desperate to be married.
Would she drag some strange man home and force him to watch the Notebook and cuddle? And if she did, would society think it was beautiful and precious?  Or would they think she was delusional and dangerous?  Rhetorical question, of course.  But why? Why is what is clearly a crime between adults viewed in such an overwhelmingly positive way when one of the parties is a child?..."  - Renee Musgrove 

 

This comment by Renee has been in my head for over a year and I finally did research on Stockholm Syndrome!

 

What was legally thrust upon us as adoptees is an illusion/fantasy, right?  From babyhood, we are supposed to pretend these are our only parents -- years pass and if they raised us, they ARE our parents. They are the only people we know that intimately so we call them mom and dad. We don't know anything else. Of course, years pass...

 

Then one day you wake up and think, "What about my ancestry, what about my medical history?" and you start to feel despondent since you can't ask your "parents" since you found out they get upset when you ask about your identity (We chose you, you're ours...) -- and even if you do ask, too often they know absolutely nothing. Why is that?

 

Eventually you realize that you are really not "their" child. You're not related in any physical sense or biology.  Then the adoptee realizes and finds out quickly enough that lawmakers (and your adoptive parents) are on the side of secrecy - that they don't want you to know who you are and they DEMAND privacy for the mother who created you.  REALLY?

On my other blog, I wrote about the ADOPTION EXPERIMENT and then my friend Cully Ray did a guest post about Stockholm Syndrome: which is when you are abducted and start to identify with your captors.

 

Cully wrote:

As do Stockholm Syndrome victims, these Adoptees have great difficulty identifying and expressing their feelings, tragically some are unable to go on with their lives.
Some of the effects that are seen in adoptees and foster children who are objectified by their adoptive parents, foster care givers, and/or communities and peers are:

* Denial of actions by the adoptive parents or foster caregivers that make the child feel inadequate or physically hurt.
* Co-dependency
* Substance abuse
* Minimizing their feelings – self-sacrifice
* Disassociation with the idea of natural family or parent-child relationships
* Failure to make realistic relationships in both personal and professional life
* Internalizing – blame and guilt for things they have/had no control over
* Over achieving – fear of not being “good enough”
* Anger/Rage/Overwhelming depression often triggered by birthdays or celebrations
* Suicide

No matter how much I write and think about this - we come back to the lawmakers still demanding sealed adoptions and secrecy again and again. What about you? Do you think they are delusional?

I will be back and posting more in June... Trace

UN report on Canada’s treatment of aboriginal people in spotlight UPDATE

UPDATE: If you want a copy download it here

Canada saw and commented on a ‘preliminary’ version of the UN report

UN special rapporteur James Anaya says confirms he will publish on Monday his findings on the conditions facing aboriginals in Canada following a nine-day cross-country visit last fall. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

By Susana Mas, CBC News May 11, 2014

UN aboriginal report due Monday 3:00

The United Nations special envoy on the rights of indigenous people confirms he will publish on Monday his findings on the conditions in Canada's aboriginal communities, following a nine-day cross-country visit last fall.
“The report will be made public on Monday,” James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, told CBC News in an email on Saturday.
Anaya’s initial assessment of the conditions facing aboriginals in Canada was grim.

• RCMP confirm report of more than 1,000 murdered aboriginal women
• First Nations education act 'on hold,' minister's office says
• Shawn Atleo the pragmatist couldn't reconcile opposing First Nations styles

“From all I have learned, I can only conclude that Canada faces a crisis when it comes to the situation of indigenous peoples of the country," the UN fact-finder said last October.
Monday’s UN report comes at a fragile time for relations between the federal government and First Nations.
The government put “on hold” its prized but controversial First Nations education bill following the sudden resignation of Shawn Atleo as national chief for the Assembly of First Nations.
Bill C-33 will stay on hold until the AFN “clarifies” its position on the bill which it is expected to do during a special assembly of national chiefs in Ottawa on May 27.

‘Preliminary’ report

The UN report will not come entirely as a surprise to the federal government which had an opportunity to see an earlier copy of it.
Anaya told CBC News that as per the rules and procedures set out by the UN Human Rights Council, the federal government was given a chance to see and comment on an earlier version of the report.
“Canada was given the opportunity to see a confidential, preliminary version of the report, and it did submit to me comments, which I took into account in finalizing the report,” Anaya said in an email to CBC News on Saturday.
Otherwise, the report “remains confidential until finalized and made public,” Anaya said.
Last fall, the UN envoy also urged the federal government to:

• not "rush" forward with the tabling of a First Nations education bill
• “re-initiate discussions” with aboriginal leaders to develop a process and ultimately come up with an education bill “that addresses aboriginal concerns and incorporates aboriginal view points”
• launch a "comprehensive and nationwide" inquiry into the case of missing and murdered aboriginal women
• extend the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The federal government introduced Bill C-33 one month ago following what it said was extensive consultations with First Nations which began in December 2012.
But as recently as two weeks ago, half a dozen chiefs came to Ottawa vowing to scrap the bill after complaining the government never consulted them. The two sides appear to differ on what constitutes a duty to consult.
While the government has refused to launch a national inquiry into the case of missing and murdered aboriginal women, the RCMP said this month there are about 1,186 recorded incidents by police of aboriginal homicides and unresolved missing women investigations. That report is expected to be released soon.
The federal government extended the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by a year, until June 2015, so that it can complete its work. An Ontario court ordered the government in 2013 to turn over all residential school documents.
Anaya’s term as special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples comes to a close at the end of the month.
The UN Human Rights Council confirmed on May 8 that Vicky Tauli-Corpuz will replace Anaya beginning June 1.

The New Normal: DNA

By Trace A. DeMeyer

Patricia and I are still finishing up the new anthology CALLED HOME, very important history as a collection of adoptee narratives and the historical truths about adoption in Indian Country.  These voices of adoptees are at the heart of what I do. They are the reason there is a blog AMERICAN INDIAN ADOPTEES.

Right now Karen Vigneault and I are working with about 20 adoptees who are trying to find their families. Because of the adoption laws in the USA, we are seeing the “New Normal” for adoptees is having a DNA test.  They have no choice with the laws not allowing adoptees to have access to our own names, our parent’s names and our tribal nations, and we are still denied our basic rights as human beings and citizens of sovereign nations.

Our adoptive parents who raised us may or may not realize that we NEED information and our ancestry and medical background.  (An adoptee can love more than one set of parents and there is no need to panic!) Adoptees tell me they are afraid to search because of their adoptive parents! That fear has to stop because if you wait, you may never get to meet your mother or father!

One of the adoptees in the new anthology talks about finding new cousins who are trying to figure out who her mother is.

This is the new normal. This is not right but because of the adoption industry and their billion dollar earnings, we adoptees are still at the bottom of the totem pole as far as our rights.

I don’t know how many times I have said to an adoptee do not delay your search. If you do get a name or phone number, make the call. Have a friend with you to keep you calm. Write a set of questions. Just make contact then offer to send a letter explaining what you know about your first family. Send them your phone number so they can call you back.

Give people time to adjust to the truth that you are definitely one of their family members.

If you get your DNA results,  which is the new normal, make contact with cousins who share your DNA! Give them your birth date and let them help you try and figure out how you are all related.

The new normal isn’t fair but we’ll use this until the laws change.

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  


 
  Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White
counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them
are illegally placed with White families.  

    With your help,
these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased
foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be
funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families
to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest
communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  
    Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them are illegally placed with White families.  
    With your help, these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  
    Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them are illegally placed with White families.  
    With your help, these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  
    Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them are illegally placed with White families.  
    With your help, these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  
    Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them are illegally placed with White families.  
    With your help, these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING

It’s time for change… | The adopted ones blog

It’s time for change… | The adopted ones blog