Nighlight involved in this case too

Court Rules Baby Desirai Must Be Returned To Oklahoma

 

OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma County judge has ruled "Baby Desirai" must be returned to Oklahoma. The Baby Desirai case mirrors the "Baby Veronica" custody battle, between her South Carolina adoptive parents and her biological father, an Oklahoma native.  Both girls have Native American roots and their fathers say they didn't know the mothers were planning to put their daughters up for adoption.
Desirai was born in May. Her mother is Absentee-Shawnee, a federally recognized tribe based in Pottawatomie County.  Desirai's mother and her father, Jeremy Simmons, ended their relationship before Desirai was born. Simmons said it wasn't until months later that he found his baby had been placed for adoption.
"I was mad, sad, upset. I didn't know why or how somebody could hand over their baby like that," Simmons said.

9/2/2013: Related Story: Oklahoma Father Speaks Out About 'Baby Desirai' Adoption Case

http://www.newson6.com/story/23406889/court-rules-baby-desirai-must-be-returned-to-oklahoma

http://www.newson6.com/story/23318920/oklahoma-father-speaks-out-about-baby-desirai-adoption-case?source=related

The spelling of Baby Desaray was different in this story... Trace

#BABYVERONICA headlines

Custody Fight Over Baby Veronica Enters New Courtroom news9.com KWTV Dusten Brown of Oklahoma has been fighting a South Carolina couple, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, for custody of Veronica. TULSA, Oklahoma -. An ongoing ... See all stories on this topic »
Adoptive parents, birth father in Veronica case again appear in ... Charleston Post Courier The adoptive parents and the birth father of 4-year-old Veronica met again today ... Matt and Melanie Capobianco of James Island and Dusten Brown of Nowata, Okla., ... The measure allowed Brown to keep Veronica as his appeal is heard in ... See all stories on this topic »

What can a tiny baby know? The Hidden Life of an Adopted Child: Understanding the Impact of Adoption

"...Adoption is a trauma that happens to a child. The child is torn away from her biological mother, placed in the arms of strangers and is left with questions, doubts, fears and anxiety with no way to verbalize, express, mourn or contextualize those feelings. ... children remember their birth and the following events, including relinquishment and adoption up to the age of three...."

Read the article here: http://adoptionvoicesmagazine.com/adoptee-view/adoptee-view-what-can-a-tiny-baby-know/#.UbyXLlHn-Ka.facebook

About the Author

Karl Stenske

Karl Stenske shares a rich and compelling story as an adoptee. Being one of the many who had a great adopted family, he never thought being adopted had a big effect on his life. But at 37, Karl began to unravel the true impact adoption did have on his life and the lives of those who loved, and tried to love him. A sought after speaker and educator, Karl offers insights into the wounds created when any child is separated from his birth mother. In The Hidden Life of an Adopted Child: Understanding the Impact of Adoption, Karl explores the traumatic experience suffered by that separation and its influence on self-esteem, value, worth, and identity.


This comment was made on another post "Adoption Depression" but it is relevant to this:

RLDavies said: September 10, 2013

This is a subject that needs to be discussed, especially in light of Margaret A. Keyes’, PhD new study conducted at the University of Minnesota, just published yesterday (9-9-2013) in Pediatrics Magazine.
The study shows that:
1) Teens who were adopted in early childhood had approximately four times the risk for attempted suicide in late adolescence compared with offspring living with their biological parents.
2) Adoptees had higher rates of externalizing behaviors, childhood disruptive disorders, negative mood, and lack of interest in school, but even after adjustment for these, the adopted teens still had an increase in risk of attempted suicide.

Many other studies have shown similar results, but for some reason, no one seems to want to talk about this issue. Even though lives are at risk.
It’s important that we shine the light on this.
For the record, I’m uncomfortable with the label, “adoption depression.” I think that’s misleading–and dangerous. I think we suffer from trauma and unrecognized grief and should be treated appropriately.

What can a tiny baby know?

"...Adoption is a trauma that happens to a child. The child is torn away from her biological mother, placed in the arms of strangers and is left with questions, doubts, fears and anxiety with no way to verbalize, express, mourn or contextualize those feelings. ... children remember their birth and the following events, including relinquishment and adoption up to the age of three...."

Read the article here: http://adoptionvoicesmagazine.com/adoptee-view/adoptee-view-what-can-a-tiny-baby-know/#.UbyXLlHn-Ka.facebook

About the Author

Karl Stenske

Karl Stenske shares a rich and compelling story as an adoptee. Being one of the many who had a great adopted family, he never thought being adopted had a big effect on his life. But at 37, Karl began to unravel the true impact adoption did have on his life and the lives of those who loved, and tried to love him. A sought after speaker and educator, Karl offers insights into the wounds created when any child is separated from his birth mother. In The Hidden Life of an Adopted Child: Understanding the Impact of Adoption, Karl explores the traumatic experience suffered by that separation and its influence on self-esteem, value, worth, and identity.


This comment was made on another post "Adoption Depression" but it is relevant to this:

RLDavies said: September 10, 2013

This is a subject that needs to be discussed, especially in light of Margaret A. Keyes’, PhD new study conducted at the University of Minnesota, just published yesterday (9-9-2013) in Pediatrics Magazine.
The study shows that:
1) Teens who were adopted in early childhood had approximately four times the risk for attempted suicide in late adolescence compared with offspring living with their biological parents.
2) Adoptees had higher rates of externalizing behaviors, childhood disruptive disorders, negative mood, and lack of interest in school, but even after adjustment for these, the adopted teens still had an increase in risk of attempted suicide.
Many other studies have shown similar results, but for some reason, no one seems to want to talk about this issue. Even though lives are at risk.
It’s important that we shine the light on this.
For the record, I’m uncomfortable with the label, “adoption depression.” I think that’s misleading–and dangerous. I think we suffer from trauma and unrecognized grief and should be treated appropriately.

#Baby Desaray update #Nightlight

Shawnee awarded custody of infant

OKLAHOMA CITY— An Oklahoma judge has awarded custody of Desaray, a four-month old Native American girl to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe following a South Carolina couple's attempt to adopt the infant. Baby Desaray was born in May in Oklahoma. A couple in South Carolina who sought to adopt her returned with her to their home. But the infant's biological father sought custody. Because Desaray's biological mother is a tribal member, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe stepped in and the tribe was awarded custody last week. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 has federally mandated that Native children should be placed with other tribal members if the parent is unable. Raymond W. Godwin and Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency is also responsible for this case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Nightlight is a corporation with Laura Godwin, its CEO/director, and Ronald Stoddart as Principal Officer for tax purposes. In 2011 alone, they grossed $2,747,914. Nightlight is licensed in Colorado, California, South Carolina and in Kentucky so far. 

Now in two lawsuits over Native American babies they attempted to place for adoption...

Raymond W. Godwin, called an unethical adoption attorney, was the original adoption attorney for Matt and Melanie Capobianco and is also involved in this dispute called #BABY DESARAY.   His wife Laura is the director of the Nightlight adoption agency that handled the Baby Veronica placement/adoption.

- http://www.adoptionbirthmothers.com/the-unethical-adoption-seizure-of-veronica-brown/

SOVEREIGNTY: #BABYVERONICA doesn't need to be adopted

Go to Amazon.com: SOMEBODY'S CHILDREN.

Veronica Update from Washington Post 

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Turtle Talk

 

Here (h/t How Appealing).

An excerpt:

The late justice Robert H. Jackson famously wrote of his colleagues on the high court: “We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.”
But sometimes the court is final only in the narrow question of law before it. That question decided, it sends the case back to lower courts, where sometimes the whole process starts anew.
Such is the fate of Veronica’s case. If anything, the Supreme Court’s decision has only heightened the stakes surrounding the rights of birth parents, the legal standing of adoptive parents and the sovereignty of Native American tribes.

Latest from Tulsa World on Baby Girl Case

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Kate Fort

Here.

The [appeals court] hearing is apparently related to an order Friday from the Oklahoma Supreme Court, agreeing to let the appeals move forward while 4-year-old Veronica remains with her biological family for the time being.

OK Supreme Court docket (revealing very little) is here.

******************************

FROM TRACE

Yesterday Veronica "Ronnie" Brown turned 4.  Every day I think about this case and I realize this child doesn't need to be adopted and yet the adopters won't quit. Why won't they quit? The Capobiancos feel entitled to the baby they purchased for cold hard cash. The adoption agency NIGHTLIGHT needs to be criminally prosecuted for what they did. This case was so dangerous a public relations campaign was necessary to keep the future "adoptive parents" in focus - not Ronnie or her dad. The adopters going on TV - all public relations. Talking to Dr. Phil last fall - all propaganda. The adopters plead to get her back on CNN and NBC - all trash talk and public relations. We were being manipulated by a billion dollar adoption industry. THIS ENTIRE CASE PROVES IT!

The Bottom Line: no child needs to be adopted if their biological natural parent wants to raise them. In this case, Ronnie has a dad who fought from the moment he heard what was happening. The Supreme Court and Nightlight did not abide by a federal law written to protect Native Children. Ronnie has rights to be with her tribe and family. It's called sovereignty!

Do you know the history of the Indian Child Welfare Act? I am learning even more from this fantastic book: SOMEBODY'S CHILDREN: The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoption by Laura Briggs, published in 2012. I wish I'd had this book when I started my research on the Indian Adoption Projects, before I wrote my memoir. Laura and I will be on a panel discussing this Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case on Sept. 30 at the Western New England University School of Law in Springfield, MA.

If you are interested, please email me: tracedemeyer@yahoo.com. I can send you the brochure.


We must WAKE UP and not let this adoption happen to Ronnie Brown.

Adoption law in the U.S.: The True Villain in the Baby Veronica case

No Apologies for Being Me: Adoption law in the U.S.: The True Villain in the Baby Veronica case

Dumping adoptees? It's called The Child Exchange

Americans use the Internet to abandon children adopted from overseas

• 
  
  
  By Megan Twohey
  
  

MOTIVATED MOM: In
her time seeking children on the Internet, Nicole Eason has referred to
herself as Big Momma and Momma Bear. Her term for informal custody
transfers is "non-legalized adoption," and she defines the phrase to
mean: "Hey, can I have your baby?" REUTERS/Samantha Sais

Part 1: When a Liberian girl proves too
much for her parents, they advertise her online and give her to a
couple they’ve never met. Days later, she goes missing.

KIEL, Wisconsin – Todd and Melissa Puchalla
struggled for more than two years to raise Quita, the troubled teenager
they'd adopted from Liberia. When they decided to give her up, they
found new parents to take her in less than two days – by posting an ad
on the Internet.

Nicole and Calvin Eason, an Illinois couple in
their 30s, saw the ad and a picture of the smiling 16-year-old. They
were eager to take Quita, even though the ad warned that she had been
diagnosed with severe health and behavioral problems. In emails, Nicole
Eason assured Melissa Puchalla that she could handle the girl.

"People that are around me think I am awesome with kids," Eason wrote.

A few weeks later, on Oct. 4, 2008, the
Puchallas drove six hours from their Wisconsin home to Westville,
Illinois. The handoff took place at the Country Aire Mobile Home Park,
where the Easons lived in a trailer.

No attorneys or child welfare officials came with
them. The Puchallas simply signed a notarized statement declaring these
virtual strangers to be Quita's guardians. The visit lasted just a few
hours. It was the first and the last time the couples would meet.

To Melissa Puchalla, the Easons "seemed wonderful."
Had she vetted them more closely, she might have discovered what
Reuters would learn:

• Child welfare authorities had taken away both of
Nicole Eason's biological children years earlier. After a sheriff's
deputy helped remove the Easons' second child, a newborn baby boy, the
deputy wrote in his report that the "parents have severe psychiatric problems as well with violent tendencies."

• The Easons each had been accused by children they
were babysitting of sexual abuse, police reports show. They say they
did nothing wrong, and neither was charged.

• The only official document attesting to their parenting skills – one purportedly drafted by a social worker who had inspected the Easons' home – was fake, created by the Easons themselves.

On Quita's first night with the Easons, her new
guardians told her to join them in their bed, Quita says today. Nicole
slept naked, she says.

Within a few days, the Easons stopped responding to
Melissa Puchalla's attempts to check on Quita, Puchalla says. When she
called the school that Quita was supposed to attend, an administrator
told Puchalla that the teenager had never shown up.

GIRL AVAILABLE: Quita Puchalla's adoptive parents used this photo to advertise her online. REUTERS/Handout

Quita wasn't at the trailer park, either. The
Easons had packed up their purple Chevy truck and driven off with her,
leaving behind a pile of trash, a pair of blue mattresses and two
puppies chained in their yard, authorities later found.

The Puchallas had rescued Quita from an orphanage
in Liberia, brought her to America and then signed her over to a couple
they barely knew. Days later, they had no idea what had become of her.

When she arrived in the United States, Quita says,
she "was happy … coming to a nicer place, a safer place. It didn't turn
out that way," she says today. "It turned into a nightmare."

The teenager had been tossed into America's
underground market for adopted children, a loose Internet network where
desperate parents seek new homes for kids they regret adopting. Like
Quita, now 21, these children are often the casualties of international
adoptions gone sour.

READ MORE (in the series): HERE

So adopters, if we don't meet your expectations, you create a network to dump us?  No wonder so many adoptees commit suicide... Trace

UN expert urges respect for the rights of Cherokee child in custody dispute #Baby Veronica

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Matthew L.M. Fletcher TURTLETALK

Here.

GENEVA (10 September 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, today called on the relevant state, federal and tribal authorities in the United States of America to take all necessary measures to ensure the wellbeing and human rights of ‘Veronica,’ an almost four year old Cherokee child at the center of a highly contentious custody dispute.
“Veronica’s human rights as a child and as member of the Cherokee Nation, an indigenous people, should be fully and adequately considered in the ongoing judicial and administrative proceedings that will determine her future upbringing,” Mr. Anaya stressed. “The individual and collective rights of all indigenous children, their families and indigenous peoples must be protected throughout the United States.”
Veronica is currently facing judicially ordered removal from her Cherokee family and community. In June of this year the US Supreme Court ruled that certain protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply to proceedings in which a non-Cherokee couple sought to adopt Veronica, given the particular circumstances of the case. The high court, however, it did not make an ultimate determination of the disposition of the adoption proceedings.
Following the Supreme Court decision, a South Carolina state court awarded custody of Veronica to the non-Cherokee couple, but it did so without a determination of whether her transfer away from her Cherokee family would be in her best interests in light of her current situation and Cherokee heritage. Although Veronica lived with the non-Cherokee couple in South Carolina for the first two years of her life, she has now resided with her father and extended indigenous family in Cherokee territory in the state of Oklahoma for nearly two years.
South Carolina authorities have attempted to force Veronica’s father to release custody of her, charging him with custodial interference for his refusal to do so. On 3 September 2013 the Oklahoma Supreme Court took up the case, granting a temporary stay of an enforcement order and allowing the father to keep Veronica pending further proceedings.
“I urge the relevant authorities, as well as all parties involved in the custody dispute, to ensure the best interests of Veronica, fully taking into account her rights to maintain her cultural identity and to maintain relations with her indigenous family and people,” said the UN Special Rapporteur.
The independent expert pointed out that these rights are guaranteed by various international instruments subscribed to or endorsed by the US, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In his 2012 report* on the situation of indigenous peoples in the US, the Special Rapporteur noted that the removal and separation of Indian children from indigenous environments is an issue of longstanding and ongoing concern. “While past practices of removal of Indian children from their families and communities have been partially blunted by passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, this law continues to face barriers to its implementation,” Mr. Anaya stated.
“I encourage the United States to work with indigenous peoples, state authorities and other interested parties to investigate the current state of affairs relating to the practices of foster care and adoption of indigenous children, and to develop procedures for ensuring that the rights of these children are adequately protected,” the UN Special Rapporteur said.

The UN Human Rights Council appointed S. James Anaya as Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples in March 2008. Mr. Anaya is a Regents Professor and the James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of Arizona (United States). As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/SRIPeoplesIndex.aspx

(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s 2012 report on the USA: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session21/Pages/ListReports.aspx

See the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/RES/61/295&Lang=E

UN Human Rights Country Page – United States of America: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/USIndex.aspx

For more information and media inquiries, please contact Maia Campbell (+ 41 22 917 9314 / mcampbell@ohchr.org) or write to indigenous@ohchr.org.

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, OHCHR Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)

Baby Veronica: How Dusten Brown could prevail in battle over his daughter

[Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Baby Veronica: How Dusten Brown could prevail in battle over his daughter

I am so grateful One Small Sacrifice and Two Worlds are mentioned in her post. Our history as American Indian Adoptees matters a great deal in the big picture of ICWA... Trace

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

The Daily Bastardette: Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Cherokee say LETS KEEP VERONICA HOME

Blow to sovereignty #BABYVERONICA

Dreveskracht Commentary on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Matthew L.M. Fletcher Turtle Talk

Here. An excerpt:

The Supreme Court’s decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl is most certainly a blow to Indian sovereignty by way of an assault on core notions of Indian family and tribal identity.  Yet what is even more disturbing is how the “Baby Veronica” ruling so vividly highlights the Roberts Court’s deep investment in white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, heterosexism, and a coercive binary gender system.  Adoptive Couple is about far more than the rights of adoptive parents.  The decision should serve as a warning to all marginalized groups such as Indians, ethnic minorities, the lower class, or the LGBT community: If given the opportunity the High Court will construe legislation to serve its own institutionalized interests, in spite of the law’s intent.

NEWS: http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Fallin_Brown_must_return_to_SC/20130905_11_A1_CUTLIN51761?subj=1

Kudos to Indian Country Today for the continuing coverage: this comment was superb:

John Brown wrote:

The staff at Indian Country and Suzette Brewer really deserve to be commended for their coverage of these cases. They are currently the only news source in the United States that consistently reports correct facts in these stories tells them honestly in a way that doesn't cover up the crimes that have been commited against these parents and children and how much damage it has done, not only to them but to our society. Thank you Indian Country for your commitment to journalism, which unfortunately is apparently rare these days. You deserve the Pulitzer for you coverage of these cases.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/05/okla-governor-signs-extradition-order-dusten-brown-turn-himself-151164

 

Another great op-ed: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/HaireoftheDog/archives/2013/09/05/the-capobiancos-should-stop-fighting-for-custody-of-baby-veronica

Sadly, to see this happening (with a new arrest warrant) makes many of us sick to our stomach...Adoption has been polluted with greed and human trafficking. It is corrupt in ways we never imagined, including the current justice system...Dusten and Robin, hang in there - we are praying for you and Ronnie.... Trace

#BabyVeronica case back in court

Baby Girl Update from Oklahoma Supreme Court

by Kate Fort, Turtle Talk
 

The Oklahoma Supreme Court granted a stay in the order to remove Baby Girl from her father and appears to have scheduled oral arguments for today at 2pm.

Link to docket here.

CBS coverage here.

Prayers are said for Veronica who turns 4 this month...Keep her safe and with Dusten... Trace

Selling Babies MUST Stop #BABYVERONICA #ADOPTION

By Trace A. DeMeyer

No matter what I read, no matter how much is discussed, in my head and heart, I believe any child who has a natural parent (in this case a father like Dusten Brown) who wants his daughter Veronica - who fights in court to raise her - then he should be her parent. He is her parent!  That should not require any court to decide - that is common sense, a no-brainer. 

A child who is raised by her natural parent will not suffer as I did as an adoptee. That is reality.

Today I can tell my story, talk about meeting my birth-dad and not cry but it took nearly 40 years to find him and as many years to heal. Being adopted is so painful. I do not want that for Veronica.

In order to change the propaganda out there, we truly need to look at adoption and its history. As it was invented many years ago, adoption was for orphans - children without parents or other relatives. Poverty and war created orphan populations.  Yet Veronica is not an orphan and I wasn't an orphan (our mothers were alive) yet our mothers sold us and placed us for adoption. 

Over the years adoption definitely changed; now it's providing babies to infertile couples and has obviously perverted the entire process: like sealing and closing adoptions to ease the adopter's minds and permanently erase the adopted child's identity and ancestry on their birth documents. 

Those changes built the international adoption industry into a billion dollar booming business it is today, corrupt with specialized lawyers and adoption agencies who legitimatize taking babies and making money. 

Billions could and should be spent on family preservation, helping mothers and fathers to keep their children, even solving infertility that only seems to be getting worse - but the adoption industry keeps people focused on saving orphans.

There are children in need. Many of them. I recall the foster care training I had in Oregon and there were thick binders full of children-in-need, ready for new homes in the USA. The prevailing attitude about the children was/is they are damaged in some way and have memories of their natural parents - some kids were affected by neglect and abuse. Those faces I cannot forget - those children who need a new family. People are not lining up to adopt those children? WHY?

Giving children a family isn't what adoption is about anymore - it's about babies - and anxious couples who demand its a baby and will pay thousands for one. They'll travel overseas for one. They'll pay anything. They'll equate a baby as safe, and they'll make the baby into their family member as if a baby doesn't grow up and ask questions: Who am I? What happened? Why was I given up? Where is my mother?

The miseducation of couples who wish to adopt a baby has permeated America thanks to adoption propaganda. Read my post THE END RESULT:  http://www.thelostdaughters.com/2013/06/the-end-result.html

Willful ignorance, bad information or insufficient education, to me none are acceptable or an excuse anymore. With the internet, there is plenty for potential adoptive parents to read, if they open their mind and take their time. Take a look at this website that offers many links and perspectives on Veronica Brown:
http://www.adoptionbirthmothers.com/the-unethical-adoption-seizure-of-veronica-brown/

There are many blogs about adoption from many different perspectives: From an adult adoptee. From a birthmother. From an adoptive parent who wanted the adoption open.  From a Texas woman who adopted from Russia and gave back the child and cautions others not to adopt overseas. From transracial adoptees like me.

I have blogged about the Indian Adoption projects and programs and this dark chapter of history for four years. I have explained how the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was necessary to stop the wholesale removal of Indian children from their families and tribes. I found survivors of these projects. Some have shared how they found their way back to their reservations and united with their families, right here on this blog and in the anthology Two Worlds. 

Writing my memoir and this blog changed my beliefs about adoption. My priorities: we repatriate Native adoptees back to their families. We can give children-in-need new parents under new laws called legal guardianship.  We abolish adoption entirely, open all the sealed adoption files. We give birthfathers the legal rights to raise their own children.  Most of all, we MUST stop selling babies. We close adoption agencies and prosecute the traffickers.

Deal reached, details unknown about #BABYVERONICA

Mediation deal reached during unexpected hearings in Veronica dispute, but details a mystery

Comment by Renae Arbuckle on The Post and Courier news article

08/16/13 at 09:48 PM

So sad. Sad that an engaged couple's relationship ended so poorly that the woman would give away her child to total strangers rather than let the father have a chance. Sad that she, the adoption agency and the Capobianco's knew of the father's heritage as stated on the adoption papers and used deceit to illegally transfer a child from one state to another to quickly begin the adoption process in a state with a reputation of taking American Indian children.

Cherokee membership has nothing to do with blood quantum and they do not receive money for being native. The Capobianco's gambled on the father's never knowing the outcome. During the pregnancy, he and his family made several attempts to reach the birth mother with no success. She instructed the hospital to place her on a list where her or the baby's presence were unreachable - like no newspaper announcement of the birth. However, she invited total strangers to leave the state with her newborn child. Four months later, as the birth father prepared to leave the country on military duty, he is approached to sign acceptance of service papers. Our single service men and women sign many required documents including assigning custody to the other parent before leaving is standard practice. My own son had to sign similar documents along with having child support automatically sent each month electronically. This young birth father signed a similar document - he thought. When the process server tells him what he really signed, he began legal proceedings then to gain custody of his daughter.

Even the Capobianco's signed a court document a few months later acknowledging his Cherokee heritage. Even Brown's former wife is speaking favorably that he is a good father and financially supports their daughter. Not sure where you got your info, but check again.

Moving forward, the Capobianco's arrival in Tulsa this week was a big media joke. They setup a press conference the next morning in an expensive hotel with a new crew and many cameras following them all day.  Anyone can see they're trying to sway public opinion t their side, but it doing the opposite. To top things off, the "mediator" they bring is not qualified to use the title! This article doesn't mention that when he approached the Brown's living quarters, he had a camera crew with him ready to go. He is creating a documentary on the whole Baby Veronica ordeal. Although he said he had no intentions of filming the interview, why did he take a camera crew. Our Cherokee Nation Martials delivered his note to Mr Brown then escorted him off the school property.

During the same afternoon, Mr Brown offered them to visit Veronica, but they refused. Instead they filed yet one more lawsuit. Oh, and lets not forget their "friend" as announced at the press conference who is conveniently the president of her own marketing, PR, and social media firm. Now, is it Ms Munday or the Capobianco's that have created the media frenzy? None of the news is told from Mr Brown's side, only the Capobianco's. Who is trying to make Veronica the media's new toy?

I was glad to see the Brown's not bring the child to either courthouse today. They are protecting her in her own best interests. Look at the photo for this article if you don't believe me. They cannot stay in their own home because of the Capabianco's love affair with the media. Thank God for a smart Oklahoma judge who put a gag order on this case today.

Oh, according to Mr Brewster, the trumped up charge by the SC law enforcement has nothing to do with this situation. Have you read the law? How can someone steal their own child when they already have custody? It's all they can come up with.

Lastly, while the father may not fall under ICWA, the child does. The Cherokee Nation will always take care of its own and Veronica is a Cherokee Citizen. I am hopeful that the Capobianco's will realize their gamble did not pay off.  When the SC court sent the child home with her father, jurisdiction transferred to OK. What right does the SC court to finalized the adoption of a child that is not nor has been in the adoptive physical custody for half it's life?

Mr Brown has financially supported both his children, they formed a relationship, and Veronica is and has been a very happy child in OK. Leave her be. Someone should begin investigating the (Nightlight) adoption attorney and soon. He's already started an illegal adoption of another Oklahoma American Indian child from Shawnee. This time the birth grandmother and the birth father are on the same side.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130816/PC16/130819561

#BabyVeronica a Victim of Colonial Domination

Baby Veronica: U.S. Doesn't Respect or Understand Native Culture

A note from Ray Cook, ICTMN Opinions Editor: The political and legal ramifications of the Baby Veronica case have, in broad strokes, done two things....

Read more

Baby Veronica Is a Victim of Colonial Domination

Click here to read part 1 by Dina Gilio-Whitaker....

Read more

For Indigenous people around the globe, far too many moms and dads had no choice, truly no choice, when their children were taken. Even uneducated Indian people are not stupid. Giving Indian babies to white families was part of a larger plan: colonization. It worked. It ultimately did change our future.

            This was quite a revelation for me, being one of the colonized....Trace

Please READ: Observations of Adopted Children: http://larahentz.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/observations-of-adopted-children/

The Plan for #BABYVERONICA

Prayers are sent from around Mother Earth for the Dusten Brown family in Oklahoma

No matter what we see on TV or read in the news, we know Great Spirit has a plan.  If adoption needs to be in the national spotlight, Veronica and her family were chosen to do this work... and it's hard and anguishing work.  

The dark chapter of Native American's adoptions brought about the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 which was greatly needed to end the wholesale removals of Indian children to non-Indian parents.

Veronica must be raised by her dad Dusten and family. That is ICWA's federal law. The families met in court today to make important decisions regarding Veronica's future and best interest.

Keep a prayer that Great Spirit will protect the Brown family.  Keep a prayer for family preservation.  Keep a prayer that Veronica is safe from the media insanity surrounding her and her family.  Keep a prayer that the Capobianco's receive the message to leave Oklahoma immediately and end their crusade and insanity.... 

 

MEDIA UPDATE:  hearing-regarding-veronica

 

Can you help?

Hague Complaint Registry

Send the Hague a short letter about the Baby Veronica Case and report that the Nightlight Adoption Agency violated the Indian Child Welfare Act (more than once) and to please shut them down.

http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/agency_accreditation/complaints.php

#‎FirstNations‬ in Canada allege that discriminatory funding deprives tribes of services they need to keep families together. So, "children are being sent into institutional care by the thousands... It looks a lot like the pattern under residential schools." We have the same problem in ‪#‎SouthDakota‬! 

Sign Petition: http://lakota.cc/172NUI3  Read: http://lakota.cc/15OQqzh

Baby Veronica's biological family, adoptive parents arrive in court this morning (Two Worlds Radio program this Sunday night)

(Two Worlds Radio that will be interviewing several Lost Daughters and Trace DeMeyer, a Native American adoptee, about this case -- this Sunday night at 10:00 p.m.)

The Capobianco petition was requesting that Dusten Brown and his wife, Robin Brown, along with Veronica's grandparents -- Alice and Tommy Brown -- be ordered "to produce Veronica before this court."

Another court hearing for the biological family -- before the Cherokee Nation -- is scheduled at 11 this morning, according to the tribe's attorney general, Todd Hembree.

The hearing will be to change the temporary guardianship of Veronica. The Cherokee Nation granted guardianship of the child to her grandparents and stepmother while Brown was on National Guard duty in Iowa this month. That guardianship would be changed to a "special guardianship," which is more permanent, Hembree said.

 

READ NEWS THIS MORNING:  TULSA WORLD
UPDATE:A custody hearing has now stretched past two hours at the Cherokee County courthouse, where Baby Veronica’s adoptive parents are facing biological family.

A second hearing, in Cherokee Nation tribal court, was due to begin at 11 a.m. a few blocks away. But the parties remain inside the close hearing in Oklahoma district court. 

UPDATE: Rather than accept Brown's request to meet quietly to discuss Veronica's future, however, the Capobiancos instead turned to what has now become what insiders are calling “desperate and chilling” attempts to use the media to argue their case.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/16/capobiancos-send-locator-tv-star-take-veronica-school-150907

You will never own us or our history or our story #Adoption

Happened in Atlanta in 2013

The following excerpt is from the blog THE LIFE OF VON: http://eagoodlife.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/large-charismatic-animals/

I have always found zoos tragic and distressing; perhaps the dislocation of those wonderful animals and birds, their imprisonment in lives not of their choosing or making, in enclosures that can never, ever replicate where they came from, reminds me of adoption.

We hear the same stories of ‘orphan saving’ and excuses for what in the harsh light of day is greed and the bending of others to the will of the ones with money and power, control and influence.

Yet again we are being instructed how to behave! I could bring you many quotes. Most of you adoptees have heard it all before and are weary of the tiresome instructions. This time it is around the concept of ownership of adoptees by adopters.

A dear fellow adoptee writes:  “For many adoptive parents, they still do not get it: you do not OWN us, nor will you ever own us, make us your own, or become our ‘real’ parents.” (Von is referring to my post: here)

She was instructed not to speak for us all and is told not lump us in a group of all adoptees, whatever that means. We adoptees belong to the Bastard Nation, even those of us who were the offspring of parents who later married or who were married. We were ‘illegitimised’ in order for our adopters to ‘legitimise’ us with their name, our adoption and the erasure of our history, which was replaced with theirs. Some of us were commodified, sold and bought for large sums of money. No-one questioned that, it was accepted, part of adoption and it seems it is still accepted as ‘normal’ to pay large sums of money for children, but refuse to believe that means a commercial transaction has taken place. We are bought and sold, some of us are trafficked, stolen, kidnapped, traded for increasingly larger sums of money, as we make our way up the food chain.


We see time and time again adopters who have spent the money and feel ‘entitled’, to what it is not quite certain, but certainly it seems to the life of the adoptee, to the adoptee’s presence in their lives, to have ‘naming rights’ and to direct the life story of the adoptee. We so often see adopters who want to keep on directing the life of the adoptee in reunion. I could quote hundreds of examples of adult adoptees who are constrained from reunion with their biological families because
*they are not told they are adopted
*they don’t believe they have the right
*they are fearful of hurting their adopters
*they are afraid of losing both families
*they are threatened and blackmailed by their adopters
*they are encouraged to experience guilt for wanting to know who they are
*they are told they will lose everything
*they are encouragd to believe it is ‘either/or’ and that they can’t have both families

Because the need to know who we are and our identity is not about curiosity, but much, much more, many adoptees take the risks put in their way and find that the threats were real. It seems adopters are not only threateners, but feel very threatened by adoptees’ biology, our need to see our people, to know them and to make sense of that part of our lives before adoption. Our identity is about us, each of us makes it up as we go along, we weave a tapestry of the threads of our history, we become who we are and we are not owned as adults by anyone, our family is who we chose it to be.

If you are lucky and have raised us to be compassionate, inclusive and you have been open about adoption, encouraging and supportive of our exploration of who we are and generous and accepting in wishing us to have the most complete life possible, you may find yourself part of our family still.

Those who have not dealt effectively with their feelings about infertility, the fertility of non-biological members of the family, the presence in life of a mother and father who are the biological parents, the concept of life before adoption for the adoptee/s, the presence of trauma, loss, ambiguous loss for the adoptee/s, and who have not learned all they can about the effects of adoption, the monetary and political aspects of adoption may find hurdles and handicaps, stumbling blocks and difficulties getting in the way, making relationships unrewarding, hard to develop and maintain.

However you have raised us, whatever you paid for us, whatever you feel about us, you will never own us or our history or our story.

And you might like to check this out if you haven’t already – http://danielibnzayd.wordpress.com/the-adoption-honesty-project


We live in 2013...there is no excuse for those who adopt babies and children not to know our adoptee experience and harsh opinions...Until adoption is abolished or reinvented to respect our human rights, we will blog our strong opinions... Trace 

This winter we will make history again with a new anthology of Native adoptee voices from across North America. Thousands upon thousands of us were placed in adoptions and lost to our tribal families and communities because of the Indian Adoption Project and ARENA and stranger adoptions.

Read more about these programs and the congressional history of the Indian Child Welfare Act here.