This blog was a backup for American Indian Adopteesblog
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If you need support
Support Info: If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Residential School Survivor Support Line: 1-866-925-4419. Additional Health Support Information: Emotional, cultural, and professional support services are also available to Survivors and their families through the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program. Services can be accessed on an individual, family, or group basis.” These & regional support phone numbers are found at https://nctr.ca/contact/survivors/ .
MY EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, StrongHearts Native Helpline is dedicated to eradicating domestic and sexual violence by utilizing a core message of healing
How do YOU heal?
From StrongHearts Native Helpline
It’s easy to tell someone that it’s time to heal. What isn’t so easy is understanding that not everyone heals in the same way or at the same pace. StrongHearts Native Helpline understands that when it comes to healing there is no such thing as one size fits all. That is why it is so important to call attention to healing and to ask yourselves and relatives: How do you heal?
“As traditional people, it is customary to put our loved ones before ourselves. We do this because we love them and want to take care of them. But, when it comes to Native people loving and caring for themselves, it can feel like we are betraying our humble values,” said StrongHearts Chief Executive Officer Lori Jump. “When it comes to healing, we must make a fundamental decision to take care of ourselves and to teach our children that whatever it takes, it’s okay to love ourselves enough to heal from the trauma of domestic and sexual violence.”
Make a commitment to yourself to identify what you can do to feel better, look better and live better. Please take time to review and enjoy the following tips on self-care and self-love.
What Is Self-Love?
Self-love means accepting yourself as you are in this very moment for everything that you are. It means putting your physical, emotional and mental well-being first. It means that you recognize that through self-care you can accomplish your goals and live your best life. It means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being for others. Self-love and care means not settling for less than you deserve.
Culturally significant ways to practice self-care and self-love can include the following activities:
●Traditions: Continuing or renewing traditions can promote healing especially when practicing the methods taught to us by our ancestors. It is through our connection to the past that we can find healing; and it is our link to the future that we can guide our children on their own healing journeys.
●Ceremony: There are a number of cleansing ceremonies that can induce healing such as participating in a sweat lodge where extreme heat helps our spirit to sweat the tears of trauma as we reflect on our own needs as well as those of our people.
●Family, Friends and Community: Recognize that as relatives, we are all connected and share a trauma bond born of historical and intergenerational trauma. As such, we must acknowledge that part of our history to begin the healing journey for ourselves and our people.
●Bonding with Mother Nature: Take a deep breath of fresh air. Walk in green grass with bare feet. A physical connection to Mother Earth can lead to healing especially when on ancestral lands.
●Vacations: A vacation can be as simple as vacating oneself from a bad conversation or situation, but it can also include longer planned excursions such as: taking a walk, visiting childhood playgrounds, or exploring distant lands. Vacations can restore, refresh or reset a peaceful mindset and spirit.
For starters, you can practice self-love by:
●Trusting yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. Trust your instincts. You know more than anyone what is best for you.
●Talking to and about yourself with love. Honor yourself with praise and love for your personal and professional achievements. Greet your daily activities with a determination to love yourself. You are worthy.
●Giving yourself a break from self-judgment. Indigenous people were harshly judged by people who didn’t understand our ways. We lived in harmony with nature — that is something so special that it shouldn’t be hard to see the good in our people. So go easy on yourself. You deserve it.
●Forgiving yourself when you make a mistake. Survivors of domestic and sexual violence are often blamed for their abuse. Victim blaming relieves the perpetrator of any wrongdoing. Victims who feel shame should feel strength and resilience in their ability to survive. When you do make a mistake, understand that making mistakes is a learning experience and that self-love and care includes forgiving yourself.
●Being nice to yourself. Understand that violence against Indigenous peoples began with colonization and healing from that trauma can begin with being nice to yourself. After all, you deserve to be happy.
●Setting healthy boundaries. Set healthy boundaries in all your relationships. You can start by telling people when they’ve made you feel uncomfortable. Healthy boundaries may also include ending an unhealthy relationship and doing so may also help you to develop healthy relationships.
Practice Self-Care
Self-care involves making healthy choices such as eating nutritious foods and exercising. When you feel healthy, you are more likely to hold yourself in high esteem. Self-care is especially important when setting a good example for the next generation to witness and emulate.
Go back to the basics:
●Listen to your body. If you are feeling tired — take a nap. If you are hungry — eat nutritious food. If you are weak — get up and exercise.
●Take breaks from work and move or stretch. Take a sandwich to work and walk off the calories during your breaks.
●Put the phone down. Instead, visit someone you’ve been missing or connect with yourself by meditating or doing something creative.
●Eat healthily but allow yourself to indulge in your favorite foods. For example, dark chocolate is high in antioxidants, which in moderation can actually be good for you.
Self-love and care can include:
●Mindfulness. Know what you think, feel and want.
●Stay focused on your needs and give yourself what you would freely give to others.
●Practice good self-care by eating healthily, exercising and getting enough sleep which can lead to developing healthy social interactions and intimacy.
●Give yourself enough time and space to develop healthy habits. Do things, not to “get them done” or because you “have to,” but because you “want to” develop healthy habits.
Be kind, patient, gentle and compassionate to yourself. Take care of you the way you would take care of a loved one.
●Manage stress and go for regular medical check-ups.
●Practice good hygiene because it is good for social, medical, and psychological reasons and reduces the risk of illness.
●Do something you enjoy every day. Dance, watch a favorite TV show or work in the garden.
●Find ways to relax. Meditate, do yoga, get a massage, take a bath or walk in the woods.
●Build a sense of belonging by making and maintaining new friendships. Consider joining a health or social club. Sign up for art and/or recreation classes where you can interact with and enjoy meeting new people.
At StrongHearts Native Helpline, we understand that during Domestic Violence Awareness Month we must be mindful of self-care and self-love in our quest to heal. That is why it is so important for you to ask yourself, “How do you heal?” and let the journey begin.
About StrongHearts Native Helpline
StrongHearts Native Helpline is a 24/7 culturally-appropriate domestic, dating and sexual violence helpline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, available by calling or texting 1-844-762-8483 or clicking on the chat icon at strongheartshelpline.org. Advocates offer peer support, crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to Native-centered services. StrongHearts Native Helpline is a proud partner of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.
Source
Self-Love and What It Means. Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. February 2020. https://bit.ly/3CkW3iV
Taking Good Care of Yourself. Mental Health America.https://bit.ly/3LUXuHN (Accessed Sept. 29, 2022)
Vision Maker Media announces its ninth biennial Vision Maker Film Festival, October 10 to November 13, 2022, in Lincoln, NE and free streaming online.
“Together” encompasses a collection, group, and union in or one place.
Vision Maker Media is celebrating “Together” by gathering American Indian and Alaska Native films for an assembly of in-person and online streaming for the collective. Vision Maker Media chose to recognize “Together” with a graphic of worldwide Indigenous language interpretations of the word “together” to recognize UNESCO and Mexico’s Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2023) declaration that calls for “indigenous peoples’ rights to freedom of expression, to an education in their mother tongue and to participation in public life using their languages, as prerequisites for the survival of indigenous languages many of which are currently on the verge of extinction.”
This video is about the Horrible and Terribly True Facts about Christopher #Columbus & #ColumbusDay - The history of Columbus involves, Slavery, Sexual Slavery, Murder, Rape, Torture and horrible persecution of Native people that Columbus described as peaceful and generous.
Follow Human Rights Award-Winning Author, ICT Associate Editor and Public Speaker Vincent Schilling (Akwesasne Mohawk) on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VinceSchilling
I'm happy to report a successful outcome in the fight to correct this shameful chapter in US history. Mia Feroleto invited LAURA BRUNO to attend (via Zoom) "a joint announcement from the board of directors of the Barre Museum Association and the Oglala Sioux Tribe to learn about current plans for disposition of the sacred objects held at the Woods Memorial Library for more than 100 years.
"A press conference is scheduled for Monday, October 10th at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 12 Noon Mountain Time when the repatriation of the artifacts and remains taken from the Wounded Knee Massacre will be shared with the media. This press conference will be conducted in person at the Woods Memorial Library in Barre, Massachusetts, located at 19 Pleasant Street and live via Zoom."
It is crucial that Native communities and our allies fight for
authentic, accurate, and contemporary representations of Native
Americans and advocate for the recognition and celebration of Indigenous
Peoples’ Day in their communities.
IllumiNative has created research-informed lesson plans and guides to
advocate and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in your community. In
our toolkit, you will find case studies, key questions and answers,
messages, a comprehensive how-to-guides on advocating to your
representative and building a coalition, and more.
Celebrating, recognizing & lifting up the work of #Indigenous women: we acknowledge the leadership, sacrifice, & courage of First Nations women & girls who are leading in their communities to take care of the land & pass knowledge to future generations. #IndigenousPeoplesDaypic.twitter.com/l0SICo1ADN
With the reply briefs filed yesterday, all of the briefing is completed in the Supreme Court case Haaland v. Brackeen. Oral argument will be at the Court on November 9th. There will be a decision before the end of June, 2023, though there's no good way to determine when that will arrive other than that.
Came across this short note in Indian Talk, a 1973 newsletter by and about Michigan Indians and a precursor to the original Turtle Talk, referencing a federal lawsuit filed to have Michigan public law 750.160 declared unconstitutional. That law prohibited Dr. Frankenstein and others from digging up graves, but granted an exception to Indiana Jones in case he found some Indian bones:
Shay Elbaum at the Michigan law library found a 1974 law repealing the part about “aboriginal inhabitants.”
Can’t find a record of the lawsuit, however. It probably went away when the state legislature repealed the exception.
I do call them BONE COLLECTORS and LOOTERS... Trace
Canadian Museums Association Urges Repatriation of Indigenous Objects, BONES
The report estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human
remains continue to be held in Canadian institutions, most of which do
not have formal repatriation policies.
A display in the First Peoples Hall of the Canadian Museum of History in 2018 (via Wikimedia Commons)
A major new report
released on Tuesday, September 27 by the Canadian Museums Association
(CMA) calls for greater support and funding for Indigenous organizations
and museums as they pursue Indigenous “self-determination” at all
levels of governance.
The CMA estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human
remains continue to be held in Canadian museums, with approximately 94%
of them held in eight institutions. The report finds that few museums
have formal repatriation policies and that even fewer of them are
publicly accessible. Currently, only one province, Alberta, has
repatriation legislation. The report also finds that although many
museums showcase Indigenous-related programming and say they value
Indigenous engagement, Indigenous curators and staff members are
underrepresented, suggesting that Indigenous professionals are often
slotted into advisory roles.
“We were already aware of the colonial legacy of museums,” Rebecca
Mackenzie, co-author of the report, said in an interview with
Hyperallergic. “This presented an opportunity to really determine to
what level Indigenous communities have been allowed to have
self-determination in [museum] spaces.”
A
new report released by the Canadian Museums Association offers a set of
standards and recommendations for museums to enact Indigenous
self-determination.
Research for the report has been ongoing for over three years and has
involved almost a dozen engagement sessions and interviews with
Indigenous heritage professionals and community leaders, a survey of
over 300 museums, and a key performance indicator study of 84 Canadian
institutions.
The report, entitled “Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Canadian
Museums,” was commissioned as part of the nation’s response to Call to
Action 67, one of 94 calls to action issued in 2015
by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was
established to reckon with Canada’s history of Indian residential
schools, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their
communities for purposes of assimilation.
In 2015, the TRC’s report
indicated that approximately 150,000 children were removed to
residential schools and concluded that the educational system
constituted cultural genocide. Since the conclusion of the TRC’s work,
researchers have discovered thousands of unmarked graves at residential school sites.
Call to Action 67 petitioned the federal government to supply the CMA
with funding “to undertake, from collaboration with Aboriginal peoples,
a national review of museum policies and best practices” to assess
compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, the declaration was only
formally adopted by Canada in 2021, and emphasizes Indigenous rights to
self-determination and to the maintenance of their cultural practices.
One article specifically delineates that nations must provide redress
for cultural and spiritual property taken without consent.
“Reconciliation is a gift for museums,” the CMA report concludes.
Of the report’s 10 recommendations, one urges the federal government
to pass legislation mandating and funding repatriation efforts. Unlike
the United States, Mackenzie explains, Canada does not have comparable
legislation that requires federally funded institutions to return Native
cultural items to Indigenous tribes and organizations.The
report also recommends certain best practices for museums, such as
hiring Indigenous professionals into permanent positions and consulting
Indigenous rights holders to determine how to care for repatriated
objects.
“Reconciliation is a gift for museums,” the report stresses.
“Together, we have an opportunity to be moved to enact and support
Indigenous self-determination.”
“Indigenous communities have a story to say over what happened, how
these objects are cared for, where they are, and how they’re presented,”
Mackenzie says. “It’s going to take a cross-sector approach:
governments, provinces, heritage organizations, coming together. The
premise of this entire report is that implementing and supporting
Indigenous self-determination is everybody’s job.”
Canadian Museums Association Urges Repatriation of Indigenous Objects
The report estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains continue to be held in Canadian institutions, most of which do not have formal repatriation policies.
A display in the First Peoples Hall of the Canadian Museum of History in 2018 (via Wikimedia Commons)
A major new report released on Tuesday, September 27 by the Canadian Museums Association (CMA) calls for greater support and funding for Indigenous organizations and museums as they pursue Indigenous “self-determination” at all levels of governance.
The CMA estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains continue to be held in Canadian museums, with approximately 94% of them held in eight institutions. The report finds that few museums have formal repatriation policies and that even fewer of them are publicly accessible. Currently, only one province, Alberta, has repatriation legislation. The report also finds that although many museums showcase Indigenous-related programming and say they value Indigenous engagement, Indigenous curators and staff members are underrepresented, suggesting that Indigenous professionals are often slotted into advisory roles.
The report, entitled “Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Canadian Museums,” was commissioned as part of the nation’s response to Call to Action 67, one of 94 calls to action issued in 2015 by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was established to reckon with Canada’s history of Indian residential schools, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their communities for purposes of assimilation.
Tribes wait for Supreme Court decision in ICWA case
Rosa Soto Alvarez, of Tucson,, holds a flag of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe as she and other Native Americans stand outside the federal appeals court in New Orleans Jan. 22, 2020. Parts of a federal law giving Native American families preference in the adoption of Native American children were effectively struck down April 6, 2021 by a sharply divided federal appeals court, a defeat for Tribal leaders who said the 1978 law was important to protecting their families and culture. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — When the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments Nov. 9, 2022 on an Indian Child Welfare Act case, Brackeen versus Haaland, its decision will decide the constitutionality of the act, which has been in place since 1978.
In February 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear a challenge to ICWA.
Texas, Indiana, Louisiana and other plaintiffs argued that ICWA is unconstitutional saying the act violates provisions of the Fifth Amendment that deal with equal protection and the Tenth Amendment’s prohibitions on issuing direct orders to states. The act says that Tribes are given the authority to decide adoption placement of Native children and states must comply.
While the appeals court ruled in April 2021 that Congress had authority to enact the law and that ICWA did not violate equal protections because it is not a race-based calculation, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that provisions of the act violate the 10th amendment because it “imposes” duties on the states, according to Scotusblog, a blog devoted to covering the U.S. Supreme Court comprehensively.
The U.S. government originally enacted ICWA in 1978 because of the large number of Native American children public and private agencies removed from their homes.
The act was designed to preserve Native American culture and heritage by giving Native American children and tribes a say in what happens to those children by establishing minimum standards for the removal of Native American children from their families. The act established a preference that Native children who are removed from their homes be placed with extended family members or in Native foster homes.
“Some who fiercely assert the evils of ICWA contend that all children should be treated equally and, therefore, ICWA should be dismantled,” said Terry Cross, former executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), in 2013. “This argument sounds reasonable to those unfamiliar with the long history that led to ICWA’s passage. At that time 20-30 percent of all American Indian children were removed from their homes…80 percent were placed, often permanently, in white homes.”
On Aug. 19, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, and five urban Indian organizations signed on to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the constitutionality of the act, according to Indian Country Today.
An amicus brief, commonly known as ‘friend of the court’ is filed on behalf of an entity who is not one of the main parties in a case.
In the lower court, 486 Tribal Nations, 59 Native organizations, 31 child welfare organizations, 26 states and Washington D.C. and 77 members of Congress offered support for ICWA.
“These supporters recognize that ICWA is firmly in the best interests of Native children,” said a NICWA press release. “In keeping them connected to their extended family and cultural identity, the positive outcomes are far-reaching and include higher self-esteem and academic achievement. Further, they recognize that collaboration between sovereign Tribal nations and state child welfare systems is effective and just governance.”
University of Kansas professor Sarah Deer, filed an amicus brief with the court, with attorneys Mary Kathryn Nagle and Shoney Blake on behalf of two women who were adopted by white families, pre-ICWA, and struggled throughout their lives to reconnect with their tribal nations.
Deer works at the University of Kansas in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Public Affairs and Administration. She is also a MacArthur fellow and an inductee into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and is credited for her role in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Deer said Brackeen is the first Supreme Court case to address ICWA since Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl in 2013.
In that case, a Cherokee father was ultimately ordered by the Supreme Court to turn over his biological daughter to a couple who sought to adopt her after the court decided that ICWA played no role in the case.
“There is more at stake in this case, however, because one of the questions to be resolved is whether ICWA is constitutional at all,” Deer said. “In other words, the Supreme Court could overturn ICWA.”
While people assume the purpose of ICWA is to take Native children away from white foster or adoptive parents, Deer said that typically happens only if ICWA is not followed from the beginning and/or is deliberately ignored.
“Native children in state court deserve to have their Nation involved in any long-term decisions about custody arrangements,” she said. “And ICWA is considered ‘gold-standard’ by numerous child advocacy groups, who appreciate the value of connecting Native children with their heritage and citizenship.”
Deer said the current numbers and make-up of the court make her worry what the outcome of the ruling may be.
“I’m trying to stay optimistic, but this particular court seems somewhat hostile to tribal nations,” Deer said. “In addition, Justice Roberts and Justice Coney Barrett are adoptive parents [of non-Native children]. As such, they may bristle at any argument that questions the value of adopting children outside the tribal nation. [Justice] Clarence Thomas also has a history of suggesting — in dissents — that all Indian law is potentially unconstitutional.”
Oral arguments are to take place Nov. 9. The Supreme Court will issue a decision by June 30, 2023.
(EAGAN, Minn., September 26, 2022) — During Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, StrongHearts Native Helpline once again is raising awareness about domestic violence and supporting and honoring survivors and victims. As in past years, StrongHearts asks that domestic violence advocates, tribal leaders, reservation and urban Indigenous community members, service providers and Indigenous organizations come together to support and strengthen the movement to prevent and end domestic violence once and for all.
According to the National Institute of Justice, domestic violence disproportionately impacts Native Americans and Alaska Natives, with more than 1.5 million Native women and 1.4 million Native men experiencing violence during their lifetime, often by non-Native perpetrators. Domestic violence has many faces: physical, sexual, emotional, cultural, financial and digital. Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate; and anyone can experience domestic violence, including children, women, men, elders and LGBTQ2S+ individuals. There is also a strong connection between domestic violence and thousands of Missing and Murdered Relatives.
Native nations in the Lower 48 and Alaska Native Villages continually go underfunded for life-saving domestic violence services. Now in its fifth year of operation, StrongHearts has received more than 25,000 calls from relatives requesting critically needed support to deal with intimate partner violence.
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, StrongHearts Native Helpline is dedicated to eradicating domestic and sexual violence by utilizing a core message of healing. “As traditional people, it is customary to put our loved ones before ourselves; we do this because we love them and want to take care of them,” says StrongHearts Chief Executive Officer Lori Jump (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians). “When it comes to healing, we must make the fundamental decision to take care of ourselves and to teach our children that whatever it takes, it’s okay to love ourselves enough to heal from the trauma of domestic and sexual violence.”
“With tenacity, StrongHearts Native Helpline will continue our mission to restore power to our relatives impacted by domestic violence by providing a system of safety, sovereignty, support and healing,” says Jump. “During October and, indeed, throughout the year, we envision the restoration of our traditional lifeways where everyone is safe, domestic violence is eradicated, and sacredness is restored.”
About StrongHearts Native Helpline
StrongHearts Native Helpline is a 24/7 culturally-appropriate domestic, dating and sexual violence helpline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, available by calling or texting 1-844-762-8483 or clicking on the chat icon at strongheartshelpline.org. Advocates offer peer support, crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to Native-centered services. StrongHearts Native Helpline is a proud partner of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.
Today, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation that designates Friday, September 30, 2022, as a “Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools.” The proclamation states that the United States pursued, embraced, or permitted a policy of forced assimilation of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people for nearly 200 years. The proclamation comes at a crucial moment when Tribal leaders, elected officials, and boarding school survivors around the country are calling on Congress to pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S.2907 / HR 5444).
‘Bones of Crows’ is an emotional account of the intergenerational trauma caused by the Canadian residential school system.
The Canadian history taught in school is a whitewashed version of the truth, omitting much of the country’s sordid relations with its Indigenous populations, which have continued to have negative effects to this day. The last few years have brought appalling revelations that had been covered up and ignored for so long. After years of silence and denial, the government formed The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, providing an avenue for those directly and indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system to share their stories and experiences. Bones of Crows is a fictional account of one woman’s life before, during and after being forcibly placed in the system.
Born in the 1920s to a large and happy family, Aline Spears (Grace Dove) and her three siblings were taken from their parents under threat of prison and sent to residential schools. There, they were subjected to horrific physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of the priests and nuns who oversaw their education. As a teen, Aline enlists in the military, where she meets her husband, Adam (Phillip Lewitski), and is eventually recruited for a special operation that uses Cree to transmit secret messages during World War II. After the war, they return to Canada to raise their children. But she is haunted by the years of cruelty she endured, only finally able to confront her abusers in her ‘80s.
There are news stories, a day of reflection and professional sensitivity training, but they don’t capture the impact and scars of this institution of abuse as well as a film is able. The narrative does an exceptional job interweaving so many experiences, traumas and repercussions into a single movie. It highlights the anguish of families forcibly separated, in many cases permanently; the degradation spewed by the clergy who view their charges as less than human; the punishment for any miniscule attempt to maintain the culture and language the schools were meant to eradicate; the widespread abuse and intentional neglect as superiors boast about keeping the children in a state of malnutrition during their own feasts; the countless deaths due to disease and mistreatment; the sexual assaults that steal their innocence and fill their nightmares; the substance abuse to hide from the pain of their memories; the suicides when the hurt becomes too much; and so much more. It also touches upon the numerous unsolved deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
Nevertheless, it’s also a story of joy, strength and triumph, both fleeting and lifelong. As a child, Aline enjoyed sing-alongs and family meals. She and Adam shared a lot of love, which produced equally loved children who grow up to have successful careers and their own children. Aline engages her love of music by playing the piano and passes the skill on to her granddaughter. One must savour the good through the bad and the movie strives to capture both, revelling in the joys and not cowering from the sorrows. This is the story of one family, but it represents the tale of thousands of Indigenous people across the country, giving voice and audience to their lived experiences.
Jason Swartley (left) holds a shell from his biological mother, who died before he was able to meet her; Lupe Krehbiel (center), adopted at 3 1/2 years old, holds a photo of herself during her first Christmas with her adoptive family; and Jerome Staab, 37, holds a photo on his phone of himself and his biological and adoptive siblings. (Molly Adams / Lawrence Times photos)
The United States has a long history of removing Native American children from their families and communities, stripping their cultural identities. Now that a 44-year-old protection is at risk, the threat of regression is ever present.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 is a federal law that was passed to give tribal governments some say in where Native children would be placed in adoption cases. It’s meant to keep Native children connected to their familial and cultural roots.
ICWA applies only to state family court in cases in which Native children meet the definition of an “Indian child” — meaning they are members of, or eligible for membership in, a federally recognized tribe, according to the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA). In these cases, the child’s tribe has a right to intervene.
Now, ICWA is being challenged at the Supreme Court of the United States level, which could lead to the law being overturned. SCOTUS agreed on Feb. 28 to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of ICWA, Brackeen v. Haaland, and arguments are set for Nov. 9.
“To find after all of these years that it’s unconstitutional would require a pretty major explanation. But it’s an alarming case,” said Sarah Deer, Citizen of Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
Sarah Deer
“We try to be optimistic in this work, but it’s very concerning that the court decided to hear this case.”
Deer, who is a legal scholar, tribal law expert and University of Kansas distinguished professor, has co-authored an amicus brief in the case in which she will help represent two Native adoptees. An amicus brief, meaning “friend of the court,” is an opportunity to present to the court additional sides to consider.
“One of the real catalysts for even getting ICWA passed in 1978 were the testimonies of people who had been ripped from their community and from their culture. They testified in front of Congress and told their stories, and parents who’ve lost children through those social welfare practices of the state also did.
“Those testimonies have always been very, very important.”
Three local Native adults who were adopted into white families as children shared their stories about the effects that cultural erasure through adoption has had on their self identities and senses of community.
‘A tremendous sense of loss’
Jason Swartley, 53, was always told he was Native American but had nothing tangible to prove it to himself and others.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jason Swartley
Because he was born in 1969 and then adopted before ICWA was passed, he did not reap the benefits of those protections. It was not until seven years ago that he was finally able to connect with his biological family.
“A lot of things that would happen today did not happen with me. Normally a Native child would have been enrolled in their tribe automatically and then given a lot of information. That was not the case for me,” Swartley said.
“I was not enrolled, I had no documentation of that [and] I had no idea what tribe. So it was ‘allegedly’ a part of who I was, but I had no validation of that. It’s this feeling — a tremendous sense of loss.”
Swartley said his mother relinquished him at birth and he was adopted into a white family at around 3 months old. Because he was just a baby, ICWA had not yet been passed and some open record laws were not yet passed in Colorado, he was never connected with his biological family.
When he was able to find his biological family in early 2015, he said he was “hungry to keep learning more.”
Though he was never able to meet his birth mother and biological grandmother before they died, he connected with his two biological brothers and aunt.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jason Swartley holds a photo of himself with his adoptive family. Pictured from left to right are Jason, his adoptive father, his adoptive mother and his adoptive older brother.
“It’s been an incredible journey, I mean, so many powerful emotions linked to that over the past few years,” he said. “At the same time, it’s given me a sense of peace and belonging that I don’t know I’ve had before. All my life I’ve struggled with not being sure who I am, I think, so to speak, and I think a lot of that at high tide is from quite literally not knowing who I am.”
Swartley, who’s an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, now volunteers as the pantry director of the Kansas City Indian Center in Kansas City, Missouri as well as individually helps to nurture Indigenous culture in his community. Giving his three grown children, four grandchildren and community the connection he was not given the opportunity to have is important, he said.
In order to move forward, he said, America must reconcile with its history — both good and egregious. ICWA was passed in response to the alarming rate of Native children being removed from their homes en masse, first through residential schools and then individually through adoption or foster care systems. Swartley said efforts to overturn ICWA disregard the initial reason the law was created.
A study during the year ICWA was being passed found that 25-35% of all Native children were being removed by state child welfare and private adoption agencies, and of those, 85% were placed outside of their families and communities.
“We need to teach even those difficult parts of history. We see a movement today to get away from that — people want to not teach all these things because they might make someone feel bad. I see parallels with what’s going on with ICWA. There are so many people who don’t know the history, or if they do know the history, they want to bury it,” he said.
“From everything we’ve gone through and everything we’ve suffered, just having our children removed from us, removed from our culture [and] removed from their way of life and their traditional values, ICWA is something that’s needed,” Swartley said.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jason Swartley holds a shell from his biological mother, who died before he was able to meet her.
‘We belonged to the wrong culture, almost’
Given the chance, Jerome Staab would have liked to connect on a deeper level with his biological mother before she recently became ill.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jerome Staab
His mother has struggled with alcoholism her whole life, and he and his siblings never knew who their father was, he said. Staab said he’s been able to piece more moments and information together from his oldest biological brother, who remembers the most out of all of them.
Growing up, Staab recalls his biological mother always being referred to in a negative way, but that’s not necessarily how he felt about her.
“She’s an alcoholic, and everyone has their issues, but we were never given the chance to be connected with her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want anything to do with us; it was just that my adoptive parents never built that bridge,” Staab said.
Staab, 37, was adopted into a white family when he was 5 or 6 years old, along with four half siblings, all with the same mother, and one cousin. The only memory he has from being adopted was all of them hiding in the basement or in a closet and the state workers having to physically remove them from the home.
Staab and the rest of the kids then grew up in Iowa with their adoptive father, who was a second-generation German farmer, and mother, who was a school teacher. Their parents had two biological children, who became the oldest of eight total children.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jerome Staab holds a photo of himself with his biological and adoptive siblings. Staab, who’s pictured on the top row, second from the right, was adopted when he was 5 or 6 years old.
Though he had a happy childhood filled with sports and playing outside, Staab said his parents made “zero attempt” to expose him to Native identity as he was raised going to a Roman Catholic church every Sunday and Wednesday and attended predominantly white private schools.
“It was a difficult journey because in a private school it was all white people, so you kind of see yourself that way. You don’t see color, but not in the way that people use the term now,” Staab explained. “It’s like, you’re just so deeply integrated with all the kids who are around who look the same that you just kind of assume that you look the same way, and it’s not until somebody says ‘Hey, you look different’ that you stop and think ‘Oh, I guess I do look different.’
“We always felt like we belonged, but again, we belonged to the wrong culture, almost.”
Staab, who’s of the Santee Sioux Tribe of Sioux City, Iowa, said it wasn’t until he attended Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence in 2007 that he learned “what it meant to be Indigenous.”
He now lives in Overland Park with his girlfriend and their 6-year-old daughter. Though he remains close with his adopted family, specifically his father, Staab said he feels at times he has two separated identities.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jerome Staab is pictured with his girlfriend, Alessandra Sanitate, and their daughter, Cora.
“The only issue is it’s night and day. I have essentially my white family, and they’re totally, completely disconnected from my Native side,” Staab said. “They don’t know anything about it. They don’t understand the culture. A lot of my Native side … it’s poverty-driven, all the issues that go with that, and frankly a bunch of kids without fathers. There’s a lot of aunties and grandmas raising kids.”
Nonetheless, Staab said he holds mostly positive regards toward his life’s course.
“Everybody’s story is unique, and I’m grateful for my different perspective. I’ve been afforded opportunities to be successful. But also, I was disconnected from my family, so I lost a lot of my Native culture, which I had to go back and relearn myself,” Staab said.
“I think ultimately ICWA is a good thing. It’s of course good to keep Natives with Native families, but it doesn’t always turn out bad [if they are not].”
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
‘It was just a lot of displacement’
For the entirety of her life up until about 12 years ago, Lupe Krehbiel was told she was “Mexican.” That wasn’t true, but she wouldn’t truly know that until she was well into adulthood.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Lupe Krehbiel
“It was just a lot of displacement,” Krehbiel said. “Sometimes I didn’t know where I fit. I’ve never lived on a reservation, I’ve always lived in a white family. But you can’t prove it because it’s like ‘Well, where is your card? What tribe?’ You don’t really know your identity.”
Krehbiel, 54, was born in Texas and adopted into a white family when she was 3 1/2 years old. Her adoptive mother and father were white, and she lived with seven adopted siblings. She said her adoptive parents were able to move her to Kansas and officially adopt her there in the early ’70s. She moved to California in fourth or fifth grade, where she grew up, and then moved back to Kansas in her 20s.
Her biological father died when she was a baby; her mother would leave the older children in charge of caring for the younger kids for long periods of time; and her grandparents were deemed unfit to care for them because their grandfather was sick with tuberculosis, she was told.
Krehbiel’s two biological, older sisters, who were adopted into a different white family in South Dakota, shared with her about their lives.
When she was in fourth or fifth grade, Krehbiel said, she would write letters to one of them before losing contact for a while. She recalls one sister telling her stories of traveling with their parents, who were missionaries or preachers, indicating her other biological siblings were said to be Mexican, too.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Lupe Krehbiel holds a photo book with photos of her and her adoptive family. In the left photo, she is pictured at center in the bottom row, and in the right photo, she is pictured standing second from the right.
“They would go to the reservation and people would ask them why they had Native kids and they would say ‘They’re not Native, they’re Mexican.’ They said they would be stared at and questioned when they were little.”
She remembers around 12 years ago on New Year’s Eve when her biological sister, Mary, called her house phone looking for “Lupita” — Krehbiel’s full name. By the end of the night, she’d spoken to all of her biological brothers and sisters.
After reconnecting with them, Krehbiel learned her biological father and grandfather were Apache. She then dug further into her heritage on Ancestry.com and found most of her family roots are in Texas, she said.
Krehbiel is now involved with supporting Native American communities and educating folks about issues such as cultural appropriation through the Kansas City Indian Center, where she serves as the office manager.
Though she’s found joy in years of submerging herself in community activism, Krehbiel said she still feels she has to explain herself because many family members and close friends don’t understand her Native identity. When sharing about the violence perpetrated against Native people, she has faced opposition from family members because much of that history isn’t included in school textbooks, which has been another reminder of whitewashed history.
She emphasized the importance of continuously expanding one’s mind, saying, “I’m always learning. If I don’t know, I try to find out.”
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Lupe Krehbiel holds a childhood photo of her with all her biological siblings. Two of her siblings were adopted into the same family, while she and her other siblings were adopted individually into different families. Krehbiel reconnected with her biological siblings around 12 years ago.
What’s to come?
As part of her co-authored amicus brief in Brackeen v. Haaland, Deer is working alongside two other Native attorneys and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center to tie together the “crisis of chid welfare in Indian Country to violence against women,” she said. Deer explained her hope that the Supreme Court will grasp concepts beyond what is simply in front of them.
“The pessimist potential is pretty bleak, but that would be that the court declares that Indian citizens are really a race of people and not political. That could have huge ramifications for tribal sovereignty because special treatment of Native people, if we’re a race, would violate race discrimination laws,” she said.
“So we really need the court to understand that tribal citizens come in all different races and colors — that it’s a political identity, it’s not a racial category and that is something I don’t know that all the members of the court will be able to get their heads wrapped around.”
Staab said the attempt to overturn ICWA contributes to the U.S. government’s destruction of Indigenous culture, which is why Native people “have an innate distrust with the government.”
Through repeated violence against Indigenous populations, Swartley said he must rely on inter-community healing.
“That’s just kind of the Native mentality about our songs, our stories, our dances, our culture — it’s all healing,” Swartley said.
Read more about local leaders and activists who have discussed Indigenous erasure through residential schools at this link; forced sterilization at this link; land/people acknowledgements at this link; Missing and Murdered Indigenous People at this link; and abortion bans at this link and this link. More information about ICWA can be found at this link.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times Jason SwartleyMolly Adams/Lawrence Times Lupe KrehbielMolly Adams/Lawrence Times Jerome Staab
Note: This post has been corrected from a previous version.
T he Métis National Council and the Government of Canada will be working collaboratively, Nation-to-Nation, to develop a process to engag...
To Veronica Brown
Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.
OUR HISTORY
BOOK 5: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects
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