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Adoption
How difficult is it to adopt a 1/4 native american child?
Hello-
There is a bfamily that is looking over our profile right now and they report the baby as being 3/4 caucasian and 1/4 native american. Our agency is already writing to the tribe to see if they will sign off on adopting the child outside of the tribe. We haven't heard yet and were just wondering how difficult of a process this is?
Thanks so much!
Jenn
Unable to conceive due to emergency hysterectomy 11/04
Started our adoption journey 4/11
9/29/11- Officially waiting!
5/29/12- Our little boy is born and goes home with us the next day :-)
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Re: How difficult is it to adopt a 1/4 native american child?
Keep in mind even if the tribe signs off on the adoption, they can at anytime come back and decide they want the baby and tribal law overrides adoption finalizations. I live in a state where we have a heavy tribal community and trypically the tribe wants their children with tribal members.
Sending you a PM.
Hi!! Do I know you from Resolve?? Our 8 week old son is Native, so I am speaking from my experience with that process, and the (somewhat limited) knowledge that I have about ICWA from working in a Native social services agency.
It depends on a lot of factors, including which tribe or tribes, how your agency/lawyer/adoption professionals handle it, factors surrounding the adoption (foster-adopt or newborn), possibly your willingness to keep that child connected to his/her culture, and others I am sure.
ICWA only applies if the child is *eligilble* for enrollement in the tribe. Different tribes have different eligibility requirements - some have a blood quantum requirement, some just require that the child can be shown to be a lineal descendant of an enrolled member, and on & on. And, remember that a child can be eligible for enrollment in more than one tribe. For our son, his first mom is an enrolled tribal member with one tribe (most tribes only allow you be enrolled in one as an adult), so our agency reached out to that tribe when the adoption process started (dad is not Native). Well, I actually found out that he would be eligible fro enrollement in another tribe as well, so at MY request, the agency reached out to the second tribe as well.
Tribe: some tribes are adamantly opposed to adopting to a non-Native family (some won't even consent to adoption outside the tribe), while other tribes are fine with it. This varies SO much from tribe to tribe but I think it also has a LOT to do with the potential adoptive parents approach to the situation, and the adoption professionals.
Approach: ICWA has to do with keeping Native kids connected to their Native cultures. I think people get into problems when they approach the tribe as an adversary, or hold racist or mis-informed beliefs that tribes won't let adoptions happen outside the tribe because they are greedy or money-grubbing. In our case, for a white person I would say that I am more equipped than many to raise a Native kid and honor and respect that, and keep them connected, since I do work at a Native agency that focuses on families. So, I went into it thinking OK, here's this kid that will be born a member of a nation, and I share the belief that it's important for this kid to know where he comes from and to have connections to it - culturally and otherwise. That's why it has always been so important for us to have a really open adoption. The cultural piece is another aspect to that for me. So I was actually EXCITED to connect with the tribes, because I hope that he will have a connection as he grows up...to BOTH tribes, not just the one he ends up being enrolled with.
Adoption type: ICWA was written primarily to allow tribes to intervene in cases where the state removed a child from the home. It covers infant adoptions but it doesn't really do the best or most effective job of dealing with those situations. In my experience, tribes are less likely to intervene in an adoption that is at the birth family's request than an adoption that happens after a forcible removal. I don't have data to back that up, just seems like anecdotally what I've seen.
I would highly suggest reading what you can about ICWA on the NICWA site: https://www.nicwa.org/ There is a reason that these laws are in place, and I think that going into it with knowledge and respect for that history is really important.
Logistically, the adoption does differ quite a bit. In Oregon, typically birth parents can sign consents at the hospital, 24 hours after birth. The consents are irrevocable unless fraud is proven, so once the papers are signed, it's pretty much a done deal. For an ICWA case (and only if the case IS truly goverened by ICWA!), there is a 10 day waiting period before TRP can be signed, and it has to be done in front of a judge. In our case, borth dad did sign at the hospital as he's not Native, but mom had to wait, then go before a judge which ended up being about 2 weeks after we all left the hospital (due to schedules/weekends, etc). Because our case is governed by ICWA, TPR is NOT irrevocable. So, birth mom COULD change her mind any time between now and finalization (which BTW typically takes longer in an ICWA case), AND in addition, the tribes could step up between now and then and intervene as well. We have been in contact with extended family and both tribes and we do not worry about anyone intervening. It's still nerve-wracking to a degree though!
Once the adoption is finalized, it IS final - mommytoconnor where are you getting that information that tribal law takes precendence after finalization? That's not true in most cases, and if it is I'd really like to know! The cases that have blown up in the media are almost exclusively cases of adoption professional NOT doing due diligence - and I don't mean basic due diligence but really, really doing their homework and contacting ALL the right people that they need to contact and making sure that everything is done correctly. In those cases then yes the tribes can step in, but under the same clauses that cover any adoption - baiscally the claim of fraud, which not following federal law in the adoption proceedings is considered to be. I cannot find a single case where an adoption was overturned after finalization that did not include some sort of pretty egregious mis-handling.
Sorry for the novel! Hope that is helpful, and please please PM me if you have any questions. If the tribe is an Oregon tribe I might even have more specifics for you...