• Easter House charged with violation of Indian Child Welfare Act; baby returned to mother
1995
In 1995, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota filed a petition seeking to invalidate the adoption of a three-month old infant boy. The parents had planned to put their son up for adoption because of financial problems, but then changed their mind after he was born. After returning home from the hospital with her son, the mother signed the consent form and reluctantly gave her child to Easter House after repeated calls from the agency. She changed her mind within hours. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law, was passed in 1978 to protect the rights of Native American children, who were being removed illegally from tribes and reservations and being placed with White families. The law says that a Native American mother can't consent to an adoption until 10 days after the birth and that she can revoke her consent anytime before the adoption is final. Under Illinois state law, however, a consent to adoption is irrevocable after 72 hours. The mother had told Easter House that she was an American Indian, but the agency did not follow ICWA procedures and refused to help rescind the adoption.
"They told me I could change my mind," she said. "I felt betrayed." The agency's lawyer said the agency acted legally.
The people who were going to adopt the boy agreed to give him back because they said they did not believe that protracted litigation in Illinois courts would be in the best interest of the child.
Sources:
Jeff Flock. "Native American Woman Sues to Revoke Adoption," CNN, Transcript #1084-6. Section News: Domestic. Show: News 10:26 pm et. January 3, 1995.
"In Circuit Court," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, January 26, 1995.
Andrew Fegelman, "Adoptive Couple Agree to Give Up Infant." Chicago Tribune, Section Metro Northwest, Pg. 4; Zone NW, February 2, 1995.
Lou Ortiz, "Mom Sues to Reverse Son's Adoption; Indian Child Welfare Act Cited." Chicago Sun-Times, Section News; P. 14, Feb 2, 1995.
M.A. Stapleton. "Adoption dispute ended in best interests of child. Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, P. 1, February 1, 1995.
click
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
WRITTEN BY HUMANS!
Featured Post
Brutal HIS-STORY: A vehicle of warfare, genocide, SCALP BOUNTIES in Massachusetts
These Mass. towns were founded on the killing of Native Americans ...
Most READ Posts
-
By Anumita Kaur October 2024 Some of the 200 cultural items that the Wyoming Episcopal Church returned to the Northern Arapaho tribe las... -
By Trace Hentz 2024: I have read new comments on this case. If you have information, please email me: tracelara@pm.me It will be kept conf... -
Editor NOTE: This is one of our most popular posts so we are reblogging it. If you do know where Michael Schwartz is, please leave a com...
-
[Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Adoptive parent shares thoughts on having returned... Received as a comment at the last Baby Veronica p... -
Eric Schweig Born: Ray Dean Thrasher on 19 June 1967 Inuvik , Northwest Territories , Canada Occupation Actor/Artisan/...
-
I have been in touch with Lakota officials to offer information about other tribe's foster care systems - and what is working in India...
-
Adoption scandal exposed by muckraking Chinese journalists Bo Gu / NBC News Yang Libing (with his son) holds up a photo of his...
-
Facts About Adoption You Won’t Hear from Adoption Professionals Every November we post accuracy about the effects of adoption on the adopt...
-
Published on Sep 28, 2013 This 40-minute documentary explains the reason for and the process of creating and implementing ...
-
St. Michaels was a residential school where generations of Indigenous children were abused. https://t.co/4qpnZ89uWf — Ruth H. Robertson (R...
You are not alone
click photo
Lost Birds on Al Jazeera Fault Lines
click to read and listen about Trace, Diane, Julie and Suzie
NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS
click image
back up blog (click)
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please: Share your reaction, your thoughts, and your opinions. Be passionate, be unapologetic. Offensive remarks will not be published. We are getting more and more spam. Comments will be monitored.
Use the comment form at the bottom of this website which is private and sent direct to Trace.