Seed Beads and Porcupine Quills

the first pair of earrings I made

No one knew what ancestry I had growing up. It mattered more to me than it did to the family who adopted me. As adoptees grow up, we realize we are a mystery; sadly our adoptive family may not know anything or share anything with us about our true identity. That is a hard way to live, not a good way to live. It hurts when people call you a bastard or orphan. It happened to me often – I was asked why I was adopted. I didn’t know the answer. How could I know? I was relying on lies and half-truths, like it was better I didn’t know the truth about me and my mother. I hated the way I was treated: like I was someone who did not deserve to know the truth, as if it should not matter to me!

I did follow my spirit when I started to make beaded jewelry, long before I knew I had any Indian blood. I still have the first pair of earrings I made when I was 20. Something drew me to seed beads and porcupine quills. Blood is embedded with our genetic code. No one can alter that. I didn’t know about my Cherokee-Shawnee ancestry until I was 40.

Here is a something else to consider: “…Before Europeans arrived, Indian education taught children how to thrive. Social education taught responsibilities to the extended family and the clan, band, or tribe. Vocational education taught about child rearing, home management, farming, hunting, gathering, fishing, and so forth. Children learned about their place in the cosmos through stories and ceremonies. Traditional Indian education emphasized learning by application and imitation, not by memorizing information…” This is from Path of Many Journeys, The Benefits of Higher Education for Native People and Communities, published in February 2007.

So Indian Country taught by example. Children watched and learned. I wanted to learn the peyote stitch, so I call this an interest by instinct and blood. When I think back, I prayed while I beaded. Each bead I strung, I would pray. No one in my adoptive family ever said to do this. No one taught me or encouraged me to bead. My first husband actually discouraged it since he said I wouldn’t make money selling them. He missed the point. I made this jewelry to give away as gifts. Edie, my adoptive mother, often wore hers to church.

I did a radio interview on Sunday Sept. 25 (See Interviews & Readings 2011 on the left sidebar) and a friend asked me to answer this on air: “If you love someone you want to know everything about them… Why don’t adoptive parents want to know everything about their child?” (Since we ran out of time, I was not able to answer this.)

Here is my answer: I think some adoptive parents did and do want to know. I know some were told personal details in meetings with social workers and lawyers. (For example, Edie saw paperwork on my brother and saw his real name in the 1950s.) Before the 1950s, the adoption system believed in openness so adoptive parents had more details about blood and the child’s birth family; this was the era of eugenics and fears of “Bad Seed” in certain children put up for adoption. Openness changed when the adoptive family started to demand total privacy in adoption, obviously to calm their anxiety and fears of losing a child they adopted. To seal the deal, adoption records were closed in most states so baby and birthmother would never meet or be able to know each other. We know some parents spent thousands of dollars to adopt a baby (or babies) and didn’t want to ever lose that child. We also know social workers created stories and myths so adoptees would appear perfect and very smart. Imagine the disappointment if a child starts to act anxious or traumatized and “acts out” over this mystery they are forced to accept for life. A few adoptees told me they heard details growing up that were later found to be lies, especially about ancestry.

Another question was: Do adoptive parents disown children if they open their adoption and find their birthfamily? Yes. It happens frequently.

State systems and religion-based adoption groups still control information and secrecy with sealed records. Secrecy prevents future reunions. Secrecy would also protect some birthmothers from future judgment or scandals concerning their immorality. We also know that information collected was purposefully vague to prevent adoptees from finding their birthparents or vice versa.

Why adoptive parents do not tell adoptees anything is simply their preference, and their belief that we are theirs legally. They don’t believe blood matters. This is a very flawed way of thinking. I am living proof that blood matters greatly.

I will be answering more questions in the next blog posts… If you have a question, click on the  "Contact" tab on this page... Trace

ICWA and "Family Lore"

ICWA, California, and “Family Lore”

http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/icwa-california-and-family-lore/

Author: Kate E. Fort, ICWA, Research

A new phrase caught our (Turtle Talk on Wordpress) eye while researching California notice cases for 2011 (far fewer than back in 2007, strangely enough, and far fewer Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases nationwide).

However, so far in 2011, the phrase “family lore” has popped up three times in ICWA cases in California cases.

It cropped up twice (in the same unpublished case) in 2010, but not once from 2000-2009. And in case you were wondering, there have been 37 cases remanded for ICWA notice compliance so far this year in California. All three cases this year come out of the 2nd Appellate District, and have different judges. However, because they are all out of the same lower court (Superior Court of L.A. County), they share the same County counsel and Assistant County counsel (chief of the Dependency division), though each had different Principle Deputy County counsels. The phrase seems to be coming out of the juvenile court record in each case.

Here are the cases and how “family lore” is used:
In re Jeremiah L.
2011 WL 3964653 (Cal.App. 2 Dist. Sept. 9, 2011)
Father appealed whether the court had reason to know ICWA should apply. The court rejected his argument.

The Department was ordered to contact maternal great-grandmother on maternal grandfather’s side for further information. The court stated, ‘At this time the court has no reason to know that the children would fall under the Indian Child Welfare Act. It sounds like family lore at this point.’ *8

and,

The suggestion that maternal great great-grandmother was part Cherokee came from maternal grandfather, who was told this by maternal great-grandfather and maternal great great-grandmother. Maternal grandfather stated he would find out from maternal great-grandmother if there was further information. In these circumstances, the fact he did not make himself available to the social worker for a follow-up interview reasonably indicated that the story of Indian ancestry was nothing more than unfounded ‘family lore.’ *9

In re Hunter W.
2011 WL 3806151 (Cal.App. 2 Dist. Aug. 30, 2011)
The mother appealed claiming ICWA applied. The court rejected her argument.

The court held that it ‘does not believe that family lore, pursuant to case law, is reason to know a child would fall under [ICWA],’ and no notice need be given to any tribe or to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The court ordered the parents to ‘keep [DCFS], their attorney, and the court aware of any new information relating to possible ICWA status.’” *9

and

However, as we have discussed, the court also concluded mother’s claim of Indian heritage through her father was too speculative to begin with, ruling that ‘[t]he court does not believe that family lore … is reason to know a child would fall under [ICWA].’ We conclude that this is an independent and valid reason for the court to find that ICWA did not apply. *10

In re Christina W.
2011 WL 635869 (Cal.App. 2 Dist. Feb. 23, 2011)
Mother and father appealed lack of notice for ICWA. Court reversed and remanded on the issue of notice (“Although the Father has not provided detailed information, his claim of Cherokee or Lakota ancestry was enough to satisfy the ‘minimal showing required to trigger the statutory notice provisions.’” *18). This case also includes some of the juvenile court transcript.

‘Pursuant to 224.3, relative membership which is remote or family lore without any reason or family lore without any recent identification with any tribe is not reason to know. The court is finding, based upon this information that the court does not have, at this particular point, any reason to know that the [ICWA] is involved.’ *14 (quoting the juvenile court)

[California Welfare & Institutions Code 224.3 makes no reference to family lore nor to the remoteness of the relationship as a reason NOT to know an Indian child is involved].
In re J.T.
2010 WL 2505639 (Cal.App. 4 Dist. June 22, 2010)
Father appealed lack of inquiry to determine if ICWA applied. Court rejected the appeal.

Here, mother was asked about possible Indian ancestry, in both the current and prior cases, and denied it. Consequently, if she later discovered that family lore indicates Indian ancestry, or if she had previously known it but had chosen not to disclose it, it was up to her to disclose that information to the court or to the department in order to trigger a duty either to make further inquiry or to give notice. Such information was exclusively within her knowledge, and its disclosure was wholly within her control. (See ibid.) *7.

After reading this, my only comment is there are Urban Indians - hello! And 80% of Indians today are urban Indians! Should Indian Child Welfare apply to urban Indians? Hell, YES! Most tribes are aware of where their citizens live - on and off the rez. If these children are part of the group of non-federally recognized tribes - they are lost. If they are mixed blood - they could be lost. If their parents are not enrolled, the children could certainly be lost. Should Indian children be adopted by kin and relatives - yes! That is why ICWA was enacted.... This attitude in California right now- it is not good.... Trace

Australia Still Grapples with 'Stolen Generations' Legacy



Levon Ennis,

Photo: VOA - P. Mercer

 

In Australia there are still strong emotions around a contentious social policy that ended in the 1970s. For nearly 100 years, the Australian government forcibly took children from Aborigine families. A small number of them were raised abroad, without knowing their biological family. Levon Ennis, 42, was raised in West London before his involvement with gangs saw him jailed for more than 10 years. He has returned to Australia full of remorse for his crimes but is still struggling to discover his true identity.

Apology
“As prime minister of Australia, I am sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry,” said Kevin Rudd, then-Australia Prime Minister.
In 2008, Rudd publicly apologized for the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. He said it was an act of “sheer brutality.” These youngsters became known as the “Stolen Generations”. Many were sent to state or church-run boarding schools across Australia, while a very small number ended up with foster parents overseas. Some went to Holland, while others were sent to Britain.
Lost identity
“All the time that I spent in England I’ve had this feeling of where do I belong, what are my people, who am I, not knowing my identity," Ennis said. "It plagued me for 35 years of my life, without a shadow of doubt.”
Ennis was taken from his Aboriginal mother when he was born in Sydney in 1969. She was told he was stillborn, but within weeks he was adopted by a family in London and was oblivious to his Aboriginal heritage. He went to a private school and studied art at Warwick University in the English Midlands. Despite a privileged upbringing, he became caught up with football hooligans and spent 12 years in prison for drugs and weapons offenses. On his release from prison he came back to Australia to reclaim his lost identity.
“I got involved with the Chelsea supporters and I ended up being a member of the Chelsea Head Hunters," Ennis explained. He admits, the experience lead him down some fairly dark alleys.
"Yes, some dark alleys. It got me into not only violence but the distribution of firearms and drug distribution and on top of those both come violence. And, this was all just to sort of find acceptance of who I am, where I am, that lostness in me I think. And, my close companions in the gang were my family, what I thought were my family, you know. That’s where I found acceptance in them, trying to obviously fulfill what had been taken away from me in this country.”
Restoring dignity
Ray Minniecon, an Aboriginal pastor, says the authorities are failing to help such vulnerable people.
“The government has still a long way to go in trying to resolve some of those issues of the past because they don’t go away," he said. "They live in our spirits and in our minds, and in our families and in our history. And we carry them into the future anyways and even though we’re trying our hardest to overcome them, they still trip us up.”
The removal of Aboriginal children went on for almost a century and it remains a contentious part in Australia’s history. Was it a deliberate attempt to kill off indigenous culture or was it an act of compassion by those seeking to protect the vulnerable?
Alison Holland from Macquarie University says the debate continues. “There were a lot of people -- missionaries, ex-missionaries, people who’d been involved in it, patrol officers, people who, for example, might have had to actually gone to collect the children -- who swore that it was not about a process of diluting Aboriginal culture, but that it was about taking care of children who were neglected," she said. "And then there are, of course, other people who, including many Aboriginal people themselves, of course, who say that it was very much about diluting and eradicating Aboriginal culture.”
Robbed of culture
What is beyond doubt is that tens of thousands of youngsters were spirited away. They were forcibly separated from their families, stripped of their identity and robbed of their culture. Some have had to wait until middle age to try to find those missing pieces.
“Within the hours of landing and walking the streets of Sydney I felt a connection, a spiritual connection, a belonging," Ennis stated. "I realized I was home, I was where I belong and I shouldn’t have been taken from here in the first place.” 
Ennis’ found his biological mother, whom he says is not interested in getting to know him. He has also been rejected by several of his seven siblings. He says he still hopes his family members change their mind and choose to get to know their long-lost sibling.

posted 9-16-11 http://kantipur-sam.blogspot.com/2011/09/australia-still-grapples-with-stolen.html

Illinois and Rhode Island change Adoption laws

ILLINOIS allows adoptees to obtain copies of original birth certificates!  

let's celebrate

Starting on Nov. 15, anyone surrendered or adopted in the state can receive a non-certified copy of their original birth certificate. These birth certificates usually will contain information such as names of parents and location where birth occurred. In this case, under the amended law, the birth parents can still request their names remain confidential. Birth parents can still release medical information to the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange (IARMIE) to be passed on to surrendered and adopted children while remaining anonymous.

Forms for requesting a non-certified copy of a birth certificate and the Birth Parent Preference Form can be obtained by visiting here or by calling the Illinois Adoption Registry at 877-323-5299.

http://www.journalstandard.com/government/x227170539/Law-change-allows-adoptees-to-obtain-copies-of-original-birth-certificates

NEWS UPDATE in Rhode Island! The new adoption bill signed today will give adoptees 25 or older, who were born in Rhode Island, access to their original birth certificates.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/governor-chafee-to-sign-adoption-bill

First Nation in danger of losing a generation (Ontario)

archival photo

By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News (September 3, 2011)

The federal and provincial governments need to urgently improve basic living conditions for an impoverished, remote northern Ontario First Nations community if it wants to put an end to a "extraordinary rate" of teen suicides there, according to a yearlong review by the provincial coroner's office.
The 215-page report released Friday by the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner identified a number of factors that it says contributed to the 16 child and youth suicides that have occurred on the Pikangikum First Nation reserve over a two-year old period.
The review found that the fly-in community of 2,400 in northwestern Ontario lacks basic infrastructure, such as easy access to clean drinking water, a sewage system, a school, recreational facilities, and health services, including substance abuse programs.
This has led to a sense of hopelessness among the younger generation in the community, concluded the report, which outlined more than 100 recommendations.
"What we require right now is action," says Assembly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo.
Atleo says the problems plaguing Pikangikum are not unique. Many Aboriginal communities feel like they are being "left behind" by the government.
"Canada stands for human rights around the world but the backdrop here is a deep and growing gap between First Nations and the rest of Canada," he said.
During 2006-08, 16 children and youth from 10 to 19 years old committed suicide. The majority of the deaths were hangings.
In the last two months alone, five young people have committed suicide. The latest death was of a 26-yearold on Aug. 29.
The Pikangikum First Nation has a suicide rate of 470 deaths per 100,000 people, which is 36 times the national average and one of the highest in the world, according to a 2004 article in the Canadian Journal of Native Studies.
One of the major recommendations calls on the federal government to fulfil a promise to rebuild a school in Pikangikum after the old one burnt down four years ago. Since then, classes have been held in 17 portables.
A building, says the report, would give students a sense of permanence in their community. Currently only 520 students are enrolled this year, with an estimated 300500 school-age children not attending classes at all.
Improving education prospects also would entice students to finish high school and pursue post-secondary education. None of the nine students who graduated from his school in 2009 went on to college or university.
None of those who died sought medical help in the month before their suicides. Almost all had a history of mental-health problems.
One of the most "troubling findings" was the rampant substance abuse among children in the community. The latest statistics show that 27 per cent of girls in Grades 3 and 4 self-reported sniffing gasoline to get intoxicated.
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
Source: http://www.leaderpost.com/news/First+Nation+danger+losing+generation/5349336/story.html


Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/news/First+Nation+danger+losing+generation/5349336/story.html#ixzz1X5C31NTP

NEW REPORT: Child welfare statistics eye-opening (Canada)

Windspeaker photo

Windspeaker

By Jennifer Ashawasegai Birchbark Writer  - TORONTO

Volume:  29  Issue:  6  Year:  2011

Ontario wants to improve its child welfare services for Aboriginal children. So, the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services hired former Anishinabek Nation Grand Council John Beaucage as Aboriginal advisor to the minister of children and youth.

In his capacity as advisor, Beaucage wrote a report on Aboriginal child welfare in the province.

Beaucage said that through his research he found “more and more money is being spent on child and family services, but the success is not growing at all, and it really begs a different way of looking at things.”
He said his report addresses that and also serves as a tool to provide different ideas for the ministry and in respect to Aboriginal children.

The report is entitled: Children First, The Aboriginal Advisor’s Report on the status of Aboriginal Child Welfare in Ontario. Beaucage spent a lot of time speaking with community members, frontline workers and officials involved in child welfare in the province.
In the introduction of the report, Beaucage notes his surprise at the issues he came across during his research.
“I knew there were issues, but some of the data was eye opening: for one, there are a disproportionate number of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system.”
Data from the Statistics Canada 2006 Census indicates Aboriginal people make up about two per cent of the provincial population. But, Beaucage says, in the child welfare system, it’s estimated Aboriginal children make up 10 per cent of those in care, and some estimates are even higher at 20 per cent.
The system has many effects on Aboriginal children who end up in foster care.
“Children are being fostered out and in many instances to non-Native homes, and being taken out of their community, and so they’re losing touch with their family, culture, language and once again, it’s a process of assimilation, to assimilate a Native child into the greater society,” Beaucage said.
"That leaves holes in a person’s psyche. Young people are just losing touch.
“We saw it with the 60’s scoop, and also with residential schools that when the children are being taken away from their home environment, having their language torn away from them, and their culture torn away, there’s something that’s missing and they spend the rest of their lives looking for it.”
Because of that, Beacage said social issues arise from those situations, such as addictions.
The report includes a long list of recommendations to try to prevent social issues and loss of culture.
Beaucage strongly recommends culture as a base for Aboriginal children in care, and he says, “we should start seeing more Native people on the boards of Children’s Aid Societies and look at ways for Aboriginal organizations to take control of the child protection asset within their regions.”
There are 14 major recommendations in the report, from implementing Jordan’s Principle, to prevention strategies, to First Nation jurisdiction over child welfare matters and implementing customary care practices.
Laurel Broten, minster for Children and Youth Services in Ontario, has committed herself to bettering service to Aboriginal children and families. Broten supports the report from Beaucage, saying that the ministry has already made investments over the past year.
“In the child welfare sector, we’ve been ensuring that we are able to support the unique needs of Aboriginal children. We’ve provided $124 million to the six Aboriginal child welfare agencies in the province each year.”
To address the rate of Aboriginal children going into non-Native homes, Beaucage recommends that CAS use a different system of rating to utilize extended family customary care practices. “The rating system currently rates a household based upon an urban non-Native way of doing things, and it messes up the way things are done culturally. In the report, I suggest there be a totally different way of looking at a household and doing it by way of culture.”
Also included among the recommendations is a call for government to re-institute the band representative program to ensure families have a liaison between the courts and the CAS.
Urban families are not forgotten. Beaucage recommends that a task force for urban Aboriginal children be created to “review the state of Aboriginal children in care and off reserve and make specific recommendations on their best interests.”
It’s hoped the report will continue to gather steam, as an election is around the bend. Broten is also hoping for re-election in her Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding.
“The ministry is examining all of the recommendations and how it can build upon many of the inter-ministerial collaborations that we have in place as we seek to move forward. It’s certainly an active file and folks are very much absorbing the very thoughtful recommendations from the report and we’ll be asking Ontarians on Oct. 6 to be able to continue this important work.”

SOURCE: http://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/child-welfare-statistic-eye-opening-says-beaucage