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2019: This blog was ranked #50 in top 100 blogs about adoption. Let's make it #1...
2019: WE NEED A TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Commission in the US now for the Adoption Programs that stole generations of children... Goldwater Institute's work to dismantle ICWA is another glaring attempt at cultural genocide.
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Alberta adoptee finds biological family online after nearly 4 decades
 |
| (Charlene’s sister Priscilla Giesbrecht, Charlene Whitford and sister Crystal Whitford.) |
An Edmonton woman who was adopted at age three found her biological family using social media.
In less than 24 hours after posting a photo of herself on Facebook
posing with a poster of handwritten information about her birth mother,
Charlene Whitford, 41, was reconnected to her family.
She said that she was overwhelmed with the quick response and that her post was shared over 12,000 times.
A cousin of Whitford’s first saw the post on Facebook and added her
as a friend, who then put her in touch with her extended family.
Whitford’s birth mother’s sister then called her and told her that her mother Margret Whitford had died 28 years ago.
“As much as I wanted to and I hoped and I was looking forward to
meeting her,” said Whitford. “I did break down when I was told that she
was not with us anymore.”
She also was told that her birth father had also died.
Despite learning of the loss of her birth parents Whitford discovered
that she has a large extended family including nine brothers and
sisters.
They were all adopted out as well.
“So, it’s kind of like a bittersweet story,” said Whitford about reuniting with her family.
“I just had so many emotions overcome me that I ended up crying right then and there.” Charlene Whitford
Just 10 days after she first made the Facebook post, Whitford met
some of her family members, including three of her sisters in Edmonton.
“It was very overwhelming,” she said.
At the meeting, one of her aunt’s brought a picture of her birth mother and showed it to her.
“I just had so many emotions overcome me that I ended up crying right
then and there. Just looking at the picture of her I could finally see a
mirror image of myself.”
Whitford said she grew up in a loving German family, speaks German and identifies with that culture.
Her legal last name is Schmidt, however she changed her last name on
Facebook to her birth mother’s Whitford to make it easier for
her biological family to find her.
Whitford said her adoptive mother has been very supportive of her reuniting with her biological family.
“When I came and told her before I went to meet them all, she was so
happy for me, she had a big smile,” said Whitford of her
mother’s reaction to the news. “She was almost in tears herself. She
said ‘I’m so happy for you.”
She learned that her birth mother Margaret was Cree from the
Saddlelake Cree Nation north of Edmonton and Whitford is looking forward
to getting in touch with her Indigenous roots.
“It’s been great. I’m going to my first pow wow in June in
Saddlelake. I’m looking forward to it. It’s already circulating up there
that I’m coming.”
To sum up the experience and witnessing first-hand the power of
social media Whitford believes finding her family that way was meant to
be.
“It’s absolutely amazing and it was divine timing! Everything happens for a reason and I couldn’t be happier right now.”
She is still looking to find two of her siblings, a brother and
sister and plans to again use social media with hopes of locating them.
SOURCE
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Survivors, write your stories. Write your parents stories. Write the elders stories. Do not be swayed by the colonizers to keep quiet. Tribal Nations have their own way of keeping stories alive.... Trace
Please support NARF
| |
| Indian Country is under attack. Native tribes and people are fighting hard for justice. There is need for legal assistance across Indian Country, and NARF is doing as much as we can. With your help, we have fought for 48 years and we continue to fight.
It is hard to understand the extent of the attacks on Indian Country. We are sending a short series of emails this month with a few examples of attacks that are happening across Indian Country and how we are standing firm for justice.
Today, we look at recent effort to undo laws put in place to protect Native American children and families. All children deserve to be raised by loving families and communities. In the 1970s, Congress realized that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families. Often these devastating removals were due to an inability or unwillingness to understand Native cultures, where family is defined broadly and raising children is a shared responsibility. To stop these destructive practices, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
After forty years, ICWA has proven to be largely successful and many states have passed their own ICWAs. This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children. We are seeing lawsuits across the United States that challenge ICWA’s protections. NARF is working with partners to defend the rights of Native children and families.
Indian Country is under attack. We need you. Please join the ranks of Modern Day Warriors. Please donate today to help Native people protect their rights. | | |
To Veronica Brown
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