If you or your parent was adopted, here is what you need to do: FILE a petition in STATE where you were adopted or your parent was adopted.... ICWA gives you that right. (Even if the state has closed adoption records, you still have the right to obtain your records.)
The Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq., provides in pertinent part:
Upon application by an Indian individual who has reached the age of eighteen and who was the subject of an adoptive placement, the court which entered the final decree shall inform such individual of the tribal affiliation, if any, of the individual's biological parents and provide such other information as may be necessary to protect any rights flowing from the individual's tribal relationship.
| CLICK👉 | Petition to Obtain Adoption Records | Microsoft Office Word® |
EXAMPLE:
IN THE _________ COURT
FOR _________ COUNTY, STATE OF _______
In the Matter of: ___________________, )
PETITION PURSUANT TO 25 U.S.C. § 1917
TO OBTAIN CERTAIN BIRTH RECORD INFORMATION
FROM COURT AND AGENCY ADOPTION RECORDS
COMES NOW the Petitioner, _________________, and respectfully petitions the Court for an order, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 1917, permitting him/her to have access to certain identifying information pertaining to him/herself, his/her natural mother/father, and natural maternal/paternal grandparents, and contained in the records of his/her adoption maintained in the above-captioned matter by this Court and by _______________________________ an agency that maintains the adoption records of the now defunct _______________________________________. In support of his/her petition, Petitioner states:
1. I presently reside at _____________________________________.
2. I was born on _____________ in ________________. On information and belief, my natural mother/father named me ______________________________ at birth.
3. On _____________ the _________________ Court, a predecessor to this Court, entered a decree of adoption approving my adoption by ________________ and changing my name to ___________________________.
4. The ______________________________________________________ an agency that is now defunct was involved in my adoption and kept records pertaining to the adoption. _______________________________________________ currently maintains the adoption records of this defunct agency.
5. According to this Court's records of my adoption, my natural mother/father was American Indian/Alaskan Native. I do not know his/her tribal affiliation. On information and belief, his/her name is ___________________.
6. Members of American Indian tribes/Alaskan Native villages are provided with legal rights under federal law that are not available to others. These rights include, for example, scholarships and other education programs, health care, employment rights, business grants and loans, a variety of social services, property rights including the right to share tribal lands and the income therefrom, the right to be exempt from certain taxes, and other similar rights.
7. Members of American Indian tribes/Alaskan Native villages associate with one another in a socio-political community, commonly known as the tribal relationship, sharing a common heritage and culture and promoting the economic well-being of the entire tribal community.
8. I am not a member of any Indian tribe/Alaskan Native village and, at present, I am unable to establish eligibility for such membership.
9. I have been deprived of my Indian culture, heritage and tribal relationship and all the rights under federal law that would flow from membership in a tribe/Alaskan Native village. I have also been deprived of the political, social, economic, and psychological advantages and benefits which would flow from membership in a tribe/Alaskan Native village.
10. The Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq., provides in pertinent part:
Upon application by an Indian individual who has reached the age of eighteen and who was the subject of an adoptive placement, the court which entered the final decree shall inform such individual of the tribal affiliation, if any, of the individual's biological parents and provide such other information as may be necessary to protect any rights flowing from the individual's tribal relationship.
25 U.S.C. § 1917.
11. United States Senate Report No. 95-597, 95th Cong. 1st Sess. (November 3, 1977), explains § 1917.
An Indian child who has been placed in adoptive, foster care, or other setting is authorized upon obtaining the age of eighteen to obtain information regarding his or her placement as may be needed to qualify for enrollment in his or her tribe of origin and for other benefits and property rights to which he or she may be entitled because of Indian status.
Senate Report No. 95-597 at page 11.
It is the intent of this section [sec. 1917] as amended to authorize the release of only such information as is necessary to establish the child's rights as an Indian person. Upon a proper showing to a court that knowledge of the names and addresses of his or her natural parent or parents is needed, only then shall the child be entitled to the information under the provision of this section.
Senate Report No. 95-597 at page 18.
12. The Indian Child Welfare Act was enacted after extensive Congressional testimony and study revealed that an inordinate number of Indian children had been separated from their tribal communities through adoption and other placements frequently detrimental to the children, their families and their tribes.
. . . the Congress finds –
. . . (4) that an alarmingly high percentage of Indian families are broken up by the removal, often unwarranted, of their children from them by nontribal public and private agencies and that an alarmingly high percentage of such children are placed in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes and institutions; and (5) that the States, exercising their recognized jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings through administrative and judicial bodies, have often failed to recognize the essential tribal relations of Indian people and the social and cultural standards prevailing in Indian communities and families.
25 U.S.C. §§ 1901(4) and 1901(5).
13. The Congress in the Indian Child Welfare Act stressed the national policy of protecting and preserving the relationship between Indian tribes and their children. 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901(2), 1901(3) and 1902. The policy derived in part from findings by the American Indian Policy Review Commission that "'[r]emoval of Indian children from their cultural setting [by placement in non-Indian adoptive homes] seriously impacts a long-term tribal survival and has damaging social and psychological impact on many individual Indian children.'" Miss. Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 48 (1989). See also, Matter of Adoption of a Child of Indian Heritage, 111 N.J. 155, 543 A.2d 925, 930-931 (1988) (The Indian Child Welfare Act is based on findings " . . . that an Indian child . . . separated from all aspects of Indian culture . . . . not only posed a threat to the stability and security of Indian tribes, but also carried with it the potential for psychological harm to the Indian child . . . [including] ethnic confusion and a sense of abandonment"
WHEREFORE, movant respectfully requests that this Court enter an order:
1. Granting movant the right to inspect and copy the records of his/her adoption maintained by this Court, and the records of _______________________________ now maintained by ______________________ for the purpose of identifying his/her tribal affiliation or the tribal affiliation of her natural father/mother and, if necessary, his/her natural maternal/paternal grandparents.
2. Granting movant the right to inspect and copy all information contained in the records of his/her adoption maintained by this Court, and the records of _______________________________________ now maintained by ________________ as may be necessary to enable him/her to become a member of an Indian tribe/Alaskan Native village and to protect his/her rights flowing from the tribal relationship and his/her status as an Indian/Alaskan Native, such information to include the original certificate of his/her birth, the final decree of adoption, the names and last known addresses of his/her biological father/mother, and if necessary, his/her biological maternal/paternal grandparents. _____________________________
Signed
Disclaimer: You should consult competent legal counsel for legal advice, rather than rely on this form.
Do you need help with your ICWA case?
Use the National Indian Law Library ICWA Contacts page to find legal assistance with your case.
To find legal assistance by state:
- Use the List of Indian Child
Welfare Act Designates, Bureau of Indian
Affair
- Start at the state-by-state list in this Guide for the following information:
- State bar associations (national are linked also);
- State ICWA offices (with ICWA guides in some cases);
- A link to tribal directories is in each state index.
- Start at the National Indian Law Library's Guide to Legal Assistance Resources for the following information:
- Directories of state and local legal assistance organizations, some of which may provide ICWA assistance;
- Directories of lawyers and law firms, some of which may provide ICWA assistance.
- See several of the links below that provide help finding urban and health
centers.
Federal funding for federally-recognized tribes:
To learn about federal sources of funding that federally-recognized tribes are eligible for to provide child welfare related services, see ICWA Topic #22: Resources.
LAST THING: DO NOT GIVE UP
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