American Indian adoptees deal with painful past and family separations

Larry Brown, Navajo, prepares for the November powwow ceremony at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. The ceremony provides a space for American Indian families to heal after decades of family separation. (Photo: Camille Erickson. )

byCamille Erickson

The Indian Child Welfare Act has faced numerous constitutional challenges in federal courts since its enactment in 1978, attempts to undermine tribal nations’ authority in child welfare matters

Jane Harstad gave birth in 1986 to her first child, a son. Soon after, a pediatrician asked for her family’s medical history. She didn’t have a clue. She didn’t know who her biological mother or father was, let alone what medical conditions they had.
Harstad, who is Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, was adopted shortly after birth through Catholic Charities adoption services in 1965. The agency placed her in a white, middle-class family living in St. Paul, Minn.
After obtaining her biological mother’s address through the adoption agency, Harstad sat down to write a letter. She felt immediately overwhelmed.
“It took me a long time, you know, days or weeks [to write]. Even the first word like, ‘Hello,’ or ‘Dear Mom,’” she said. “It took a long time to carefully choose my words.” Harstad provided her phone number in the letter and said she wanted to meet her mother.
Harstad, now 56, would later reflect on that moment: “I was searching for a part of myself that was missing, and I knew she was the answer whether it was good or bad or ugly. It was like a puzzle and you’re missing one piece. You’re just never going to be complete.”
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14th Gathering for Our Children & Returning Adoptees Pow Wow

Please share far and wide. Adoptees have come as far away as Alaska. Thank you!
Greetings everyone!
It's that time of year again when we call out for our relatives who are making their way back to the circle. We also encourage birth mothers/fathers and relatives to be part of this celebration of life and healing.
Dancers! Please come dance and welcome our relatives back to our circle.
Adoptees/formerly fostered individuals, birth relatives, foster parents, foster youth, adoptive parents and your children - this pow wow is for you............come and celebrate and let us celebrate with you!
1. Adoptees/formerly fostered individuals and birth relatives are invited to gather in the auditorium on the 2nd floor of the Indian Center. There we will meet and visit with other adoptees. We will meet at 10:00 a.m. - 2 hours before the 1:00 grand entry.
2. The ceremony for adoptees/fostered individuals and others who wish to be part of the ceremony, will be sometime in the afternoon session around 3:00.
3. The meeting room will be open again after the ceremony so we can process and talk about the ceremony or whatever else may be on your mind.
4. Sometime after the evening grand entry there will be an honor song for all our Young Relatives who have experienced foster care.
5. There will be an honor song for all our foster and adoptive parents and their families.

14th Annual
Gathering for Our Children & Returning Adoptees Pow wow
November 4, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS AMERICAN INDIAN CENTER
1530 EAST FRANKLIN AVENUE, MINNEAPOLIS, MN www.maicnet.org for directions