Petition to OPEN ADOPTION RECORDS (2024) (USE ICWA)

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	PDF	Microsoft Office Word®

REMINDER: Minnesota Adoption Records open July 1

MINNESOTA!  Birth records open to adult adoptees July 1

REGIONAL- Starting July 1, Minnesota-born adoptees, 18 years and older, will have new access to their original birth records, a move that promises to unlock deeply held questions about their biological heritage. This access is part of a law passed last year which no longer allows birth parents to conceal their identities from adult adoptees.
After an adoption in Minnesota, birth records are changed to show the new name of the adopted person and the adoptive parents, and the original birth records and all related correspondence are sealed, making the records confidential and only accessible under certain provisions laid out in state law. Access to the records has prioritized the specified intentions of the birth parents to restrict or share the information.
But now the original birth record will be available not only to adult adoptees, but also to an adoptee’s legal representative or relatives if the adoptee is deceased.
 

Noncertified copies of original birth records may also be released to:

1. 👉A birth parent named on the original record.

1. 👉A representative of a federally recognized American Indian tribe for the sole purpose of determining an adopted person’s eligibility for tribal enrollment or membership.

1. 👉A person with a certified copy of a court order directing the release of the original birth record to them.

The law also introduces a contact preference form for birth parents, allowing them to indicate their openness to being contacted.  This form, which includes space for a brief message, will accompany the released birth record, though the decision to initiate contact rests solely with the adoptee.  Birth parents retain the right to alter their contact preferences at any time.
 

Gregory Luce, a Minneapolis attorney and adoptee, framed the matter as one of human rights.
“I think people are finally recognizing the human right to know who you are and where you came from,” he said. “And making adoption secret in this way is just an anachronism. It’s a human rights issue. It’s found its day, it’s found its advocates, and it is currently now a real movement.”

Part of the change is being driven by DNA and the increasing knowledge base about the role of genetics in influencing people’s physical, behavioral, and psychological traits, including genetically-linked health conditions. A heightened societal interest in genealogy has also informed the debate over open records, particularly with the proliferation of large voluntarily DNA databases maintained by companies like Ancestry that will find genetic matches with others in the database. Also important in the shifting norm has been the increasingly common practice of open adoption, where the birth parents’ identities are acknowledged from the very outset of the adoption process and open communication and relationships are established between them and the adoptive parents and the adoptee.

SOURCE: http://www.timberjay.com/stories/birth-records-open-to-adult-adoptees-july-1,21443

More information about the new law, as well as required forms and fees, are available on the Minnesota Department of Health website at www.health.state.mn.us/people/vitalrecords/adoption.html.

 

Native adoptees: There are SO MANY OF US, so please get the form and get it filed! You might be from Canada, via ARENA.

Trace (I am!)

don't forget THE COUNT 2024: https://thecount2024.blogspot.com/

Part 4: What if We Lost ICWA? So Many Questions

By Trace L Hentz, blog editor, adoptee

I am making a list of questions and answers:

Did you know you can use ICWA to open your adoption?

How hard is it to open your adoption?

How hard is it to find help, or know how to start?

MY Answers:

Does the ICWA afford access to adoption records? YES

Two provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) provide a means for an adopted Indian to obtain information relating to his or her adoption. Section 1917 provides for release, upon application, of certain information by the court that entered the final decree. Section 1951(b) provides for a similar release of information by the Secretary of the Interior.  As indicated by the nominal number of cases addressing this issue, access to adoption records is routinely provided to Indian adoptees in order to establish tribal membership.   In only a few cases have the courts limited direct access of adoptees to their adoption records. In those cases, however, the Indian adoptees still obtained the necessary information to establish their tribal membership.  

See In re Mellinger, 672 A.2d 197, 199 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1996). See also In re Rebecca, 601 N.Y.S.2d 682, 683-84 (Sur. Ct. 1993). 

The Practical Guide's Resources Section contains a sample application.

 SOURCE

 

👉In the book CALLED HOME: The Roadmap (Book 2) - we devote an entire chapter on how to use ICWA to open your adoption records to contact the tribe, and how to use DNA results. You will need legal help. Don't let that stop you.

 

***Some of us are told that records burned - that is usually a lie. The Catholic Charities and others will claim your parent is dead - that often turns out to be a lie.  In some families, as many as 10 children were sold and trafficked into adoption, especially if you were a Native mother.  Read the book series Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects for examples.

 

THIS IS HOW YOU GET YOUR FILE from the BIA:

CONTACT the Secretary of the Interior:

https://www.doi.gov/contact-us

Who may request access to adoption information?

Under 1917, an "Indian individual who has reached the age eighteen and who was the subject of an adoptive placement" may apply to the court that rendered the final decree, while 1951(b) allows the "adopted child over the age of eighteen, the adoptive or foster parents of an Indian child, or an Indian tribe" to request the adoption information.

 If you are an adoptee, call the BIA today... then call again and again - flood their phones and request help! Talk about ICWA. They kept many many records on adoptees. They can tell you your tribe. DO NOT GIVE UP...

What role does the Secretary of the Interior have regarding an Indian adoptees access to his or her adoption records?

Supposedly, under 1951(a) the Secretary of the Interior serves as a central registry for adoption records of Indian children since November 8, 1978. However, the registry in most cases is extremely limited and often times is unhelpful.  Although, state courts entering adoption decrees involving Indian children are required to provide to the Secretary of the Interior the Indian child's adoption records, it is routinely overlooked. In any event the registry, in accordance with 1951, should include information that shows:

(1) The name and tribal affiliation of the child;

(2) The names and addresses of the biological parents;

(3) The names and addresses of the adoptive parents; and

(4) The identity of any agency having files or information relating to such adoptive placement.

Should the registry contain pertinent records and upon a request by an adult Indian adoptee, adoptive parent(s) or Indian tribe, the Secretary is required to disclose the information necessary to establish tribal membership. 25 U.S.C. 1951(b). If the biological parent(s) indicate by affidavit to remain anonymous, the Secretary shall insure that the confidentiality of such information is maintained and such information is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 522 (2000). 25 U.S.C. 1951(a). To accommodate the confidentiality request, the Secretary can then certify the child's parentage or other information necessary to satisfy a tribe's enrollment requirements and establish the Indian adoptee's membership in that tribe. 25 U.S.C. 1951(b).

ALSO: Make your voice heard! Be proud to protect ICWA for future generations!

Call or write:

Bureau of Indian Affairs
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
MS-4606
Washington, D.C. 20240

Telephone: (202) 208-5116

To request a meeting with the Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, please use the Meeting Request Form

**

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will issue a Certificate degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) that shows your blood quantum and tribal affiliation. You will want to contact the BIA agency that provides services to the tribe you’re claiming heritage from in order to obtain the CDIB card, that information can be found in the Tribal Leaders Directory.

• Guide to Tracing Your American Indian Ancestry (.pdf) - 77 KB
• Certificate Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) Application & Instructions (.pdf) 28 KB
• Tribal Leaders Directory
• The Complete List of Federally Recognized Tribes(link is external) (Last Updated Jan. 30, 2020)

 ((This blog was created for adoptees like me... I will be back with more questions and answers))

To be continued

 

 

Called Home: Read excerpts

Last October we republished this book.

 [2nd Ed.] An important contribution to American Indian history told by its own lost children/adult survivors, American Indian and First Nations adoptees and family... Editors Patricia Busbee and Trace L. Hentz are writers and adoptees who reunited with their own lost relatives. From recent news about Baby Veronica, Canada’s 60s Scoop, and history such as Operation Papoose, this book examines how Native American adoptees and their families experienced adoption and were exposed to the genocidal policies of governments who created Indian adoption projects. "Adoptees do need a road map and that is what other adoptees have created," Hentz said about this anthology and book series. The second anthology in the Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects Book Series is published by Blue Hand Books in Massachusetts. CALLED HOME offers even more revelations of this hidden history of Indian child removals in North America, their impact on Indian Country and how it impacts the adoptee and their entire family. “We have created a body of work, a roadmap for adoptees coming after us. Governments stole the land and stole children. It’s time the world know,” Hentz said.

In the chapter ROADMAP: DNA and ICWA, we explain how to use ICWA to open your adoption file in the courts. BUY NOW