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| Near Niagara, Ontario |
By Dr. Raeschelle Potter- Deimel
TWO WORLDS: LOST
CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOTION PROJECTS, ISBN: 978-1479318285, Trace A DeMeyer
and Patricia Busbee, editors, Blue Hand Books, 2012, paperback on Amazon and ebook $6.99 available for all devices.
TWO WORLDS: Lost Children of
the Indian Adoption Projects, is classified as an anthology by the co-editors
Trace DeMeyer and Patricia Busbee. The published book, however, exceeds
any and every expectation of this label. It not only offers an avalanche
of information on the book's very pressing topic, but it includes a multitude
of written testimonies showing the ills caused by decades of governmental
enforcement of Indian Adoption Projects.
Trace DeMeyer, co-editor,
journalist, and former editor of THE PEQUOT TIMES, successfully
brought this issue forward in ONE SMALL SACRIFICE, published in
2009. It was a heart wrenching tell-all memoir of the author's own life.
We followed the writer along her path of trying to find answers to a lifetime
of questions. Now, adoptees DeMeyer and Busbee have succeeded, as
co-editors, in bringing together a circle of like souls, "Lost Birds"
who have spent their lives wondering if they would ever feel true warmth and
belonging. "Lost Birds" of America and Canada
have shared their despair with written contributions in excerpts of books,
papers, poems and stories on the topic. One most jolting fact, found in the
publication, casts a shadow on the persistent governmental use of Trans-racial
Adoption. Tribal methods of taking care of their own children,
kinship, have always been part of strong cultural traditions. It is all
the more astonishing to read: "One quarter of all Indian children
were removed from their families and placed in non-Indian adoptive and foster
homes or orphanages, as part of the Indian Adoption Projects."
Yes, there is great poverty clouding over many tribes which may, for those who
support adoption, help condone the practice of taking Indian children away from
tribal families to place them in a more economically adjusted environment.
The government continued to
condone the system under a shield of haphazard statistics gathered by such
researchers as David Fanshel, in 1960.
He in turn, preferred to follow earlier methods used in the state of
Florida by the researcher, Helen Witmer, during a period of racial
polarization. During this period adoption services were eager to rid
themselves of discriminatory accusations and were more prone to favor
trans-racial adoption. There were multiple considerations which should
have been respected but were ignored in order to prove that "white
couples committed to racial equality were the most likely to adopt non-white
children and succeed as parents." Fanshel felt that there
was "little risk to the physical or emotional well-being of
individual children and that these adoptions had 'saved many of these children
from lives of utter ruination'."(358)
Most adoptees did have
access to formal education, but there are also success stories of tribal
supported college students. What about rituals and lessons traditionally learned
in tribal culture, which could not be passed down to children and
grandchildren? What could these generations of children have been able to
offer their tribal communities, if their nurturing had been able to continue
within their tribal culture? Patricia Busbee clearly poses the
alternative to trans-racial adoption. The alternative of governmental
planning and financial support of Indian and First Nation child care would have
actually been the easier path to follow.
"I am Lakota,"
a contribution in the book, looks into the life of a trans-racial adoptee and
defeats stoic assumptions that Native children grow to become totally adjusted
in non-Indian families. Here, the adoptee did not know about her Native
heritage throughout her childhood. The pool in the backyard, the new car,
and the possibility of having a good college education, was not enough to fill
the constant emptiness felt throughout Diane's young life. It was also
just not enough for her to feel "devoted and proud to be an Irish Tommaney."(12)
A term of endearment comes
to mind, when pondering these adoptee narratives and findings, which has come
to be the labeling of helpless spirits held bondage under the ills of Indian
adoption. The description is of 'Split Feathers;' those
innocently caught up within two worlds. Their search to simply find
themselves comes from not having known the world they were born in. They were
unable to experience comfort of belonging in the world of trans-racial
adoption. Bravery to step forward and find their way home did not come
easily, with their efforts thwarted by closed files and records. Success
of tribal family reunion was not a promise, only another hurdle to conquer for
having been placed on a too distant path, too long. Still, reports of
forced adoption continue, as small voices cry out, lost and in despair.
Even Fanshel, in final conclusion of his early research believed that "only
the Indian people have the right to determine whether their children can be
placed in white homes." (359)
Those who seek answers to
the many baffling issues surrounding Indian Adoption Acts will become well-versed,
within the pages of the anthology, on the history of these acts that were
forged under well- known efforts of the country's acts for Assimilation.
As a special bonus, the
co-editors have presented specifics for viewing problems suffered by First
Nations of Canada. We find that a Canadian survey actually focused on
families and their problems, after the removal of their children by provincial
child welfare authorities, from the late 1960s to the early 80s. The six-month
study report was compiled by Native Child and Family Services and titled OUR
WAY HOME. The staff writer of "WINDSPEAKER"
magazine, Joan Black, reports that the survey not only shows effects of
adoption and foster care on Indian adoptees. "It also identifies a
variety of obstacles that Aboriginal people face in trying to re-establish
family ties, and sets out a four-phase strategy aimed at easing repatriation
for those who desire it."(331) The question is, will they and
other American adoptees, be given necessary documents for proving their
identity?
Natives and First Nations of
Turtle Island are the only people required to prove their ethnicity. With
modern day research, and access to more adequately translated chronicles and
diaries, written by early explorers, it is clear that Native People of the New
World were always very diverse in physical features as well as cultural traditions.
DeMeyer's article on "Blood
Quantum" is truly an eye opener as it confronts the core of ethnic
prejudice which has been nurtured and continues to stifle North America today.
Native people often say, "It was never easy being Indian!" Thus, we
remember other aspects of ethnic intrusion. The scope is wide: from
Indian slavery and breeding, followed by official record keeping written by
unknowing and illiterate census takers; to the confines of Indian schools; and
certainly of course forced or coerced Indian adoption. All of these
intrusions have remained under a cloud of constant propaganda favoring
assimilation. No, it has not been easy being Indian!
The 31st chapter in the
book, "Congressional Testimony" proves that the most
helpless, the Lost Children of these Indian Adoption Projects and Programs were
most vulnerable, as government presented a sure method for forcing assimilation
upon children. William Byler, Executive Director, Association of American
Indian Affairs stated that “The disparity in rates for Indian adoption
and non-Indian adoption is truly shocking.” He presents statistics beginning with the
state of Minnesota where “Indian children are placed in foster care or in
adoptive homes at the rate of five times, or 500 percent greater than
non-Indian children.”(183) His
statistics move on through other states which show even greater numbers. Indian Adoption Acts have continued to be an
acute disruption of tribal culture through many decades while Religious groups,
with help from federal and state government, have held fast to ill-fated convictions.
With every effort made by Lost Children, seeking out a way home, more problems
emerge. "Our American government still defines us today, using
census reports that are highly suspicious and definitely untrustworthy to
define sovereign status or what degree of Indian blood or blood quantum exists."(Suggested
reading: Blood Quantum, 185)
With the disappearance of
children from our tribes, generations have been lost and therefore, in some
cases, tribal existence has become threatened. Some Lost Birds
have been able to find their way home and have been accepted by their tribal
families. Others, some still not aware of their tribal bloodlines,
continue to search for a place of belonging and sovereignty.
The anthology answers many
questions, but it also presents the urgency for those in power to recognize
failed concepts. The book is in a total thumbs-up category and highly
recommended.
Dr. Raeschelle Potter-Deimel received her PhD
from the University of Vienna in Austria in Cultural Anthropology and lectures
on North America and Native American topics. An independent researcher
and Fulbright scholar, Dr. Potter-Deimel frequently travels for lectures and
master classes to America and throughout Europe. She can be reached at:
potterdeimel@aon.at.
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