15 years later, how much changed #ICWA Brackeen v. Bernhardt

UPDATE

15 years already? How I changed...but has adoption perception changed?

By Trace Hentz, ADOPTEE ACTIVIST

If  you had asked me in 2004 or 2014 what I had planned for myself, I would have not said “writing” about adoption, child trafficking, Indian Adoption Programs/Projects, the 60s Scoop, Stolen Generations and Cultural Genocide research.


As an adoptee, I'd attended the first Wiping the Tears ceremony in Wisconsin and met the organizers Sandy White Hawk (an adoptee) and elder Chris Leith.  Then my world changed.
I'd learn more hidden history. 

How adoption affected me: I'd never told my story of opening my adoption while I lived it. A few friends knew details but not all of it. I got the idea for a book when I wrote an article in 2005 about stolen generations of North American Indian children placed for adoption with non-Indian parents. That article, "Generation after Generation, We are Coming Home" was published in Talking Stick magazine in New York City and then in News from Indian Country in Wisconsin. It took me down a path I never expected.

I'd find new information, new history, meet new adoptees, and grow more concerned.*

It's true many bloggers hoped we made a strong and lasting impression, to impact and end the propaganda since the early 2000s. I am not sure we can actually gauge or measure how world views of adoption have changed. (If books on Amazon are an indication, memoirs by adoptees are now climbing the ranks over all the propaganda books about how to buy/adopt a baby.)

It's also true some blogger friends stopped blogging on adoption out of pure exhaustion!

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

If the statistics on adoption are any indication, the number of babies adopted by Americans are dropping each and every year.  There is definitely a BIG demand for infants (primarily because of infertility) but there remains a short supply of newborns/babies to adopt.  (I do think the adoption traffickers are constantly reinventing new ways to grab a fresh supply of infants.

What new poor countries or communities they will invade as this demand increases?! Read THIS) On this website we published stories ( Adoption Reality: Adoptee returned to Russia #NAAM (and) Adoption Reality: Guatemala #NAAM) and (Trafficking) on many countries who became the suppliers and traffickers of newborns and children. Child exploitation, labor bondage, organ trafficking and illegal adoption is also an ongoing problem that award winning Moroccan medical doctor in pediatrics and UN expert Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid says is not decreasing.

Indian Country has lived through this over a century with forced assimilation, child snatching and disappearing children. The government's motive: take more LAND (or what is on or under the land). Targeting children, the future of Indian Country, was obvious.

White people believe they deserve the right to adopt without considering the best needs of the Native child who is sovereign and future of their tribal nation.

On January 16, 2019, 325 tribal nations, 57 Native organizations, 21 states, 31 child welfare organizations, Indian and constitutional law scholars, and seven members of Congress joined the United States and four intervenor tribes in filing briefs to urge the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the long-standing federal law protecting the well-being of Native children by upholding family integrity and stability.

THEY WILL STOP THE MADNESS - They know the HISTORY!

AdoptFilm: The Right to Know

November is Adoption "Beware" Awareness Month and I wanted to share this post by Lori Lavender Luz. Her blog: http://lavenderluz.com/2013/11/the-opening-of-adoption-the-early-years.html

Here

I was delighted that Peach brought this film to my attention: The Right to Know: America’s Adoption Crisis.

 

Award-winning documentary about the search and reunion experiences of adoptees and birthparents. Hosted by Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan, the video features interviews with experts in the field who discuss the history of closed adoptions. Adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents share their experiences of search and reunion. Produced and Directed by Michael Branton and Elizabeth Snider (1990).

Lori posted her thoughts... Check out her blog....Trace

Disturbing comments about you're adopted (Pinterest)

from Pinterest Humor! (sorry we can't locate the original post on Facebook)

The Comments on this thread express the attitude about adoption out there - I did not comment... Trace

P's brother is always joking w/ her that she is adopted! Too funny:-)

I have this with the laughing one with a Dallas Cowboys star...and the other a diff. team to funny..

You could put so many funny lines with this picture! Wish I was clever enough to come up with some! Love the picture though!

My sisters used to tell me this and I cry just like that baby! Lol

:( My son IS adopted and when he read this over my shoulder he asked, "What is wrong with being adopted." Personally not finding the slogan funny.

I used to say this to my sister all the time! We also used to tell her all my mom could afford to buy her for presents were the dogs toys based on ONE picture of her chewing on a dog toy corn cob (that was brand new) Now we are best friends. Funny how emotional torture brings you close! haha

LMAO!!!! This is too funny!!!

I get you, D. My twins were adopted, too. Folks just don't get how hurtful this can be. Not whining, just saying...

hahaha! this is hilarious!

Not about adoption at all really. It's about the way siblings look for each other's hot spots. And yeah, that's pretty funny.

you would like this @E  haha

It is actually hurtful. I hgave my child up for adoption. It's equivilent to being mentally handicapped and being called retarded.

I completely agree with @R. Too true! I used to push my siblings buttons when we were growing up, and plenty vice versa. It's just part of growing up and I wouldn't change a thing. :)

I used to say to my brother he was found in a basket on the street jajajaja... I think it´s funny because they look like twins jijijijiji...

But it IS about adoption. It plays on the idea that adoption is second best, or unwanted. The child in the picture is crying because no one wants to be adopted. It really is offensive to adopted people or people who adopt. Just saying...

Do not like this. period.

OMG It's a JOKE....I guess some of you would be upset if you went to a comedy show...and listened to how they slash everything and everybody...DON'T make it more then it is...And this picture has been around forever with everything from football teams to this on it and everything in between....

No Kidding, A...is that the point? have you been through an adoption? Just saying.

I have 5 children of my own NOT ADOPTED....but have had several family members ADOPT including my siblings...and yes thats the point...it's a JOKE...nothing MORE nothing less...

hahahahahha!!!! i honestly don't think this is ANYTHING to do w/ adoption. My baby sister who is my most FAVORITE person in the world is adopted. But i remember when my little brother and i were younger we would say this to each other ALL the time!! and we totally made each other cry. hahaha love this pic! people. no one means any harm.

I'm with A., I called my co-worker special today, and I really meant he is special. But another co-worker said I was unenlightened. I wasn't saying he was special needs, I was saying he is a one of a kind. And when can we get mad at all the PC people for trying to make everyone feel bad all the time. Stop it.

exactly...... my boys do it to each other all the time...it's a joke not meant to hurt....and I know when Hansol posted it...that is not what he intended....

♥

That is hilarious

For B, A and J, they had J convinced he was adopted.. crazy kids!!

Great Laugh!

SO CUTE!!

i have ths with B laughing and the A crying. too funny!

That's too funny

hahaha verrry funny

So funny

Love it! Makes me giggle.

My daughter is adopted, I don't dig it and truly I'm very thick skinned. Poor taste

I too look for the humor in most things, and I did say that I loved the picture as it has so many funny possibilities. I agree that it truly meant no harm. However, I'm leaning with Daisy and Heather here. Maybe a more appropriate caption. Still..., love your photos Hansol!

Awww....Cute!

I guess I'm just asking folks to consider that, even when said with good intentions, words can hurt. Yes, this picture is adorable: it is the comment that can cut like a knife to someone struggling with their origins. Kindness is the best gift we can give one another.

lol

OMG! This is funny

siblings. joke. adults, stop overreacting. it's FUNNY

i think this is funny, i would always tell my sister she was adopted. we still joke about it 15 years later and we're best friends now.

A few people here have posted that they have adopted friends, nieces, etc. and they still find it funny. I can't help but notice that no one who is adopted or has an adopted child finds it funny. I know that no one means to be mean, and it is just a different perspective for those who are not adopted themselves, but trust me, it is totally offensive to an adopted person.

So not funny... I am at a loss for words but this is what a century of adoption propaganda creates.... Trace