Update:
I take issue with the facts that while states refuse to help tribes with preventive measures such as education, they are all too willing to snatch away indigenous children, since tribal efforts necessarily fail due to the Government not keeping its treaty obligations by refusing to honor its trust obligations. Once a child is in an established home for a length of time wherein it would be traumatic for the child to be removed, then the answer is to keep the child where it is. However, Arizona’s notorious anti- immigration atmosphere and it’s Mexican-American book ban:
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WEDNESDAY, JAN 18, 2012 04:00 PM CST
Tucson says banished books may return to classrooms
Teachers charge censorship as Mexican-American studies ban goes into effect
“Seven books that were used as supporting materials for curriculum in Mexican American Studies classes have been moved to the district storage facility,” the statement read, “because the classes have been suspended as per the ruling by Arizona Superintendent for Public Instruction John Huppenthal.” District spokesperson Cara Rene added that “the books may be considered for future use as new curriculums are created going forward. We are seeking assistance from the Arizona Department of Education to help us create new classes for the 2012/13 school year.”
Makes the spirit of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 greatly diminished.
I have written about my personal experiences with being adopted and questioning what my American Indian Heritage is here (and the diary linked to in it “Me As a Mixed Blood”).
Would I have wanted to be “reclaimed” as an adolescent? No. Do I wish the state had been required to tell me about my heritage and the Dominant Culture respected the “Red Road” like it does Christianity and parts of my practice were not illegal (like piercing in Oklahoma)? Yes. So, it is convenient for the state to feel all righteous for removing an American Indian child, while they spit on that child’s Cultural Heritage as a whole with the Hammer of Authoritarian Conservatism dipped in Genocide Denial.
I’ll give you the test. Are the parents willing to have the adoption be open where the child knows about their culture and are they willing to have the child follow that culture, giving it real exposure over a considerable amount of time? If not, they fail. I don’t get my Native American blood from my biological father’s side, but when I met my biological grandfather before he died, I told him the land was my church. “That’s (you’re ‘Indian religion’) is a good start” he said. He just didn’t get it.
Adoptions should be open, the right of the child supersedes that of the parent or conservative state.