we will update as we publish at AMERICAN INDIAN ADOPTEES WEBSITE - some issues with blogger are preventing this

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Alicia Keys on Native rights



Friday, May 26, 2017

#ICWA: Michigan and Oregon, thank you

Michigan and Oregon Adopt Pro Hac Vice Court Rules for ICWA Cases


This spring both Michigan and Oregon have changed their court rules to allow out of state attorneys to appear in ICWA cases on behalf of a tribe (Michigan and Oregon) or parent or Indian custodian (Oregon). Both waive the pro hac fees, and do not require the attorneys to associate with local counsel.
Michigan’s rule, MCR 8.126, is here. The rule is effective September 1.
Oregon’s rule, UTCR 3. 170(9), is here. The rule is effective August 1.
In both of these cases, the rule was a result of a recommendation and work from the respective Tribal State Judicial Forums.
In the hopes this is something other states may be willing to take on (hi California! Oh hey, Washington!), we’ve started a page with resources here.

Tribal Justice

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Will Bears Ears Be the Next Standing Rock?

President Trump’s plan to review and possibly reverse his predecessor’s protection of a wild swath of Utah threatens Indian sovereignty.
READ: Will Bears Ears Be the Next Standing Rock? - NYTimes.com

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Defending the Law that Defends our Children #NARF #ICWA

Boy in regaliaCongress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to put an end to these destructive practices. ICWA ensures that tribes have notice and an opportunity to act before a state tries to remove children from their home and place. It also provides preferred placements for Native children in need of a safe and loving home—recognizing the immense harm done by removing children not only from their families, but from their cultures.
The Indian Child Welfare Act is under attack and we need your help.
In the mid-1970s, a congressional investigation revealed that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families and placing them in non-Native foster or adoptive homes or residential institutions, never to see their families or communities again. In many cases, state officials removed children because they were unable or unwilling to understand tribal cultures and societies. The removals and placements were devastating to the children, their families, and tribes. Broken families, loss of culture, and forced assimilation led to identity problems, incarceration, addictions, and suicide.
Although a handful of jurisdictions have remained resistant to its provisions and goals, ICWA has been largely successful in increasing tribal participation in children’s cases and ensuring the rights of Indian children are protected. In particular, the last decade has seen many states passing their own ICWAs, and tribal nations are more actively asserting their rights in ICWA proceedings. Continuing this trend, the Bureau of Indian Affairs recently published updated Guidelines for ICWA to clarify what the law requires and ensure that every state provides Native children with all the protections required by ICWA. In February 2015, the BIA announced it intended to take these reforms even further by proposing, for the first time ever, binding federal regulations governing ICWA’s implementation.
 
This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children as well as have ICWA itself declared unconstitutional. Capitalizing on the outcome in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, ICWA’s opponents are now filing lawsuits across the Nation challenging many of ICWA’s foundational protections, including the membership status of Indian children, the obligation to notify the child’s Tribe of an ICWA case, the right of a tribe to intervene in an ICWA case, and the application of ICWA’s foster care and adoptive placement preferences.
These lawsuits represent the greatest threat to ICWA yet. Not since its enactment has ICWA come under such a direct, coordinated attack by those committed to ending the protections it guarantees every Native child. These attacks against ICWA will not go unanswered. NARF, together with coalition partners such as the National Indian Child Welfare Association and the National Congress of American Indians, is already mobilizing to defend ICWA so that it can continue to work for Native children and families.
Stand up for the rights of Native children – and all children – and JOIN US.
Matthew Newman

On Monday, August 11, 2015, NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Newman was a guest on the Native America Calling radio show. He, and other panelists, discussed the Indian Child Welfare Act and its future.  Listen to their discussion from the Native America Calling website.

Related NARF News:

Source: Defending the Law that Defends Our Children - Native American Rights Fund : Native American Rights Fund

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Just Watch Me


It is 1969. Paulette Steeves, a ward of the provincial government and incorrigible runaway, has been incarcerated here since the age of 13.
“We were extremely poor,” says Steeves. Born in Whitehorse, her childhood was cut from the cloth of aboriginal marginalization. “My mom was an alcoholic. My parents split when I was five. My stepdad used to beat the shit out of her.”
By the age of 12, Steeves was running away regularly. She dropped out of school, picked apples, panhandled, and made her way to Vancouver, where she survived as a street kid before landing in Willingdon at age 13.
“My mother, who was 80 per cent native, warned us never to tell anyone we were Indians,” she says. The reason was heartbreaking: Long before Paulette and and her siblings were born, her mother had two children who were taken from her by authorities and put up for adoption.
“She never saw them again, and she never, ever got over it,” says Steeves. “Because of that, it was really important to her to hide our Indian-ness.”
Part of racism is who is included and who is excluded, socially, economically and historically. Steeves grew up on the outside, excluded first from her own culture, and also outside of mainstream white culture.

READ: ‘Just watch me’: Challenging the ‘origin story’ of Native Americans | Vancouver Sun
[http://vancouversun.com/news/national/aboriginal-anthropologist]

National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network


Monday, May 1, 2017

Rippling Effects of Boarding Schools #StandForTruth

“The profound impacts of residential schools are still rippling through our communities today and will continue for generations to come.”

READ: The Personal Accounts Of Over 38,000 Residential School Survivors Are Going To Be Destroyed. Here's Why You Should Be Furious.

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