Monday, October 14, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Help Innocent Yankton Sioux Families #ICWA
My name is Lucritia Rouse, Yankton Sioux and I´m the descendant of a once proud and mighty people.
I have been the victim of genocide against my family by the State of South Dakota and I need your help!
Help me to fund my campaign to find a civil rights attorney to represent me and my sisters, brothers and cousins!
IMAGINE YOU ARE arrested on lies like a witch in the dark ages. Nothing you say or do makes any difference to the Verdict... GUILTY
Imagine your children being abducted,starved,tortured& interrogated against you. Imagine prison for 33 years INNOCENT.
Help me to fund my campaign to free my innocent beloved uncles! I want to travel the United States, Talk to the Media, Press, Senators, Governors, Politicians, Celebrities, Corporate leaders and Officials. I need money to fund my trip and my food. I´m from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in Marty South Dakota. We are poor. I humbly ask you for your help to bring justice to my family. Wopida tanka. (thank you kindly)
Mitakuye Oyasin-we are all related
OPEN LETTER
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are Lucritia Rouse, Jessica Rouse, Fury Rouse, Trista Rouse and Rosemary Rouse.
We are victims of the SD foster service. A lot of so called ‘professional’ people build a great career on our families’ misery. For 18 years we have been labeled as sexually abused children when we were never abused. In reality the only people that abused us are the state’s foster parents and law enforcement officials; our so called 'guardian ad litem' who told the prosecutor she was going to party if “we get these guys convicted”. This woman appointed by the court to act in our ‘best interests’ was talking about our innocent uncles. BUT IN THIS DAY AND AGE and IN THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD you can only have justice if you can pay for it? WHY?Why does it cost thousands of $$$$ Dollars for justice to be served when the truth is staring into your face? WHY? As small children we were kept behind electric fences to keep us from escaping the FOSTER ‘CONCENTRATION CAMP’, to make sure we ‘performed’ at trial as ‘instructed’ by government officials!!! It has been 18 years and we have been crying to death ears that NO crime was ever committed against us other then the civil rights violations against us, our families and our innocent uncles. Where are the people with COURAGE who want to stand up for what is right, for the constitution and the truth? FIVE young women, victims of the government and foster care system ask you for help- but who will have the courage to help us? Why is everybody looking the other way? We would like to meet you and talk to you, we will meet and talk and tell the truth, the truth needs to be known of what has happened to us, our families. We have disgusting and sick stories to tell of how the system that should protect children used and abused us.
WE WANT JUSTICE FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA!
Visit http://igg.me/p/530329
Viral Video #BABYVERONICA
A YouTube video is protesting the "illegal and unethical adoption of
Veronica Brown," a member of the Cherokee Nation. In the background,
father-daughter team Jorge and Alexa Narvaez sing a cover of 4 Non
Blondes' "What's Going On." The pair, who became a YouTube sensation
starting in 2010 with their cover of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic
Zero's "Home,"
when Alexa was 6, gave permission for their video to be used with the
photo compilation of Veronica hugging and laughing with her dad.
Hearing the musical collaboration between a loving father and his vibrant daughter amplifies the hard reality that Veronica Brown will miss out on this kind of incredible bond with her biological father, who lives in Oklahoma near the Cherokee reservation, while being raised by an adoptive couple in South Carolina.
The video description asks viewers to learn more about the case at www.keepveronicahome.com or on Facebook at Standing our Ground for Veronica Brown.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/09/heartwarming-youtube-video-protests-adoption-veronica-brown-151677
Hearing the musical collaboration between a loving father and his vibrant daughter amplifies the hard reality that Veronica Brown will miss out on this kind of incredible bond with her biological father, who lives in Oklahoma near the Cherokee reservation, while being raised by an adoptive couple in South Carolina.
The video description asks viewers to learn more about the case at www.keepveronicahome.com or on Facebook at Standing our Ground for Veronica Brown.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/09/heartwarming-youtube-video-protests-adoption-veronica-brown-151677
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Good Tips: Emotional Vampires
In the spirit of Halloween, I thought you’d all appreciate some vampire talk. In her new book, “Emotional Freedom,”
UCLA psychiatrist Judith Orloff identifies five kinds of vampires that
are lurking around and can zap our energy if we’re not careful. Here is
an excerpt adapted from her book.
Emotional vampires are lurking everywhere and wear many different disguises–from needy relatives to workplace bullies. Whether they do so intentionally or not, these people can make us feel overwhelmed, depressed, defensive, angry, and wiped out.
Without the self-defense strategies to fend them off, victims of emotional vampires sometimes develop unhealthy behaviors and symptoms, such as overeating, isolating, mood swings, or feeling fatigued.
Here are five types of emotional vampires you’re likely to encounter, and some “silver bullet” tips for fending them off.
Vampire 1: The Narcissist.
This vampire is grandiose, self-important, attention hogging, and hungry for admiration. She is often charming and intelligent–until her guru status is threatened.
Self-defense tips: Enjoy her good qualities, but keep your expectations realistic. Because her motto is “me-first,” getting angry or stating your needs won’t phase her. To get her cooperation, show how your request satisfies her self-interest.
Vampire 2: The Victim.
This vampire thinks the world is against him, and demands that others rescue him.
Self-defense tips: Don’t be his therapist, and don’t tell him to buck up. Limit your interactions, and don’t get involved in his self-pity.
Vampire 3: The Controller.
This vampire has an opinion about everything, thinks he knows what’s best for you, has a rigid sense of right and wrong, and needs to dominate.
Self-defense tips: Speak up and be confident. Don’t get caught up in bickering over the small stuff. Assert your needs, and then agree to disagree.
Vampire 4: The Criticizer.
This vampire feels qualified to judge you, belittle you, and bolster her own ego by making you feel small and ashamed.
Self-defense tips: Don’t take what she says personally. Address a misplaced criticism directly. Don’t get defensive. Express appreciation for what’s useful. Bounce back with a massive dose of loving-kindness.
Vampire 5: The Splitter.Judith Orloff, MD, is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA. Her new book, upon which these tips are based, is “Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life.”
This vampire may treat you like his BFF one day, and then mercilessly attack you the next day when he feels wronged. He is often a threatening rageaholic who revels in keeping others on an emotional rollercoaster.
Self-defense tips: Establish boundaries and be solution-oriented. Avoid skirmishes, refuse to take sides, and avoid eye contact when he’s raging at you. Visualize a protective shield around you when you’re being emotionally attacked.
I recommend you read this too: Grown Weary
Friday, October 11, 2013
The Daily Bastardette: Bloody but Unbowed: Dusten Brown Shows His Stuff
The Daily Bastardette: Bloody but Unbowed: Dusten Brown Shows His Stuff
I wanted to share this blog post - Marley shares my views.
Many of us see it this way: Adoption is trafficking in children. Billions of dollars are made internationally selling babies each year. Their sealing our adoption files and changing and falsifying our birth certificates makes adoptees disappear on paper, concealing our identity. Finding our way back to our families of origin and tribal nations is not easy with these archaic laws. Veronica Brown's case shined a light on adoption in a very big way - so now we can ALL see it....now we cannot NOT see it... adoption needs to change and be abolished...Trace
Tribal leaders share their views Here
I wanted to share this blog post - Marley shares my views.
Many of us see it this way: Adoption is trafficking in children. Billions of dollars are made internationally selling babies each year. Their sealing our adoption files and changing and falsifying our birth certificates makes adoptees disappear on paper, concealing our identity. Finding our way back to our families of origin and tribal nations is not easy with these archaic laws. Veronica Brown's case shined a light on adoption in a very big way - so now we can ALL see it....now we cannot NOT see it... adoption needs to change and be abolished...TraceTribal leaders share their views Here
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Dusten Brown to stop custody fight #BABYVERONICA
Baby Veronica case: Dusten Brown to stop custody fight for Veronica
The girl’s biological father spoke for the first time since he gave up custody Sept. 23.
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From left, Robin Brown, Chrissi Nimmo the assistant attorney general for the Cherokee Nation and Dusten Brown announcing no more litigation in the Baby Veronica case Thursday in Tulsa. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World |
Posted: Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ending a custody battle that stretched across two states and
dragged on for nearly four years, Dusten Brown will drop all litigation
in the "Baby Veronica" case, he announced Thursday.
"I cannot bear to continue it any longer," Brown said, holding back tears. "I love her too much to continue to have her in the spotlight."
"I cannot bear to continue it any longer," Brown said, holding back tears. "I love her too much to continue to have her in the spotlight."
With no realistic chance
of getting the 4-year-old girl back from her adoptive parents in South
Carolina, Brown and the Cherokee Nation called a press conference to
explain why they would dismiss their appeals with the Oklahoma Supreme
Court.
Brown faced difficult decisions that "no father should ever have to make," he said.
"The most difficult decision of all was to let Veronica go with Matt and Melanie Capobianco last month," Brown said.
"It was no longer fair
for Veronica to be in the middle of a battle. It was the love for my
daughter that finally gave me the strength to let go of things I can no
longer control."
The decision came 17 days
after Brown handed the girl over to the Capobiancos, who took Veronica
back to the suburbs of Charleston, where they had raised her for the
first two years of her life.
The handover came after
several weeks of court hearings in more than half a dozen counties
across Oklahoma as Brown and his tribe tried to fight court orders from
South Carolina to change custody.
The state Supreme Court
initially agreed to keep Veronica in Oklahoma while the appeals went
forward. But the justices reversed the ruling Sept. 23, and Brown handed
over the girl within hours.
Brown broke down several times while reading his statement, part of which was addressed to his daughter.
"One day you will read
about this time in your life. Never, ever for one second," he said,
pausing as he choked back tears. "Never, ever for one second doubt how
much I love you, how hard I fought for you or how much you mean to me."
Brown still faces a
felony complaint in South Carolina for not handing over Veronica sooner.
And both Brown and the Cherokee Nation are facing contempt of court
proceedings, in which the Capobiancos have asked to be compensated for
legal fees and other expenses.
A tribal attorney called
on the Capobiancos to drop the contempt of court proceedings and to use
their influence to have the criminal charges dropped, too.
"We're asking you to listen to your heart," Chrissi Nimmo said, "and do the right thing."
While it was Brown's decision to end the legal battle, the tribe supported it, she said.
"We lost that legal
battle," Nimmo said. "And now the best thing for Veronica is for the
litigation to end and the healing to begin."
Brown won custody of
Veronica in 2011 after courts in South Carolina ruled that he hadn't
given "voluntary consent" to the adoption, as required under the federal
Indian Child Welfare Act, which was intended to keep Native American
children with their tribes.
The U.S. Supreme Court,
however, ruled this summer that ICWA didn't apply in this case, because
Brown hadn't had custody of Veronica at birth.
Courts in South Carolina
then demanded that Brown give Veronica back to the Capobiancos, which he
refused to do for several weeks while appealing the decision in
Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, a coalition of Indian rights groups has dropped a federal lawsuit on Veronica's behalf.
The Native American
Rights Fund and other groups were accusing South Carolina of violating
Veronica's civil rights by taking her away from her tribe and biological
family without a "best interest" hearing.
Officials wouldn't comment on why they dropped the lawsuit.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
A Glimmer of Hope #ICWA #BABYVERONICA
In recent days, because of the Baby V case and all the publicity and drama that ensued and the unjust decisions to hand Ronnie over to the SC adopters, she is still a Cherokee child and a sovereign citizen of her nation. Judges everywhere should preside and rule by the Indian Child Welfare Act, and case by case recognize that Indian children are everywhere, not only on reservations. American Indian children need to be protected and raised by their tribal kin. ICWA is still a valid standing federal law. Read this case (below). Last night I was a guest on John Kane's Let's Talk Native. One of the things he asked, is there anything for Dusten to do to get Ronnie back? I answered that if there are improprieties or collusion or another court finds that Nightlight Adoption Agency and those in the law profession acted improperly or illegally, then there is still a glimmer of hope. Because of Ronnie Brown, this hope exists and discussion continues around the world!... Trace
Podcast: LISTEN
A Positive ICWA Case Out of California
We almost never see a positive case out of California. Here is one (In re C.S.), and the words of the juvenile referee Sobel from state court:
The court granted the section 388 petitions filed by mother and father, concluding, “We have an American Indian child. That’s different. We have siblings who are with relatives. That’s different. We have a new baby who has been safely in the mother’s care since the [non-detain] petition was filed. That’s different. So, when you say that the children who are placed with foster parents at birth, that is their parent, the parent that is there night and day, you are correct, in every case, that’s correct. But the point of this is what happens to parents in the part that we call reunification? Where at some point do the parents earn the right to become those people? Where is that transference into being able to be a parent? Now, with the two other children . . . , they are with relatives. Those relatives are glad to step back and be relatives. If they need to adopt, they will. But the fact is they are grandparents. They prefer to be grandparents. I have two parents in complete compliance with their original case plan and American Indian. As to [C.’s older sibling and half-sibling], there’s no question there are changed circumstances here. The issue is best interest and I find it’s in the best interest of [the older sibling and half-sibling] to grant the 388 and place the children home of parents: mom for [the half-sibling and sibling], dad and mom for [the sibling]. We’ve already taken [the baby] off the track [by dismissing the non-detain petition as to her]. . . . [C.] is American Indian. She has three siblings. Those siblings are going home. . . . I am telling you, from my heart, an American Indian child belongs in an American Indian home, especially when that home has siblings in it and parents who are appropriate. There is no question that ICWA requires that I do what is right under ICWA; that I do what’s right for this family, understanding and knowing that C. loves [her de facto parents] both as a primary attachment. . . . I’m granting mother[’s] and father’s 388 as to C., finding there are changed circumstances and that it is in the child’s best interest to be returned to her parents.”
Monday, October 7, 2013
Troy the Locator on #BABYVERONICA
A post from THE LIFE OF VON
Troy the Boy
Interesting. Of course you all know who the ‘she’ is here and the case being referred to. I think Troy has since found that it wasn’t just your Blogger and the lawyers who have a view on appropriate parenting and I hear that he is back peddling as fast as he can go. I hope it has been a learning experience for him and that he hasn’t wasted the opportunity. It might be too much to expect that he could change his mind and support parenting by biological parents and the rights of children!
Learning experiences!
Read her post here: troy-the-boy
So this is their PR campaign saying Dusten abandoned his pregnant girlfriend - which is total crap - Christy broke up with him and signed a cash deal with the adoption agency... Twisting the truth is so convenient and the courts bought it. Let this be a lesson for those young men and women who are expecting a baby and get trapped by the $13 billion dollar adoption cartel - they will sell your kid to the highest bidder and get away with it... Trace
And last Tuesday night I did a two hour interview with Gia Scott on adoption, being adopted and history:
Listen now: http://media.podcastingmanager.com/64024-83474/Media/Dawn-of-Shades-Gia-Scott-10-01-13.mp3
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Adopting a Child in America: What “Baby Veronica” Teaches Us About the Adoption Process
Previously: Veronica Brown and the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Though she is now a walking, talking preschooler, the headline read, “Baby Veronica Handed Over to Adoptive Parents.”
On the night of Monday September 23, 2013, Veronica Brown
was removed from the care of her biological father and transferred to
the custody of the couple who wanted her. The case that started in South
Carolina Family Court as “Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl,” went
all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States and back to
Oklahoma, seems to be fading from the media spotlight for now. Left
behind in its wake are supporters and protesters on both sides, and
perhaps an insight into some of the costs of the adoption process in
America.
Adoption is supposed to be about providing a home for a
child that needs one. All children have the right to be cared for
someone who loves and wants them. It’s generally understood that there
are times when being cared for by his or her genetic parents is not in a
child’s best interests; in some of these cases, an adoptive family can
be a wonderful source of permanency and support. However, it was quite
clear that Veronica did have a home where she was loved and cared for by
her father. It was obvious by his actions as he fought for the right to
care for her. Veronica did not need an adoptive home. So what went
wrong? How did this story of two families fighting over one little girl
even happen?
And a discussion here: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/10/04/why-adoption-needs-to-play-a-bigger-role-in-the-reproductive-justice-conversation/
My friend and co-author Patricia Busbee and I are now planning a new book DEAR VERONICA with your letters and thoughts about her and this case. If you are interested, please send an email to: tracedemeyer@yahoo.com. ...Trace
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Petition to put fathers names back on original birth registrations for Ontario adoptees
“From 1960 to 1980, unwed father's names were illegally removed/omitted by the Ontario government. Many parents were illegally denied the right to name the father despite the law at the time allowing them to. Father's gave their consent. Many of these people are Aboriginal adoptees who were wrongly taken from their families. The UN has now asked the Ontario government TWICE to restore these names of adoptees as it affects Aboriginal rights. The UN Special Rapporteur Professor Anaya is disgusted that the Ontario government still refuses to do so, hurting Aboriginal families. Many parents still want the names put back for adoptees and many fathers are still giving their consent to do so.”Please vote YES on this issue and share widely. The more votes we can get the better. She is trying to get the government to restore the illegally removed/omitted unwed father's names back onto the original birth registrations of adoptees. To get the Ontario government to notice, we have to give this post as many YES votes as possible.
“Please restore these names as the UN has requested. Otherwise, how can this be fair and just to those who are being punished simply for being adopted? They are being denied human rights that the UN has said numerous times that they are entitled to and that all other Canadians enjoy.”
To find the post, register then just type in "adoptee" or "birth registrations" and vote on the post when you locate it.
Here is the link for that. Many thanks for your support. ~ Cat Hen
- For more information on that, here is the UN report submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The report can be found in the 4th column from the left. It is called "Canada Looking in Ontario".
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/crcs61.htm
The UN Human Rights Council also told both the Provincial and Federal government to put these names back. Both levels of government still continue to completely disregard the UN recommendation. Both governments are in violation of Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This also violates the Canadian Charter of Rights (on discrimination based on birth status), the Ontario Human Rights Code (being denied a government service), the UN Declaration on Human Rights, Articles 2, 7 and 25 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, Article 8.
Haley drops effort to extradite Dusten Brown from Oklahoma in Veronica case
 |
| Trace will be a guest discussing this case on Sunday night |
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is dropping her request to extradite Dusten Brown, the biological father of Ronnie Brown, the little Cherokee girl placed in a private adoption which is a clear violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Despite this, Dusten could still face a charge of custodial interference.
Dusten Brown had been scheduled to appear Thursday in an Oklahoma county court to face extradition to South Carolina. Brown was charged in August with custodial interference for failing to hand over 4-year-old Veronica to adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco of James Island, S.C.
Last Monday Brown handed over his daughter to the Capobiancos after the Oklahoma Supreme Court lifted an emergency stay that had kept Veronica in Oklahoma. There have been no sightings of the Capobiancos and Veronica on James Island and no word on when they might return.
Brown of Nowata, Okla., could still face the charge if he ever goes to South Carolina. This could prevent him from visiting his daughter if the Capobiancos would even allow it.
The Cherokee Nation released this statement:
“We are pleased that Governor Haley has withdrawn her request for extradition and see this as a step in the right direction for all involved.” -Todd Hembree, Cherokee Nation Attorney General
Read more here: news update
THE AP contributed to this story.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Native Adoptee Susan Fedorko: Veronica’s 'Lost Bird Wings' Will Fly Her Back
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| Susan Fedorko's first book, Cricket: Secret Child of a Sixties Supermodel |
10/1/13
Susan Fedorko was 40 years old when she found her birth family—or rather, when a long-lost sister found her. Her first book, Cricket: Secret Child of a Sixties Supermodel (Outskirts Press, 2012) chronicles Fedorko’s journey from Native American adoptee-turned “white” mother and wife, to a person reunited with her extended family. That family hails from the Grand Portage Indian Reservation people on her mother’s side and the White Earth Nation on her father’s, both Chippewa/Ojibwe. In an unexpected twist, Fedorko discovered that just a few years after her birth, her birth mother—Cathee Dahmen—had become an immensely popular supermodel, probably the first Native American woman to attain that status.
RELATED: Reclaiming her Identity: A Conversation With Native Adoptee and Author Susan Fedorko
Fedorko sent Indian Country Today Media Network the below gripping open letter to Veronica Brown's adoptive parents Matt and Melanie Capobianco.
By Susan Fedorko:
My heart is heavy for Dusten Brown and the entire Cherokee Nation/Native American people.
He has done everything right he could do to keep his biological daughter Veronica.
I am a Native American adoptee who was adopted prior to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. I spent my entire life trying to return to my Native people. I finally returned at the age of 40.
These things we do know about what Veronica will likely endure as an adoptee:
1. She will most likely constantly be challenged with her identity. She knows who her biological father is. On paper, her father may be Matt Capobianco. But in heart and soul it is Dusten Brown.
2. She will most likely never trust again. You have ripped her away from her father and step mother and sibling.
3. She will most likely yearn to be accepted. Relocating her from her biological family will leave her “unsure” where she belongs.
4. She will most likely be reminded that she is an adoptee all her childhood years. School age children will serve as a reminder that she is different from the other kids.
My heart aches that Veronica will not be exposed to her Indian language and customs. These traditions and customs should be a part of her life as a Cherokee child. She should be able to dance and pray—it is her birth-given right that you have stolen from her. This child should have never been rendered as “adoptable”; she has a loving father and family.
The Native American community has been run over once again, cast aside without regard. Veronica Brown is of Native American decent, and her civil rights as Native have been violated. The rest of America just stands by and watches a non-Native couple steal her away from her father who was determined fit to raise her.
She will one day become a teenager, and then adult Veronica. Her Lost Bird Wings will find her way back to Oklahoma.
Undoubtedly you will have 14 years with her—14 years of pretending to be her parents. It was obvious that Veronica was a member of a perfectly loving family. I just do not understand this degree of selfishness—to take one man’s biological daughter away from him, when clearly they were meant to be together. What are we missing when a non-Native couple can waltz in and claim our Indian children?
I am a Native American adoptee who wishes that I had someone fighting for me as diligently as Dusten Brown has fought for his daughter.
Adoption is not for the weak. I have survived it, and if there is one thing that I have learned it is that Native blood does not wash away, regardless of how much other blood runs through our veins. We are proud Indian people. I am sure that Veronica will return home to stay after learning of the circumstances that led her away from her biological father.
I hope in the future our Indian Child Welfare laws will be enforced to protect our Indian children. To protect them from being planted into another non-Native family.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/01/native-adoptee-susan-fedorko-veronicas-lost-bird-wings-will-fly-her-back-151513 Suzie also wrote a narrative in the anthology TWO WORLDS: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects. Both her memoir and the anthology are available on Amazon.com.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
UPDATE: What happened to RONNIE BROWN and ICWA? (edited)
By Trace A. DeMeyer
Last night at Western New England University Law School, the panel (Dr. Atwood, Dr. Briggs and I) were asked if the INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT of 1978 (ICWA) is failing to protect Indian children.
HECK! This federal law (and courts who administer it) failed RONNIE BROWN, right? She's been adopted by non-Indians!
New allegations unconfirmed about Baby Veronica. (SOURCE: http://jlhardee.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/judge-daniel-e-martin-jr-of-charleston-sc-under-investigation-for-baby-veronica-case/)
Back to last night:
ICWA has strong language, clear language and has been federal law since 1978. These COURTS took a child who is Cherokee and placed her with non-Indians, which is a clear violation of ICWA. (It appears a few justices on the Supreme Court and the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare and Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency do not like ICWA as the law either.)
These clever lawyers violated a federal law and an innocent child was forced into a stranger adoption. The public relations campaign by Jessica Munday to SAVE VERONICA was intended to thwart ICWA, too, and it wildly succeeded by their accounts.
ICWA is no joke. It's part of righting a wrong on Indian families. ICWA is making amends for a century of government-sanctioned child-snatching by people who hoped to dis-empower Indians by destroying future generations - ultimately to destroy tribal sovereignty. Thousands of children were placed in closed adoptions. Some tribes lost all their children. It's easy to dismiss this if you never read about the history or met an adoptee who is American Indian or First Nations.
I realized last night that these law students don't know the reason or the history of ICWA - NONE of it. Maybe the Supreme Court missed it in their law school too. Maybe they didn't read about what led to the passage of ICWA, this necessary and needed federal law.
(Go to NARF.ORG for the ICWA testimony) (I included some in One Small Sacrifice and Two Worlds.)
Is ICWA working in South Dakota today? No.
Talk to Janice Howe, a Lakota grandmother, who will tell you of the outright racism and blatant violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act that rip apart Native families in South Dakota. Native grandmothers, who have a natural and federal right to their grandchildren by ICWA, are denied custody and ignored every day. Instead, their grandchildren enter a network of state and state-contracted institutions, at taxpayers expense.
Read this follow-up report and comments on NPR's investigation in South Dakota: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2013/08/13/211654459/s-dakota-indian-foster-care-listening-to-your-responses
Monday, September 30, 2013
Deconstructing the Baby Veronica Case
Implications for Working with Fathers in Indian Child Welfare Practice
Event Details
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2013Time: 8:30 am–4:00 pm
Place: McNamara Alumni Center
University of Minnesota
Agenda
Federal and state laws, as well as agency policies and practice, play a significant role in how we work with fathers in Indian child welfare practice. In this forum, speakers and panelists with differing viewpoints will analyze the legal context of the "Baby Veronica" case for a closer look at father involvement. Practice strategies and policy recommendations will be a focal point.
Breakfast and lunch will be served and light snacks will be available throughout the day.
6 Board of Social Work CEUs will be available. CLEs have been applied for.
Presenters
Judge William ThorneUtah Court of Appeals
Chrissi Nimmo
Assistant Attorney General of hte Cherokee Nation
Mark Fiddler
Attorney representing the Capobianco Family
Erma J. Vizenor
Chairwoman, White Earth Nation
Panelists
Terry CrossExecutive Director
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Esie Leoso-Corbine
Social Services Director for Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Wisconsin
Former Administrator in Tribal and County Systems
Mary Boo
Assistant Director
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Moderator
Sarah DeerAssistant Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Buying a Baby: Melanie Capobianco's testimony
Buying a Baby: Melanie Capobianco’s Testimony About Saving Veronica Rose Brown
Adoptive Couple v Baby Girl Court Transcripts pages 165 to 225 Released
By drip and drabs, we might one day see the full story of the unethical adoption seizure of Veronica Rose Brown.Just to recap, currently we have the court transcripts from the September 2010 South Carolina Court trial of Adoptive Couple vs Baby Girl:
- The cross examination of Christy Maldonado pages 261 to 312 where she tries not to admit to hiding the Cherokee Nation linage and convince us that she somehow has a right to deny a father knowledge of his child’s pending adoption; pretty much proving that he NEVER intended to be a dead beat dad.
- The FULL testimony of Dusten Brown pages 475 to 541 where he tells a truly heart wrenching story of trying to understand a sudden break up while planning to leave for active military duty in Iraq and fight for his daughter.
- The testimony of Alice Brown, Dusten Brown’s mother aka Veronica Rose Brown’s Paternal grandmother, pages 557 to 571. This piece speaks to the predisposed bias and gives nod to the corruption in the adoption process.
and this blog: http://adoptivecouplevsbabygirl.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/melanie-duncan-capobianco-in-her-own-words/
As Claudia writes: "...reading between the lines, (I) do see Mr. Goodwin as trying to cover his own ass. After all, not only is his reputation now severely damaged, but his wife, Laura Godwin, is the director of Nightlight Christian Adoption’s South Carolina offices, which handled the whole baby Veronica Rose Brown mash up. So if they don’t watch it, I would assume the Godwin’s could lose all the means of their income!"
Human trafficking is a crime...Will Nighlight be prosecuted?... Trace
Friday, September 27, 2013
Dusten Brown sends message, "We will see you again..." #BABYVERONICA
Dusten Brown, biological father of Baby Veronica, issues statement
Dusten Brown issued the following statement on the transfer of his daughter, Veronica:
“The last few days without Veronica in our home have been more painful than words can describe. We are heartbroken at the loss of our daughter. I moved heaven and earth for two years to bring Veronica home to her family where she belongs. And when I finally picked her up for the journey back to Oklahoma two years ago, we looked into each other’s eyes and it was like we had always been together. That bond was instantaneous, and nothing can break it. Veronica is my child, my flesh and blood, and I love her more than life itself. And to our daughter, Veronica—Mommy and Daddy love you and miss you so much, and we cannot wait until we see you again. We will see you again.”
Dusten and Robin Brown
#Baby Veronica proceedings update
Dissents in the Lift of Stay in Baby Girl Case and Additional Coverage of Proceedings
From the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Here.
In addition to Veronica’s interests, the Cherokee Nation has been a party to all of the proceedings in the courts of South Carolina, in the United States Supreme Court, and in the courts of this State. As such, the Cherokee Nation has a direct and substantial interest in seeing that Veronica’s rights as an Indian child and member of the Cherokee Nation are fully protected, including the right to the special best interests determination under the law of the case. It would be virtually impossible for any court to make this special best interests determination without hearing from the Cherokee Nation.
Reif, V.C.J.
Everything in the life of Baby Girl has changed since 2011, and therefore, I cannot join the majority’s decision to dissolve the temporary stay and to deny original jurisdiction.1 Although this is a complicated case, we should accept our legal responsibility to follow established law in making a determination having such a profound impact on the life of this child.H/T Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Gurich, J.
Today’s Tulsa World coverage here (including a discussion of the contempt charges in South Carolina).
Veronica's transfer to the Capobiancos
By Trace Hentz (formerly DeMeyer)
I have followed this Baby Veronica case like many of you. I read the earlier testimony of Dusten Brown's mother who shared how the engaged couple suddenly broke up and how Dusten was concerned he may not return alive from Iraq and how they thought the baby would be with Christy and how they were not told about Veronica's birth and planned adoption and her transfer to strangers until months after it happened.
Now I can only imagine what this transfer is doing to this little girl - AGAIN.
The statistics of Indian children being placed in non-Indian homes is in the Congressional record which lead to the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The doctors who testify admit it harms the child to be adopted out, when we lose our parents and our connection to our tribes and identity as sovereign citizens. We adoptees and survivors attest to this in the anthology Two Worlds: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects.
We know adoption is a billion dollar industry that traffics in babies and children. The Capobianco's have paid and
We know this case is not about Veronica's best interest. It's about money and Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency who brokered the sale. It's about lawyers and their fees. It's about dismantling and repealing the Indian
Child Welfare Act so that more people can adopt Native children. It's about opening
the gates so more "Christian" families can assimilate and adopt Native
children. It's not new, it's been going on for over a century.
We know Veronica is VERY confused since the transfer on Monday. She's disoriented. She thinks she's on a vacation with the adopters. That will end in South Carolina or where ever they choose to live. Veronica will be enrolled in daycare then pre-school. Matt and Melanie will always tell her she was "chosen" to be their child. They will explain to her she's not going back to Dusten; they will tell her, "You are home." Traumatized, over time Veronica will disappear into the fog of despair and disbelief. Symptoms of grief will come in stages. Every. single. day.
Veronica will have a fake birth certificate which will list Matt and Melanie as her biological parents. They might even change her name to hide the truth. Veronica will remember. Veronica will use a computer. She'll read why she's not with Dusten and Robin anymore. She will see her pictures on the internet. Veronica will learn the truth and nothing the Capobiancos can say will fix the pain Veronica will have over what they did to her and her family.
We know at the time of Veronica's birth, handed to strangers, that transfer, she suffered the wound we adoptees know we have. In birth psychology it's described as the severed biological connection with our mothers, a primal wound compounded by mommy's abandonment and it leaves a damage that takes a lifetime to repair. If it can be repaired...
A child never chooses this. Adults do. Courts do. Adoption agencies do.
Veronica is very strong, a fighter, a Cherokee citizen. She will find her dad again like I did.
VERONICA: a beautiful poem
Veronica
They tell us this has nothing to do with us.
They say we aren't you.
But we know better.
We are experiencing our own separation all over again.
We are both inside and outside our own bodies.
Watching.
Feeling.
Projection, they say.
Reaction, I say.
It is happening again.
It is happening to you.
It is happening to us.
It is happening again
And we can't do anything to stop it.
The only difference is that this time
We have not only our cries but also
Our words.
Veronica,
We
Bear
Witness.
They say we aren't you.
But we know better.
We are experiencing our own separation all over again.
We are both inside and outside our own bodies.
Watching.
Feeling.
Projection, they say.
Reaction, I say.
It is happening again.
It is happening to you.
It is happening to us.
It is happening again
And we can't do anything to stop it.
The only difference is that this time
We have not only our cries but also
Our words.
Veronica,
We
Bear
Witness.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker responds to transfer of custody of Veronica Brown
Statement from Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker:
"There is no word for goodbye in the Cherokee language. We say dodadagohv’I - we will see each other again. It was with a heavy heart that we watched Veronica Brown leave her home, her family and the Cherokee Nation Monday night. History is repeating itself, as a Native American child is being forcibly relocated to South Carolina against the will of her father and her tribe.
Once again, a Native American is being told where to live. Once again, a Native family is being torn apart. And once again, a young Indian girl will not awaken in the home of her elders.
Our prayers go out to Dusten and Robin Brown, Tommy and Alice Brown, Veronica’s sister Kelsey, and their extended family which includes 320,000 Cherokees. This brave man who served our country simply wanted to raise his child—a child who shares his genes and his heritage. A child who looks like him—and by all family accounts—acts like him too. Veronica may have left the Cherokee Nation, but she will always be a Cherokee citizen. Perhaps one day she too will have her own children, and they will share her and Dusten’s DNA, and those children will be Cherokee as well.
Our Nation did everything possible to stop this family from being torn apart. We used every legal avenue at our disposal to keep this family together. But the Cherokee Nation is also a nation with a longstanding history of obeying the rule of law, so that is what we did on Monday. We also have a long standing tradition of adoption within our culture and know that adoption is a good thing when it is ethical and moral. We will continue to advocate for a greater understanding of and adherence to laws by the courts and adoption agencies to ensure that this tragedy is not repeated.
Dusten Brown packed his daughter’s suitcase, and told her he loved her before sending Veronica off to live with those who wish to adopt her. This is something a father should never have to do, but for the sake of his daughter, Dusten handled himself with courage and dignity and grace, and we could not be more proud of the way he conducted himself.
And to Veronica— one day you will read about this tumultuous time in your life, and understand why we fought so hard alongside your father to keep your family whole. We hope at that time you understand how special and significant it is to be a Cherokee citizen. You will always be welcome in Tahlequah and in homes across the Cherokee Nation. Whether we see you sooner or later, we know we will see you again. In the meantime, we will carry you in our hearts."
Wado,
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker
"There is no word for goodbye in the Cherokee language. We say dodadagohv’I - we will see each other again. It was with a heavy heart that we watched Veronica Brown leave her home, her family and the Cherokee Nation Monday night. History is repeating itself, as a Native American child is being forcibly relocated to South Carolina against the will of her father and her tribe.
Once again, a Native American is being told where to live. Once again, a Native family is being torn apart. And once again, a young Indian girl will not awaken in the home of her elders.
Our prayers go out to Dusten and Robin Brown, Tommy and Alice Brown, Veronica’s sister Kelsey, and their extended family which includes 320,000 Cherokees. This brave man who served our country simply wanted to raise his child—a child who shares his genes and his heritage. A child who looks like him—and by all family accounts—acts like him too. Veronica may have left the Cherokee Nation, but she will always be a Cherokee citizen. Perhaps one day she too will have her own children, and they will share her and Dusten’s DNA, and those children will be Cherokee as well.
Our Nation did everything possible to stop this family from being torn apart. We used every legal avenue at our disposal to keep this family together. But the Cherokee Nation is also a nation with a longstanding history of obeying the rule of law, so that is what we did on Monday. We also have a long standing tradition of adoption within our culture and know that adoption is a good thing when it is ethical and moral. We will continue to advocate for a greater understanding of and adherence to laws by the courts and adoption agencies to ensure that this tragedy is not repeated.
Dusten Brown packed his daughter’s suitcase, and told her he loved her before sending Veronica off to live with those who wish to adopt her. This is something a father should never have to do, but for the sake of his daughter, Dusten handled himself with courage and dignity and grace, and we could not be more proud of the way he conducted himself.
And to Veronica— one day you will read about this tumultuous time in your life, and understand why we fought so hard alongside your father to keep your family whole. We hope at that time you understand how special and significant it is to be a Cherokee citizen. You will always be welcome in Tahlequah and in homes across the Cherokee Nation. Whether we see you sooner or later, we know we will see you again. In the meantime, we will carry you in our hearts."
Wado,
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker
[Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Baby Veronica: Now the media bias for the Capobian...
[Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Baby Veronica: Now the media bias for the Capobian...: Lorraine I thought there was nothing more to say about the Baby Veronica case but then I happened to come upon Susan Estrich today on Y...
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
If you didn't think it could get any worse, it just did #BABY VERONICA
Capobiancos Sue Dusten Brown for Nearly Half a Million in Fees
September 25, 2013
As
Matt and Melanie Capobianco took possession of Veronica Brown on Monday
night, another court action was brewing behind the scenes. Today, their
lawyers in South Carolina are in court seeking fines, attorneys' fees
and expenses totaling approximately $500,000 from Dusten Brown.
RELATED: Cherokee Nation Mourns as Veronica Is Returned to Adoptive Family
Brown, a member of the Oklahoma National Guard who served in Iraq, was forced to turn over his biological daughter to them after the failed visitation “negotiations” last week. On the presumption that the couple's attorneys were looking for a set of deep pockets from which to profit, the Cherokee Nation is also named in the action; however, according to tribal attorneys, the tribe is not a part of the contempt order and therefore not obligated to pay the Capobiancos. Additionally, they noted that the Capobiancos have no jurisdiction to sue the tribe and that the Cherokee Nation is protected under the 11th amendment granting them sovereign immunity from civil actions seeking damages and financial compensation.
But for Dusten Brown the suit has potentially devastating consequences. Costs outlined in the contempt action include fines of up to $32,000 a day, in addition to be forced to pay for the Capobiancos' living expenses while in Oklahoma. With a modest income and few assets, friends and insiders acknowledge that he has little chance of ever paying that kind of bill.
“They just took the most precious thing in his life, and now here they are trying to take what's left,” says Shannon Jones, Brown's South Carolina attorney. “Let me tell you, he is devastated right now. He just lost his daughter—probably for good. And here they are kicking this man while he is down. They're not only kicking him, they're trying to destroy his life.”
Jones says that she and the rest of Brown's legal team, including the Supreme Court practitioners, have been working pro bono for Brown for years, because he could not afford to pay them the ever-mounting legal fees in the fight for his daughter. Additionally, it is widely known that the Capobiancos' legal team has also been working pro bono, including Lisa Blatt, who argued their case before the Supreme Court.
The broader message that the Capobiancos and their legal team are sending, however, is to make an example of Dusten Brown and the Cherokee Nation.
RELATED: Oklahoma Judge Gives Custody of Deseray to Absentee Shawnee Tribe
“I hope that they do proceed because Deseray's case is similar, but we have a different concern as a tribe,” says Jana Snake, the infant's aunt who is a member of the Absentee Shawnee. “We only have 3,900 tribal members left and we are rapidly dying out. Out of all my cousins, we only have one boy to carry on the Snake name. If we lose Deseray, what kind of message does that send to our tribe? We have to fight for her.”
In the meantime, as Dusten Brown reels from the biggest loss in his life, he is confronted with paying again—perhaps for years to come.
RELATED: Cherokee Nation Mourns as Veronica Is Returned to Adoptive Family
Brown, a member of the Oklahoma National Guard who served in Iraq, was forced to turn over his biological daughter to them after the failed visitation “negotiations” last week. On the presumption that the couple's attorneys were looking for a set of deep pockets from which to profit, the Cherokee Nation is also named in the action; however, according to tribal attorneys, the tribe is not a part of the contempt order and therefore not obligated to pay the Capobiancos. Additionally, they noted that the Capobiancos have no jurisdiction to sue the tribe and that the Cherokee Nation is protected under the 11th amendment granting them sovereign immunity from civil actions seeking damages and financial compensation.
But for Dusten Brown the suit has potentially devastating consequences. Costs outlined in the contempt action include fines of up to $32,000 a day, in addition to be forced to pay for the Capobiancos' living expenses while in Oklahoma. With a modest income and few assets, friends and insiders acknowledge that he has little chance of ever paying that kind of bill.
“They just took the most precious thing in his life, and now here they are trying to take what's left,” says Shannon Jones, Brown's South Carolina attorney. “Let me tell you, he is devastated right now. He just lost his daughter—probably for good. And here they are kicking this man while he is down. They're not only kicking him, they're trying to destroy his life.”
Jones says that she and the rest of Brown's legal team, including the Supreme Court practitioners, have been working pro bono for Brown for years, because he could not afford to pay them the ever-mounting legal fees in the fight for his daughter. Additionally, it is widely known that the Capobiancos' legal team has also been working pro bono, including Lisa Blatt, who argued their case before the Supreme Court.
The broader message that the Capobiancos and their legal team are sending, however, is to make an example of Dusten Brown and the Cherokee Nation.
“The message here is 'Don't mess with the all-powerful adoption industry, and don't even think about trying to enforce the Indian Child Welfare Act,'” says Jones. “The message is clear that they are trying to threaten and intimidate tribes from attempting to enforce their rights under the law. They're saying, 'This is what's going to happen to you if you try to protect your children.'”
Jones said that the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma has already indicated a reluctance to proceed with litigation on behalf of Baby Deseray, one of their tribal members who is currently living illegally with another adoptive couple in South Carolina, because they are concerned about the potential consequences and financial fall-out from witnessing the tragic course of events in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl.RELATED: Oklahoma Judge Gives Custody of Deseray to Absentee Shawnee Tribe
“I hope that they do proceed because Deseray's case is similar, but we have a different concern as a tribe,” says Jana Snake, the infant's aunt who is a member of the Absentee Shawnee. “We only have 3,900 tribal members left and we are rapidly dying out. Out of all my cousins, we only have one boy to carry on the Snake name. If we lose Deseray, what kind of message does that send to our tribe? We have to fight for her.”
In the meantime, as Dusten Brown reels from the biggest loss in his life, he is confronted with paying again—perhaps for years to come.
Read more at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/25/capobiancos-sue-dusten-brown-nearly-half-million-fees-151444 and from the LA TIMES:(They linked to this BLOG! WOW!)
Baby Veronica case stirs powerful emotions among adoptees
here A new war has begun... Trace'Baby Veronica' adoption case re-opens wounds for Native Americans
 |
| Navajo Adoptee Leland Morrill (right) |
Tue, Sept 24
By Karen BrooksCALERA, Oklahoma (Reuters) -
When a four-year-old Cherokee girl was reunited with her adoptive parents on Monday night, it potentially signaled the conclusion of a custody battle that entangled governors from two states and worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But for many Native Americans, the questions raised by the case over tribal adoptions, heritage and child welfare, remain unresolved.
"Baby Veronica," as the girl is known, was an infant when her birth mother, who is not Native American, gave her up for adoption to a white couple, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, in South Carolina. Two years later, the child was removed from their home when her biological father mounted a legal challenge.
The father, who is part Cherokee, based his suit on a 35-year-old law governing Native American adoptions, drawing support from Native American activists and setting off a prolonged custody fight.
Since then, Veronica's plight has refocused attention on a practice - once government-sanctioned, but now condemned - of placing Native American children with families outside their culture. Some who were adopted this way decades ago, such as Anecia O'Carroll, 51, said they have never fully recovered from the experience.
"It is a tremendous wound of loss - culturally, spiritually," O'Carroll said of growing up outside her tribe.
Like many other Native children of her generation, O'Carroll said she was placed with a white family, away from her Alaska Alutiiq tribe. She later found her birth mother, who described being coerced into giving up her baby in the early 1960s.
"She cried and cried, and looked at me, and she thought my skin looked like honey," O'Carroll, 51, recounted her mother telling her years later. "The last thing she said to me was 'I wish you a rainbow life,' and then she let me go."
The case of Veronica, who is 3/256 Cherokee, centered on the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed by Congress in 1978 in response to Native American protests. The law established that it was best to keep Native children with their families or, short of that, within their tribe to preserve their culture.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law did not apply in Veronica's case, in part because her birth parents were not married and also because her biological father, Dusten Brown, never had custody. Her adoption by the Capobiancos was finalized the following month.
But Brown refused to hand over Veronica and the girl remained with the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma until yet another court weighed in on Monday. Hours later, she was placed back with the Capobiancos.
Cherokee Nation officials said on Tuesday that Brown would have to decide whether to continue to pursue his adoption challenge, which is still being appealed.
'CATASTROPHIC AND UNFORGIVABLE'
Starting in 1958, the Indian Adoption Project placed Native American children in non-Native homes, in what it said was an effort to assimilate them into mainstream culture and offer them better lives outside impoverished reservations.
The project was run by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal government agency, and the nonprofit Child Welfare League of America, in partnership with private agencies.
In some cases, young single mothers were persuaded that they could not provide as good a life as a more affluent white family, and their babies were signed away even before they were born. In other cases, families voluntarily gave up their children, or abandoned them to be taken in by authorities.
Around the time the Indian Child Welfare Act passed, more than a quarter of all Native American children were being placed in out-of-home care - eight times the rate of non-Native children - and about 85 percent of them went to non-Native homes, according to a 1976 study by the Association on American Indian Affairs, a non-profit group that advocates for Native Americans.
Some of the children's adoptive birth certificates listed them as white.
"It was all under the guise of, you know, they're doing us a favor," said Adrian Grey Buffalo, 55, a South Dakota Sioux who said his mother had been tricked into giving him up.
The Child Welfare League of America eventually apologized for its role in the mass adoptions, issuing a statement in 2001 calling them "catastrophic and unforgivable."
Leland Morrill, 46, said his Mormon adoptive parents did a good job raising him after he was removed from a hospital at age 2 by a caseworker who didn't believe his life on a poor Navajo reservation with elderly relatives was safe for a child.
But he regrets that he and his cousin, both adopted by Stanley and Gwena Morrill of Utah, were "separated from anything that we would have known if we had stayed around our culture."
The Morrills said they never witnessed any coercive adoption practices and that Leland came to them with scars, injuries and other signs that pointed to an unhealthy environment.
Gwena Morrill said factors other than heritage need to be considered.
"Being born to a person who is part Indian is not a valid basis, in my opinion, to raise a child in an Indian culture," she said, referring to Veronica.
Many Native Americans, however, say the link is vital.
"When she turns a teenager, she's going to come looking," said Diane Tells His Name, a California Lakota who said her adoptive parents raised her to believe she was white.
"That blood, I'm telling you, is so strong. It's racing through there like a buffalo," she said. "She'll want to come back home."
(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Gunna Dickson)
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