Native Voices in Adoption & Foster Care

"Placental Transfer" shown with permission by Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo)

Listening to those who have directly experienced the impacts of adoption, foster care or guardianship across the generations are our best teachers. Their voices guide us in understanding their acute losses & traumas and in helping future generations to heal. Besides our other Tribal-specific pages, please also reference ORPARC's Adoptee & Foster Voices, Foster Parenting, Talking About Adoption, Foster Care & Other Hard Things, Talking About Culture, Transracial Parenting & Cultural Diversity and Trauma pages for more resources.

Placental Transfer. 2019. 16x20 in. Acrylic on Canvas. Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo).

The way we hold our connections to earth and ancestor is via a spiritual umbilical cord that never severs. Although mother and child share essential nutrients and oxygen within the womb, the sharing of our ways of knowing never end. Read full description here!

This painting may not be reproduced without express permission from the artist.

Websites

Adoption Decree by Bureau of Indian Affairs
American Indian Adoptees
First Nations Development Institute
First Nations Repatriation Institute
ICWA, ORICWA & More - an ORPARC Resource page

Recommended Books & Articles

Tribal adoption-related books in ORPARC's library including the Lost Children of the Adoption Project series by adoptee Trace L. Hentz (Shawnee & Cherokee), plus the full Tribal Collection.

AdoptUSKids
- Considerations with fostering or adopting Native American children
- Fostering Extended Family Ties Between Resource Families & Birth Families in Tribal Child Welfare Practice
- How Tribal Values and Traditions Can Guide Recruitment, Development and Support of Resource Families
- Understanding, Engaging & Supporting Native Families
American Indian Resilience by Child Welfare Information Gateway
An Indigenous Adoptee Reclaims Her Culture: Sandy White Hawk by Nancy Marie Spears (Cherokee)
The grief of Native American mothers whose children were separated from them by Ashley L. Landers
Honoring Our Caretaking Traditions: A Forum on Custom Indigenous Adoptions by Siem Smu'neem Indigenous Child Wellbeing Network
How Salmon Fishing Helped Me Embrace My Alaska Native Identity by Kate Nelson (Tlingit)
I Had to Be Prayed Home by Charles Fox, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Indian Adoption Project by the Upstander Project
Inuit Custom Adoption by Jennifer Noah - author in ORPARC's library
Keep Our Families Together by Eva Lopez, ACLU - voices of two Native people (Little Shell Chipewa and Rosebud Sioux Tribe) impacted by ICWA
The Long History of Native American Adoptions by Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese Yunpoví (Tewa: Willow Flower) (Nambé Pueblo)
Native adoptee found her way home, then fought for others on Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) by Robin Chenoweth
Native American mothers whose children have been separated from them experience a raw and ongoing grief that has no end by Ashley Landers & First Nations Repatriation Institute, Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota)
Q&A with Journalist Adoptee Trace L. Hentz (formerly DeMeyer; scroll down for interview) (Shawnee & Cherokee) - author in ORPARC's library
Reconciliation in Child Welfare: Touchstones of Hope for Indigenous Children, Youth & Families by Cindy Blackstock (Gitksan), Terry Cross (Seneca), et al.
Tracing Native Ancestry: A Guide to Responding to Inquiries by NICWA
Tribal Customary Adoption by Capacity Building Center for Tribes
Tribal Customary Adoption: A Culturally Based Permanency Solution for Relative Caregivers by Terry Cross (Seneca), et al.
Two Spirit Yup'ik Finds Healing Through Art by Project 562
Unanimous Oregon House Backs Customary Tribal Adoption by The Imprint
Welcome Home by Marcie Rendon - the story of Sandy White Hawk's (Sicangu Lakota) adoption & return to home
What It's Like To Be a Native American with White Parents by Denalee Chapman - Tiffany's (Navajo) story
'Where Do I Belong?' Native roots, hard realities surface in woman's search for her past by Dan Gunderson, North Star Journey - Peggy Mandel's (Ojibwe) story (article + audio)

Videos & Podcasts

Adopting A Child of A Different Race? Let's Talk by Tribal adoptee Susan Devan Harness (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes) (TedTalk) - author in ORPARC's library
Cultural Humility with Priscilla Day (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) by the NTDC Podcast with April Dinwoodie
Daughter of a Lost Bird & Interview - documentary of adoptee Kendra Mylnechuk Potter's (Lummi Nation) rediscovery of her heritage (article + videos)
Dawnland by The Upstander Project with free learning resource - award-winning documentary (video)
First Light by The Upstander Project with free learning resources - award-winning documentary short (video)
How the U.S. stole thousands of Native American children by Vox (video)
Tribal Customary Adoption 2.0 10 yrs Later by California Tribal Families Coalition (video)
Understanding and Engaging Native Families by AdoptUSKids (webinar)

Featured Memoirs

Tribeless: Discovering the Truth by Shana Ross (Navajo)

Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Susan Devan Harness (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes)

Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption a book by Susan Devan Harness

Where I Belong by Tara White (Mohawk)

Native American Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories by Rita J. Simon & Sarah Hernandez (Sicangu Lakota)