How Come Native American Adoptees Get their Birth Records?

Question

Whilst other Adopted Adults are denied access to their own?

Should all citizens of the USA be treated equally under the law, regardless of race, creed, religion, adoptive or non adoptive status?

Answer 1

Because they will still legally be entitled to some funds from the tribe they are from. Many get free or low cost college paid for by the tribe and some get checks monthly.

Native Americans dont care who raised you - you are still part of their tribe no matter what as long as your biological father and/or Mother are part of the tribe.

Answer 2

The majority of Amerindian adoptions are done via their tribes.  In fact it’s very rare that they even allow someone who is not Native American to adopt a native American baby/child.  As someone said they are also not regulated by the US laws. It’s sort of a situation where it’s a country with in a country. If their on their land they get their own laws and rules. Its one reason casinos are so popular on reservations because they are not required to give any money to the US government so all the money they make just goes back to their people. Very fascinating I took a class on native American a few years ago.

Answer 3

In order for native american's to be eligible to receive the compensation that the US government has given individual tribes that person most *prove* they are native american.

In order to do that they must have true birth records.  Equality wasn't given to the native american and some may say still isn't; most native american reservations have exclusion to US law to some degree or another.  This is why their birth records are open to adoptee.

If you're an adoptee of any race/color/creed/etc. Petitioning the court to open your records is something every adoptee should try. Even the most restrictive states allow the sealed adoption file to be open via court order, and petitioning the court is usually not a difficult nor terribly expensive proposition.

***Update***

Heather H says in Additional Details

23 hours ago

thanks humorless - very informative. Doesn't this blow the whole 'birthmother privacy' BS argument right...

**

Not at all - as an adoptee myself I don't wish to *know* my birthparent, there isn't any intent to seek them out or get to know them; I just need information for historic purpose.  The majority of adult, and therein may lie the key...adult vs teen or young adult, do not necessarily wish to contact their birth parent, they just need historical reference.

It is also IMHO opinion the necessity of two "evils" ... the "right" of one vs the right of another.  Does the child not have the "right" to know genetic history of a birth parent, etc.  After all the child did not ask to be here and questions will be asked.  It's a bit of a quandary as to which individual's "rights" outweighs the other.

Answer 4

In Canada and the United STates there was somethign called the 60's scoop.  From about 1960-1984 Native children were scooped from there homes and given to foster and adoption agencies.  They were scooped because the governments believed Aboriginal people to be poor parents by nature of being "primative" and the racism that existed.  

This is different than a child who has been given up for adoption and systemically they have to allow access to Adoptied Aboriginal children to their birth records to offset the attempted cultural genocide.

I woudl venture to say in the United States similiar pratices existed for African Americans as well.

Answer 5

Hi Heather,

Yes, I believe all U.S. citizens should be treated equally under the law, regardless of race, creed, religion, adoptive or non-adoptive status.

While it may appear that Native American adoptees get additional rights, I prefer to see it as non-Native American adoptees receiving fewer rights.  Because there are some programs that have requirements of belonging to a certain ethnic group in order to qualify, it becomes necessary first to know if one does, in fact, belong to a specified group.

I've also seen certain scholarships only available to members of specific groups.  What are adoptees supposed to do?  Forfeit possible entitlement?  Claim their adoptive parent's ethnicity?  The only fair thing to do is to give EVERYONE the same access to their information.

While it's certainly the right thing to do to give equal access to Native Americans to their birth records, it's also the right thing to do to give all citizens equal access to their own.

julie j

reunited adoptee