How do I trace Native American adoption records?

Question

I'm trying to figure out which tribe my great-grandfather came from

Answer 1

It's a sad reality that the states did their very best to steal children from the tribes and put them in white society to "save them". The records will be very well hidden. The best you can do is look at the state where he was born and figure out where all of the reservations were at the time of his adoption (or more likely at the time of his birth since the adoption records are closed and the date hidden in most cases). Then you contact each reservation's tribal office and see if they'll help. Less than half of the tribal offices will help. There are several reasons, but they know the reality that birthdates were changed and the records that would help you identify your great-grandfather in the tribal registers were taken along with the children.

I've worked with several people trying to find their links to the Chippewa tribes in Michigan. We've only been able to positively identify 3 of them. I went to HS in the 70s and early 80s with 14 kids who had been taken from their tribal parents and readopted...and only 1 of them has ever been reunited with her parents. Her tribe was all the way up in the UP of Michigan. She grew up in the center of the lower Peninsula. The sad reality is that the State did a really good job at not only taking these kids, but hiding them from their families and their tribes.