Looking for off the record adoption info from an indian reservation near White Earth MN. Can anyone help?

Question

My mom-in-law was adopted from a reservation in MN. We can not get the courts to release her adoption record. There was a mennonite woman who took her and her sister from the reservation and then to a orphange in Chicago. She is pretty sure her name last name was Kling, first name possibly Shirley. If any one has any info or possible suggestions please let me know.

Answer 1

I just emailed a friend who is Mennonite and lives in Minnesota, and would know people in that area.  Maybe she can find who Shirley Kling is/was.  

Meanwhile, if I were you, I would contact the reservation and give them your stepmom's name, year and date of birth, and year of adoption.  See if you can find out from that end, if not through the courts.  Her family may want to find her too. . . .  The website for the White Earth Tribal Council is http://www.whiteearth.com/home.html

That is a beautiful, beautiful area, by the way.  I used to live there.  Your stepmom should go back to visit.  As a pro writer, I spent time with the tribe there when they did the wild rice harvest on the lakes. . . amazing time.  The native crafts are still alive, and they try to keep their culture and heritage alive.  The landscape is stunning.  Go in fall - in early Oct or late Sept.   The Nat. Wildlife Refuge just north of Detroit Lakes is called Tamarac - that is where the harvest happens, and where the reservation starts.  There are even wolves up there.  And moose.  Gorgeous.  The colors in fall are the most beautiful I have ever seen in the U.S.   I spent a lot of time at Tamarac (my husband was the govt.-contracted wildlife/nature photog for the area... )  The Indian history is alive and respected there. . .