By CHARLES HAND/The Valley Chronicle

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill promoted by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians intended to encourage adoption of American Indian children by American Indians. The bill will allow California courts to honor tribal adoption tradition even when it does not necessarily conform to civil law.

The bill is intended to make it easier to permanently place youngsters who are in foster care by removing some of the stigma that adoption by the rules of white society has carried for generations, said Nancy Currie, director of social services for the Sobobas, in an e-mail interview.

“Unfortunately, adoption became a negative thing due to forced assimilation policies,” she said. “It was used as a tool to destroy Indian families and culture. Due to this historical trauma, many tribes actively abhor adoption as understood by the larger culture’s definition.”

Rosemary Morillo, vice chairwoman of the Soboba Tribal Council, said the new law will empower Native Americans who seek to protect their children and culture.

“Tribal customary adoption is one more step on our path to protecting native children,” she said.

The new law will also help the state by relieving the treasury of the cost of caring for children in foster care and by shifting the costs of other social services to the tribes in some cases.

Under California law, a youngster must be relinquished by his parents and the relationship between child and parent must be severed for the child to be adopted.

Tribal tradition allows for adoption without termination of parental rights, though, said Currie, the specifics vary from tribe to tribe.

“Every tribe is different, and each tribe’s social services agency is different,” Currie said. “There are some tribes that have their own foster homes, while some tribes use homes through native foster family/social services agencies.”

Morillo said the idea is to relieve the stigma many American Indians feel toward adoption because of the policies they have experienced for many years.

“Historically, tribes have opposed adoption as the legal processes associated with American Indians, for example forced removal of American Indian children and Indian boarding schools,” she said.

Boarding schools have been used to separate Indian children from their families and to force them into an environment in which their native languages were banned, native dress was outlawed, their long hair was trimmed short, and other measures were taken to coerce the children into adopting the ways of European society.

“Tribal customary adoption adds to existing state law state law a culturally appropriate option for American Indian children, an option that provides a permanent home for children,” Currie said. “The law harmonizes state law and tribal custom where a tribe has identified that a tribal customary adoption is in the Indian child’s best interests. This bill adds an additional option for these vulnerable and at-risk children - providing counties and the state a way to create safety and stability for American Indian children in need without long legal battles and the negative aspects of adoption.”

Copyright © 2009 The Valley Chronicle

Posted on October 16th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Indian child welfare