Baby Girl versus Adoptive Couple Essay

Due to the alarmingly high rate of Indian children being removed from their homes, the Indian Child Welfare Act was created in 1978; this came as a result of a widespread belief that their child-rearing practices were considered neglectful in comparison to white families (Krager & Stoesz, 2010; Palmiste, 2011). Indian children removed from their tribal groups and families were placed in the child welfare system, which included adoptions and foster care, or they were sent to boarding schools (Palmsite, 2011). Early American history was plagued with discrimination and racism towards groups that were thought of as inferior, some of which were Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. The culture and values of the American Indians were disregarded and viewed as inferior and they were regarded as subordinate. White supremacy has always been dominant and their values were inflicted onto the indigenous groups and minority groups of people. Ethnocentrism, a belief that one culture is superior, has been prevalent since the colonization of the United States of America.

My mother was all I had in this world. It has been two weeks and I

As well as through the lens of indigenous, “the radicalization of American Indians and the politics of cultural authenticity, inviting a nuanced analysis of implicit racial bias in the courts.” (2016). The ICWA provides practices and protections for Indian children, families and tribes, but is only applicable to a small fraction of Indian families. What makes Adoptive Couple v Baby Girl so important is that is sought to clarify if a non-custodial parent can invoke the ICWA to stop the adoption process to a non-Indian parent and if ICWA’s definition of “parent” included unwed biological fathers? (Beardall,

Parents wishing to adopt have challenged the adoption laws regarding American-Indian children. For many decades, people wanting to adopt African-American children from disturbing situations have been put through several issues. A law was passed called the “Indian child welfare act” to end what was then a common practice. The state claims they thought that American-Indian children were better off in homes with non-Indian parents. A handful of recent lawsuits say the federal law and similar legislation at state levels make it harder to find stable homes for children. they’ve had many cases fall apart, because parents adopting don’t want the children. Most adopting parents believe it's unfair to them if they can’t adopt American-Indian children.

Adoptive couple v. Baby Girl was a case that involved the biological parents of the baby girl in question. The biological mother Christy was Hispanic-Caucasian and, the father Mr. Brown, a member of a Cherokee Indian tribe. Congress had to step in due to the “ICWA” or the Indian Child Welfare Act that was passed in 1978 to prevent the illegal and harsh removal of Indian children from the tribes. This case was a huge battle in the Supreme Court between the biological father Dusten Brown and the adoptive parents of baby Veronica in September of 2011. This case caused uproar with people on both sides of the fence.

May cause different emotions for adopted child as they have the right to know their origins

The Indian Child Welfare Act effected tribal members from over 565 federally recognized tribes and reaffirmed these nation’s sovereignty (Leake, 2012). The ICWA also impacted the way that federal, tribal and private child welfare programs as well as the way adoption agencies worked on a daily basis. According to Bussey (2013), the Act also forced CPS departments at both the state and county level to develop, “…formalized protocols to identify Native children by asking about American Indian/Alaska Native status beginning with the first telephone or in-person contact with a family.” In addition, courts and judges have been impacted by the ICWA because they now have a responsibility to, “inquire about Native heritage at each court appearance until heritage is ascertained” (Bussey, 2013). Early detection of Native heritage is especially important for placements since it could potentially interrupt the adoption process (Turner, 2016). Furthermore, “Among the benefits of early identification of Native children are improved tribal notification and involvement, increased focus on locating relative placements, and timely referrals to culturally-responsive services” (Bussey,

A person has always been able to choose to what extent their cultural experiences affect their perspective. Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds,” Bharati Mukherjee’s, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” and Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” all show how the main characters have chosen to let their experiences have an effect on their cultural identity. A person’s cultural experiences shape perception based on their own identifications and they may chose to assimilate to different cultures.

When a couple or individual decides to adopt a child, they know they are going to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone else’s child. Due to the biological parent(s) who can’t take care of that child anymore, because of either drug abuse, alcohol abuse, abuse to the child or if the parent(s) had died and there is no other care for the child. So that’s why this gives other couples who cannot have kids, the opportunity to promise themselves to be a great parent to a child in need. Though there are some bad things about adoption as well. Like adopting a child from another country of another race, because once that child is adopted into an American family, he or she will be cut off from their culture and never know about their

Yes, I agree with the majority opinion in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. I ultimately believe that the Court came down with the correct decision. The decision to not let the Indian Child Welfare Act protect a parent that never had custody of the child. While I see the opposing sides argument in trying to protect the father’s parental rights, who is part Native American, I believe that the Supreme Court’s decision to rely on the element of “continued custody” is compelling and correct. Although it is awful what happened to the father, without the “continued custody” element, I agree that the case does not have a lot of merit.

The intense opposition of transracial adoption is evidenced in a multitude of different ways. During the initial phase of the adoption process prospective parents are discouraged from proceeding by the intake worker. They are constantly bombarded with the alleged difficulties involved in transracial adoptions and questioned about their motives for adopting (Adoption 85). Parents are accused of

The adoptive family may ignore or make little effort to incorporate into the family the cultural heritage of the adopted child (Adamec,136). This decision to leave the culture behind, outside the family, does not suggest that the child is neither accepted nor loved or cherished as their own. However, when the adoptive family also adopts and embraces the cultural identity of the child's birth culture, it enriches not only the adopted child but also the entire family and extended family as well. Another factor is attachment is the child’s age when they were adopted. The older the child when adopted, the risk of social maladjustment was found to be higher (Simon, 188). Most children when adopted at younger ages have a better chance to adjustment normally, than children adopted over the age of ten. An infant learns to trust quicker, than a ten-year old child does, but all of this depends on each case. Developmental theorist Eric Erikson, discusses trust issues in his theory of development. Erikson's first stage of development is “Trust versus Mistrust”, which states “if needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust” (Myers, 149). For an adopted child, placing the child early in a key ingredient to successful attachment of child to parent and vice versa (Cox, 1). Such an attachment, which is strong among the majority of families throughout the paper, is an important

“ There are approximately 100,000 children and/ or adolescents who are in the Child Welfare System waiting to be put into foster care or be adopted” (Kreisher). The number of children living with 1 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) parent today ranges from six to fourteen million children or adolescents. Adoption is to take into one’s family legally and raise as one’s own child.

Indian-Americans ranging from ages 16-24 that are first generation Americans undergo the stages of minority identity development. They are commonly placed in environments which force them to question their own identity. As they communicate with peers, they question themselves and their personal beliefs and customs. Occasionally, they view the majority culture as better than their own and may develop negative feelings of their Indian household upbringing. One may feel the need to internalize the values of the dominant culture of the community and change to fit the status quo. This is especially difficult for Indian-Americans because so many things that they are taught within the home are not normal for the majority culture therefore presenting a major division and causing an uproar in the home. Parents tend to view “normal” majority culture attributes as

The necessity of adoption in the world is astounding. Currently, there is an estimated 143 million orphans worldwide (Wingert, vol.151). As of 2007, there were 513,000 children living in foster care within the United States alone (Rousseau 21:14). International adoption in the United States was jumpstarted post World War II as a way of helping those children who were left homeless, after war had taken their parents. Although there are thousands of healthy children awaiting adoption in the United States, several American couples still turn to foreign adoption when seeking potential children. Americans often fail to realize the need for intervention within their own country and their duty to take care of domestic affairs before venturing to