We Native Americans share a deep devotion to our children. History, however, has taught us to regard adoption with suspicion: too often children were stolen from our tribes and forbidden to practice our culture and language. The US Government’s solution to the “Indian Problem” was to destroy our way of life.
Thankfully, this effort was not entirely successful. Today many of us are re-educating ourselves in our heritage and language, our respect for nature and our elders, and the importance of family ties. Informal adoption has been a common way to help children needing families
Sadly, sometimes those involved in informal adoptions have difficulties. It may be unclear what the responsibilities of foster parents and birth parents are. Sometimes medical procedures or travel require government documents. In these cases, legal adoption is a way we can provide good caring homes for children seeking forever families.
How can we provide support? In Our Native American Child, Carolyn Flanders McPherson (Carolyn McPherson) has distilled the best advice of 20 wise people, and Jeremy Mario Minton and children of the American Indian Services of Highland Park, Michigan, have created the artwork.
In the years since this book first appeared, phone numbers and addresses may have changed, but the suggestions offered here are timeless.
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Our Native American Child: A Guide for Those Who Adopt and Their Supporters © 1994 by Carolyn Flanders McPherson and Jeremy Mario Minton
Print versions are available for a nominal charge from Amazon at :
The views expressed in these books are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Michigan Department of Mental Health.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
These guidebooks were written for the Michigan Post Adoption Services System. They were funded in part by: Adoption Opportunities Grant #90-CO-0553 awarded to the Michigan Department of Mental Health by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families; by the Michigan Department of Mental Health; and originally printed with a grant from an anonymous benefactor.