There is a little girl "photolisted" as a waiting child. She is one. She has big brown eyes and curly hair. She reminds me a lot of my own brown-eyed girl. Maybe it's because she is also of Native American heritage.
This little girl cannot be adopted by just anyone. She has to be adopted by someone of documentable Native heritage. So she sits there, photolisted, and she has no permanent home.
My Baby is of Native American decent, but her's cannot be documented. She is inelligibe for tribal membership and we have the green cards to prove it. This turned out to be a good thing, for her and for us.
It wasn't until Baby was home with us for 6 months or so that information about her heritage became available. At that time we weren't terribly familiar with the Indian Child Welfare Act, but we knew enough to be concerned. Had Baby's heritage had a little more of a paper trail she would have been eligilbe for tribal membership, but we would not have been eligible to adopt her, though we were the only parents she'd ever known.
Now, theoretically, the Indian Child Welfare Act is a good thing. Years ago there was a concerted effort by White Americans to inflict cultural genocide on the Native peoples of this land. Native American children were taken from their homes and shipped off to boarding schools. It wasn't pretty. I get why perserving ones heritage is important. And I certainly understand why tribes were skeptical of Family Service's ability to look out for their best interests.
But there is this little girl. She is one. And she reminds me a lot of my own brown-eyed girl. She is Native American. Should she wait for a home? She needs a mom and a dad today.
(If you happen to be of Osage heritage, and you can prove it, there is a little girl you should meet.)
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