Adoption Case Brings Rare Family Law Dispute To High Court

[serendipity_15]

Take the usual agony of an adoption dispute. Add in the disgraceful U.S. history of ripping Indian children from their Native American families. Mix in a dose of initial fatherly abandonment. And there you have it - a poisonous and painful legal cocktail that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday

Comments

[gambitia]

Why does the article point out that Dusten is "2% Cherokee"? I don't believe it matter what percentage he is (genetically, I assume).

This looks like an epic clusterfuck of legal shenanigans and douchebaggery. I understand the law and the completely valid protections it was put in place to provide, but this seems like a poor application of the law. A father who abandons a child isn't going to teach the child about his culture. And even if the father wanted to keep contact, why couldn't he do that in an open adoption agreement?

[world_dancer]

Some tribes base tribal membership on blood purity (I don't know what better term to use if there is one). They usually do this when there's money at stake. The Cherokee Nation, from what I looked up earlier, doesn't happen to care.

And the only reason to mention it is to try to discredit the guy just for claiming to be Cherokee. Nevermind that his family is active in tribal culture. I'm also doubtful that's accurate, since I believe both his parents are Cherokee.

[gambitia]

That's the vibe I got from the article. "Lol he's 2% Indian! A lot of Americans are probably 2% Indian and don't prance around stealing babies because of it!"

I identify as Scandinavian, even though I'm only 50% genetically, because that's the culture that was passed down to me. If the Cherokee Nation recognizes him as a member and he recognizes as Cherokee...who the hell cares?

[thenakedcat]

"Blood quantum" is the term for a membership requirement based on percentage of ancestry, by the way.

[world_dancer]

It took so long to find the guy because the biomom misspelled his name and supplied the wrong birth date. It's documented in the court case (if I understand the reference correctly) that she was evasive and knew there would be a problem with adoption because the child is a Cherokee child, and so she tried to hide that fact (see the wiki footnotes and references).

I agree with you that the guy sounds at least like an irresponsible young man not wanting to pay child support. But he did step up once he understood what was going on, and chose to take on the child on his own. So he loses some points for making the wrong first decision, but he gets them back for genuinely wanting the kid. There's no reason to fight this hard if he didn't.

[gambitia]

The problem I have isn't that he doesn't want the kid--from the way this article is written, he didn't want the financial responsibility of the child, which led to the mother deciding to put the girl up for adoption as she couldn't afford a 3rd child with no support. It's a common failing in men, but I see no reason to give him a pass for that.

[tinylegacies]

I agree - especially since he SIGNED THE FUCKING PAPERS. And then apparently changed his mind or something?

[screamingintune]

yeah I'm not getting that either. You sign away your rights, it should mean you sign away your rights. It doesn't mean, "I'll sign away my rights and change my mind when I realize you're doing something I don't want you to do."

[pepsquad]

Cherokee have a rep of enrolling any one who has any small provable percentage (unless you are black- there was a big fluff up a while ago about that) to fluff the rolls so they have many many members to dig through.

[calendae]

That's not quite true. They don't have a blood quantum requirement, that is true, but you still have to have be a descendant of someone on their census roles from the 19th century. The cherokee freedman case is a different ball of wax which doesn't have to do with blood quantum.

[thenakedcat]

The bio-mother and the adoptive parents misspelled the father's name and misreported his birth date on the petition. It wasn't just a matter of too many people on the rolls to sort through.

[chaya]

Please add an lj cut.

[serendipity_15]

Done

[chaya]

The act being cited was put in place for a very good reason. This guy's case is not it. Respect the wishes of the mother - not the man who walked out on her.

[romp]

Are you saying that the act should be followed--it exists for good reason, as you said--or the wishes of the mother--adoption agency--should be followed?

[bestdaywelived]

The Act was put in place because Native children were being stolen from their families and placed in non-Native homes, not to protect loser men who impregnate women and then don't want to pay for their children.

[romp]

Yeah. And? He changed his mind, he grew up, whatever. The bottom line is that aboriginal children should be raised by aboriginal people, ideally in their own tribe. That's not a historic remnant--there's plenty of study of this regarding international and intercultural adoption.