ICWA and Tribal Gaming

ICWA is the Indian Child Welfare Act. It allows sovereign tribes to decide the fate of infants with Indian blood who are being placed for adoption. I believe the original intent of the law was to allow Native American tribes to retain their culture and keep their tribes from being disbanded. Interestingly, much has changed over the years since ICWA was enacted. Tribes are no longer poor due to tribal gaming. This has had an impact on Native American children in a number of ways. A Native American birth mother or a woman who is having a child by a Native American father can be forced to place her child within the tribe or parent even if she is not prepared to do so. I think that this is a violation of her rights as a mother. She can choose to abort the baby, but she has no say where it goes if she gives it life. I do understand the tribal perspective in terms of culture and maintenance of tribal customs, but with each generation we all become more mixed and intertwined with other races. How pure of race is anyone? I can trace my own roots back to a Palous Indian chief, but I don't have tribal benefits.

Just this week, a tribe intervened and didn't allow an adoption that was planned by the birth mother. They decided that they wanted to keep the child within the tribe. She felt forced to do what the tribe dictated, rather than take the baby home -- something that she wasn't prepared to do. She was asking for support because she couldn't feed the kids she had. I wonder where the tribe was when she was pregnant. While I respect the right of a tribe to maintain their heritage, I don't feel it's fair to a birth mother to make the decisions for her. Not that life is fair, but each tribe treats it differently, which means women in the same situation are treated differently depending upon the tribe. I've only had two or three situations in my career where a tribe actually intervened.

I do find it interesting that tribal gaming has changed the way ICWA is administered and there is no consistency across the tribal lines. Some wealthy tribes don't get involved but, rather, allow the birth mother to make her own adoption plan. Why? Because another tribal member means another way to split the pie -- the income that is generated with tribal gaming. It means less for them, so they throw out the concept of retaining tribal members within the tribe. The importance of tribal culture that they fought so hard to retain is simply discarded in favor of the almighty dollar.

In California, a well-known tribe excommunicated over a dozen members who could trace their roots and had been in the tribe their entire lives. This tribe went back several generations to question whether an ancestor was entitled to membership back then. Because they are a sovereign nation, they could decide who was a member and who wasn't. They chose to disenfranchise and de-legitimize people who had been tribal members since birth. These Native Americans were good enough to be considered tribal members until there was money from tribal gaming to be split.

Tribal traditions, culture, and heritage are being polluted by power and money. Doesn't everyone deserve the same opportunity to decide what's best for their child? I think we're dealing with human rights here as much as we are sovereign nations. Does the tribe trump basic human rights? I've had Native American women tell me that they absolutely don't want their child to be raised on the reservation, as alcoholism is so prevalent. Yet, if a woman belongs to a certain tribe, they will decide for her where the baby goes. Shouldn't that be her call? There is only a baby because SHE chose to carry it. Could this possibly contribute to a woman's decision to have an abortion? I believe so. I wonder how many Native American babies lost their lives because of this very issue. I think ICWA was enacted for good reason, but circumstances aren't the same in current times. I think that today ICWA is no longer viable and the issue of Native American Indians and adoption should be revisited. It's time to give every woman the right to choose a home for her child. We certainly give women choices that carry much more dire consequences for both mother and child.