NOT ONLY is the ‘INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT’ a weapon against the rights and best interests of many children – but it is an affront on the parental rights of ALL woman ~
The REAL War on Women comes in the form of the Cherokee Nation’s affirmation that single mothers of ALL heritages MUST fear tribal interference if they give a child up for adoption without knowing for certain that the birth father doesn’t have EVEN ONE DROP of Cherokee blood.
In the Thursday, October 18, 2012, segment of Dr. Phil show, Cherokee Nation Attorney Christi Nemmo refused to admit 2-year old Veronica had only a drop of Cherokee blood, but she also doesn’t deny it. She doesn’t answer the question because she knows people would be horrified. She tries to make the argument that it’s not about how a child looks or how much blood the child has, but that they have a right to be part of the Cherokee tribe.
She was sidestepping the fact that this “right” is being forced on not only this child, but many children and families all across the U.S. She is avoiding the fact that not all enrollable individuals WANT their children to be forced into the Cherokee Nation, not all enrollable parents want their children to be raised on or near the reservation, and some enrolled families have purposefully taken their children and moved away.
For example: Enrolled mothers at a home for unwed mothers in Bismarck told State Representative Lee Kaldor that they had wanted to give their babies up for adoption, but were afraid that tribal government would interfere. So although they honestly didn’t feel they were able to properly raise and nurture their babies, they felt that adoption wasn’t an option. Instead, some of them contemplated abortion. ( Interestingly, tribal governments don’t interfere in a mother’s decision to abort.)
Nemmo is also ignoring the rights of the Latino birth mother in question – and ANY mother who chooses adoption for their child.
The horrifying issue that is being ignored here is that while it’s bad enough that enrolled mothers don’t feel a freedom of choice in deciding what is best for their children, we also have a NON-Indian Mother, who was carrying a child with ONLY A TINY percentage of tribal heritage – and that mother and child’s wishes were tromped on by tribal gov’t.
What a nightmare for any pregnant single mother contemplating adoption – that some minute amount of heritage could give a government the legal right to interfere.
Beth Ward is the Author of the new book, “Dying in Indian Country.” Purchase your copy at http://dyinginindiancountry.com/
4 users commented in " The REAL War on Women comes from the Cherokee Nation "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe Cherokee Nation has no reservation.
I enjoy how the author of this article assumes a child being a part of a tribal nation is a negative thing. And my favorite part is the one drop of blood example, they do realize it literally isnt a drop of blood. Not to mention how racist it is to assume a child isn”t apart of a group because the child does not look what a stereotypical indian child would look it.
And btw Aquariuzz, CN does not have a reservation (take that up with the US gov’t) and how does that affect anything with this case. Nothing, btw CN is the 1st/2nd largest tribe and has one of the most successful and proactive child welfare departments.
The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO), in determining its members, does not “measure” drops of blood. You are quite wrong on that count. The CNO, in determining membership, asks the applicant if he/she is a citizen of the nation as proven by descent from previous citizens. Blood does not even come into it. If the CNO were asking for proof of blood, there would not be 2800 descendants of our freed slaves known as freedmen as members of the tribe. Likewise, there would be no membership for the two gentlemen who are currently registered that are totally white. Their ancestor was adopted into the tribe and none of his descendants have intermarried with Indians. They are members because of citizenship, NOT blood. So all those single mothers out there can rest easy that if the father of their child has Cherokee blood, it won’t matter. What the blogger here and Dr. Phil have missed, is that a registered member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is 100% Cherokee and any child he may beget is also 100% Cherokee. Why? Because its not about blood, its about citizenship and that, my friends, cannot be divided.
This is SO scary. The Indian courts can make decisions about where adopted out kids go, but these courts are not educated. They have a very well-established current history of allowing children who were raised in a loving, stable non-Indian home from birth to be dramatically removed to live thousands of miles away on an Indian reservation…children from 3 months to 2 years to 5 years old…any age! They also have a very well-established current history of allowing children to be sexually abused, physically abused, neglected, etc., even the children above who had a safe place to return to, and keeping these children in these homes simply because they are Indian. The (non-educated, I should add) Indian courts have ONE bottom line: Keeping children on the reservation NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM.
First, Native American children were abused by white people who stole them from their homes, and many of these sociopathic adults were physically and sexually abusing the children. NOW, the exact same horrible atrocities are being committed against these children, by Native American sociopaths. Both groups used opposite arguments (that their best environment was off the reservations, then that their best environment is on the reservations) to justify allowing children to be sexually abused, physically abused, and neglected.
These children are suffering deeply. The abuse is very very well documented. They are being returned to documented rapists. They are being raised in homes where all parents are heavily abusing substances. They are being dragged from their adoptive homes screaming and crying to live thousands of miles away on a reservation even to be raised by very distant relatives who are often abusive to them. Interestingly, we are talking about children anywhere from 100% Indian to less than 1% Indian.
It is NOT acceptable to abuse native american children, either at the hands of white people OR AT THE HANDS OF NATIVE AMERICAN people.
This abuse is unacceptable, and it needs to stop.
Cherokee Nation Attorney Christi Nemmo is difficult for me to understand, as despite all of my studies of sociopathy (I am a licensed marriage and family therapist), I still find it hard to watch someone commit such atrocities against children using smooth language about their “right” to be part of the tribe…whether the child, their parents or loved ones even want them to be raised on a reservation! Whether they have psychologically attached to their parental figure and will be ripped away from them to be raised on a reservation far away. It is well documented in 2013 that children’s bonding to a primary parental figure in young childhood is extremely important, but Christi simply DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THE CHILDREN. This is a very sick woman.
Leave A Reply