The Lakota Peoples Law Project says that the American Association of Adoption  Attorneys filed six federal lawsuits in six different states and that Judge O’Conner struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act declaring that “it is an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Act and stated that it racially discriminated against white people because they gave preference to Indian people or Indian children”.

“The issue has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court and it’s likely that they’re going to take up the case of the Indian Child Welfare Act, so this is part of an across-the-board assault that Trump and McConnell have packed the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and they have upheld the anti-voting rules and regulations in Texas. They’ve upheld the ban on abortions. They’ve upheld the ban on gay marriages, and it’s now reached down even into going after a 47-year-old Indian Child Welfare Act that the white lawyers happen to have objected to because they’re making they’re making approximately $100,000 a piece for every one of the Indian children that they adopt out to a white couple”, stated Daniel Sheehan from the Lakota Peoples Law Project.

Here at Minding Hearts will never see us complain about the abortion ban because that prevents babies from being born and oftentimes causes the mother’s life to spiral out of control too, but to say that the Indian Child Welfare Act discriminates against white people brings up issues. Adoption is not the blessing that states make it out to be. Less than 3% of adopted children ever go to college. Many are placed on psychotropic drugs to “help them cope”. Sometimes before they are even a year old.

In 2018, while President, Trump passed the Family First Preventative Services Act that is supposed to be in place now and requires states to place children with family members first. The Indian Child Welfare Act states much of the same, but also requires that children removed from their biological parents and taken into states custody has to be placed with someone from their own tribe.

For Judge O’Connor to say that placing children with their own extended family where they are not denied the right to own heritage is absurd! More children are trafficked in the United States than anywhere else in the world. City reports show that between 60% to as many as 99% of the children rescued in sex trafficking stings were in state custody when they were trafficked. The Department of State every year in their Trafficking In Person Report reports that foster care is a problem and that trafficker’s prey on vulnerable children in foster care and children that run away. Children in foster care are more likely to run away, and when they are taken out of their neighborhoods and away from the people and places that they know, they are more likely to fall victims to traffickers. So what Judge O’Connor is doing is not “in the best interest of the children”.

Whether we agree on abortion or not I hope that we agree that keeping families intact whenever possible is the best thing that can happen for a child and for society as a whole. I plan to keep my eyes on this lawsuit and follow Judge O’Connor’s decisions and I hope that you will too. We cannot continue to destroy our own children. Let the tribes take care of their own and let the rest of the American families and families around the world take care of their own. Children are far better off with family than they are with complete strangers. Children are better off in their own communities with people they know and trust than they are when states take them off to far away places where they do not know anyone and cannot find their way back. Children just want to go home! States cannot even justify about 90% of removals!

Minding Hearts is building advocacy and peer support groups, “Hearts and Minds” in each state. The groups are created to raise awareness, educate, and advocate for those that might not otherwise be heard. We are here for encouragement, education, and support. We cannot give legal advice, but we can try and direct you in the right direction with your case. Links to legal services are listed with their states. Please share and let’s grow our groups. We are here to support families and develop resources that maintain family integrity. We look forward to your support. If you would rather become active by donating, then visit the donation page. Thank you.

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