YELLOWHEAD TRIBAL SERVICES' PIONEERING ADOPTION PROGRAM KEEPS NATIVE CHILDREN ON THE RESERVECan First Nations children be adopted on the reserve according to native traditions and yet have the adoption recognized by the law of the land? An alliance of five Alberta First Nations is proving it can be done. Since 1999 Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency (YTSA) has been running a custom adoption program which successfully marries traditional practices with Alberta's legal requirements for adoption. It has placed 31 children in permanent homes, often with families in the child's home community, families who speak their own language and share their culture. YTSA serves the Alexander, Alexis, Enoch, O'Chiese and Sunchild First Nations. The Elders and chiefs of the five tribes have chosen to favour maintaining connections with their children, by having fostering and adoption of native children done on-reserve, thus preventing loss of the children to non-native adopters. The agency operates programs of custom care (foster care), and custom adoption (adoption recognizing First Nations traditions). The custom adoption program finds permanent First Nations homes for children who have been in foster care for a long time. Through the program Alberta First Nations are taking control of native adoptions. CUSTOM ADOPTION Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency of Edmonton has been widely praised for its Open Custom Adoption Program. In recognition of YTSA's pioneering contribution, the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) honoured the agency with an Adoption Activist award at its conference in Vancouver, B.C., held Aug. 7-9, 2003. At a workshop on Open Custom Adoption at the NACAC conference, Darin Keewatin of the School of Social Work, University of Victoria explained how adoption works on the five reserves. It's a return to the traditional practice of custom adoption, with Elders and the community involved in the process of providing care for a child when a parent or extended family members are unable to do so. Custom adoption has long existed in aboriginal communities, Mr. Keewatin said. "We have a system and we've revived it ... with the help of our Elders." Each reserve has a child welfare committee working under the guidance of the Elders. They ensure that a family is found for a child in need of a permanent home, a family who will transmit tribal culture and history to the child. The Open Custom Adoption Program is based on the First Nations tradition of viewing the child as a member of a caring community, not just the sole responsibility of parents. Open custom adoption lets families who have had a child put into foster care take part in deciding who might adopt their child, and to continue playing a role in the child's life. The spirit of openness pervades custom adoption: the biological parents stay in touch with the children, and the children benefit by keeping a connection with their birth family, and thus part of who they are. The community is involved in supporting and affirming the important roles of the biological and adoptive parents and extended families, avoiding the stigma and isolation resulting from the practices of some mainstream adoption agencies which still advocate hiding the identity of birthparents. First Nation families wanting to adopt through this program must be, or become, a foster home through YTSA's Custom Care program. Families submit documents and undergo background checks as required for a domestic adoption in Alberta. In other ways the process respects First Nations traditions. Cultural and traditional activities are available to children and families. As part of their orientation they learn the history of the community and receive teachings from the Elders using pictures and stories. The adoption homestudy is conducted in the language of the family, by a First Nations-designated child care worker. THE CUSTOM ADOPTION CEREMONY YTSA has striven to deliver culturally appropriate child and family services to the five First Nations it serves. It has organized a special ceremony to finalize and recognize custom adoptions. This brings together Elders, family and community, and blends the judicial process with a traditional Cree adoption ceremony. YTSA has hosted three custom adoption ceremonies on the reserves, on Nov. 10, 2000 (3 adoptions), May 23, 2002 (6) and June 11, 2003 (14). Margaret Philp of The Globe and Mail described the first ceremony in her Dec. 21, 2002 article "The land of lost children": "Two years ago, history was made when a judge from Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench drove ... to the Enoch reserve north of Edmonton to grant the final adoption orders for three former foster children. The ceremony was done with none of the courtroom's usual dourness. Instead, it was a blend of native and mainstream customs, with the chiefs and Elders and the burning sweetgrass of aboriginal tradition mixed with the staid courtroom formalities of granting an adoption with legal clout." HISTORY Historically in Canada, most native children have found foster care in non-native homes. Many were then adopted by non-native families. The bands, moreover, were not told when their children were adopted outside the reserve. Chiefs and band councils in Alberta became deeply concerned over losing their children to the outside world, where they would learn nothing of native culture and lose their connections to family and community. In 1996 they announced a moratorium on adoptions by non-natives. In February 1997 the adoption process for native children in Alberta changed. Under the Ministry of Children's Services' new policy, the chief and band council had to consent to every adoption of a First Nation child. In the past, native children were usually adopted by non-natives in a closed adoption -- the children didn't know who their birthparents were. Today many of these children, now adults, are finding their way home to their tribal roots. Some are just looking to complete their lives; others are returning wounded and looking for a place to heal. As Carolyn Peacock, Executive Director of YTSA, commented at the NACAC workshop in August 2003: "We have lost many of our children to adoption. They return to the reserve and are angry [at having lost touch with their roots]". In its Jan. 26, 2003 article "Adoption program keeps First Nations kids in touch with roots", CBC News Online quoted the executive director: "I'm hoping that we will not have the children coming back wondering who they are, and who their families are, and who they're connected to. That's our dream." In 1999, when YTSA started its program, 90% of native children found foster care in non-native homes off-reserve. YTSA's custom foster care program, which places children in native homes, has reversed that statistic. The agency's custom adoption program is also helping to keep children in their home communities. YTSA's success, says Carolyn Peacock, lies in balancing traditions with modern requirements, letting communities take responsibility for their members' welfare, and serving families and children "with a good heart". YTSA SUCCESS In 1987 the Yellowhead Tribal Council (YTC) signed an agreement with the provincial government to take control of its own child and family services. It created Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency to provide on-reserve services, from child protection to adoption, for the five YTC member communities (Alexander, Alexis, Enoch, O'Chiese and Sunchild First Nations). The drawback of traditional custom adoption was that informal arrangements weren't recognized off-reserve. Parents didn't have the piece of paper giving them all the rights of parenthood, from changing the children's names to registering them for school. The YTSA adoption program makes everything legal in the eyes of Alberta law. In a Dec. 21, 2002 article "The land of lost children", Margaret Philp of The Globe and Mail quoted YTSA's program co-ordinator on the benefits of the program: "We had to accommodate something of the non-native way," says Linda Borle. "It has provided security for our families. It has opened the doors so that our agency can provide more than protection. And it has also opened the door that adoption is not a bad thing. It's a good thing. That what we're doing is providing first nations families and first nations children with their culture, their identity, their communities, and if not their communities, other first nations families. And to me, that's the ultimate. It's the best of the best." To keep services community-based, YTSA's main office in Edmonton provides funding and staff for each of the five communities. Each community also has its own child welfare committee formed of tribal Elders and concerned professional community members. In its brochure YTSA says its custom native adoption program will set the standard for other First Nation community-based adoption programs. To further awareness of its program, YTSA has created the video "From the Heart", which recounts the history of adoptions of First Nations children in Alberta and the personal experience of family members who adopted children in the traditional adoption ceremony. Yellowhead Tribal Services' Custom Adoption Program in Alberta is an example of a program which has successfully bridged the gap between provincial law and aboriginal traditions of child care. Other examples are in British Columbia and Manitoba. As Marlyn Bennett and Cindy Blackstock wrote, "A fundamental key to success for each of these programs is that they are all designed and delivered within Indigenous knowledge frameworks that are reflective of their local cultures." (First Nations Child and Family Services and Indigenous Knowledge as a Framework for Research, Policy and Practice, Wilfrid Laurier University, June 2002, www.wlu.ca/fsw/cura/pdf/conference_papers/FNC.pdf) LEGALITIES The federal Indian Act gives the authority for child welfare on Indian reserves to the provinces. In order for a First Nation agency to deliver child welfare services on reserve, the province must delegate its authority to the First Nation. In addition, the First Nation depends on the federal government to fund the services. Alberta has signed agreements with 17 First Nation Child and Family Service agencies in the province. These agencies are approved by the First Nation or Tribal Council and the provincial government to deliver statutory child and family services to on-reserve residents. In the majority of the 47 First Nations in Alberta, aboriginal child welfare services are now delivered by First Nation agencies. At its web page "About First Nations and Métis Relations" the Alberta Ministry of Children's Services explains, "Under these agreements, Alberta has or will provide delegations of authority under the Child Welfare Act necessary to enable the First Nation agencies to provide the full range of provincial Child Welfare services within the geographical boundaries of the Reserves of their respective member First Nations. The agencies, who have been given delegated authority, deliver services as per the Child Welfare Act. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada funds the agencies for the provision of Child and Family Services on-Reserve." SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENT In its 2000-2001 annual report Alberta Children's Services claimed the custom adoption project to be a first in Canada. "Three Aboriginal children living in government care off-reserve were united with permanent First Nations adoptive parents affiliated with the Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency. Through the permanency planning project, the first of its kind in Canada, First Nations children will be relinked with their heritage." British Columbia's Ministry of Children and Family Development is also working to make custom adoption more common. Its February 2003 discussion paper "Strategic Service Delivery Considerations" suggested how to change the unsatisfactory past adoption practice which moved children away from their aboriginal communities and culture. (In Alberta aboriginal children constitute a large percentage of the children in care, with many in non-aboriginal foster homes.) It urged adoption workers to seek permanent aboriginal homes for the children, for example by using custom adoption more. The paper cited aboriginal groups pursuing the return of their children for adoption into their band or tribe. "Yellowhead Tribal Services in Alberta has developed a system of open custom adoption and has brought home and placed close to 30 children within their tribe within the past two years. ... Native American groups have developed aggressive recruitment for Native American families for foster and adoption placements of their children and have been successful in keeping children in their communities." REACTION Elspeth Ross is a board member of the Adoption Council of Canada, an educator in FASD issues and an adoptive parent of alcohol-affected native children. In a July 10, 2003 memo to the adoption community Elspeth Ross commented on the success of transracial adoptions involving the adoption of natives by non-natives. She wrote, "We need research and efforts to recruit Native families for Native children and permanent placement in a variety of homes: customary and kinship care, guardianship and adoption with as much openness as possible. The Native agencies doing wonderful work in permanency for kids in care need support and funds. Two are the Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency of Alberta and the Caring for First Nations Children Society of B.C. We also need to support birth families so children do not need to come into care. But we need to recognize that moving kids around in foster care and into group homes and independent living is damaging. Children need permanent homes and can't wait for families to heal and people to stop talking and act." She said it's time for children's aid societies and native bands to work together, act early and support families so that children are not moved from placement to placement to group homes. She wrote in a July 27, 2003 memo, "The native communities who are doing native adoptions, such as Yellowhead Tribal Council in Alberta, need to be supported and made into models for others." FOR MORE INFORMATION Yellowhead Tribal Council, 17304 - 105 Ave., Edmonton, Alberta T5S 1G4, 780-484-0303 Yellowhead Tribal Services Agency, #302, 17304-105 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5S 1G4, 780-481-7390. Carolyn Peacock, Executive Director, carolyn.peacock@gov.ab.ca. Linda Borle, Open Custom Adoption Co-ordinator. Verna Kootenhayoo, Custom Care Program. Darin Keewatin, School of Social Work, University of Victoria, British Columbia, 250-721-8040, keewatin@uvic.ca First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, www.fncfcs.com Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca Copyright 2003 Adoption Council of Canada. Reproduction permitted, if credited "Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca". Please make a request to reprint, so we can track where ACC news items are used. Send your request to acc@adoption.ca. |
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