Native Americans Obtaining Birth Certificates After Adoption (find, white, blood)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

The state of California is very rigid about not issuing birth certificates to adopted children. They have a firm policy that adoptees have no right to ever know who they are.

But say a child is Native American and was given away in one of those government programs where they placed native children into white family homes and erased the child's heritage. Has anyone ever had any luck with suing the state of California to get their records unsealed to find out what tribe they belong to?

[jasper12]

I have a Navajo sister, but our family never ''erased'' her heritage. She has tribal status, as a full blood Navajo.

She was adopted in the 50's, her parents could not take care of her, she was hardly, ''stolen''. She has her birth certificate, with her parents listed. She was adopted in Arizona. And no, she was not the maid or anything like that. We shared a room. She is a bit older than me.

This may have been a progressive adoption for that time frame, as she went home for summers, I often went with her. But we stopped when we were teens, it was not safe for us.

[daliowa]

Might DNA testing be helpful?

[historyfan]

You would need more information. You can petition the adoption court where adoption took place for tribal affilation without identifying biological parents. With a tribal affiliation the specific tribe would likely assist in petitioning court for identifying information. If an adoption agency was involved, you can petition them in same manner. I know a NA woman in Idaho who has found her tribal affilation through Lutheran adoption agency without finding her mother's name. She is now in process of attempting to do that. It has been a long process.
It is important to not judge another time's actions to today's standards. Many of our ancestors will fall very short. Try to be a seeker of information fir information's sake. Good luck.