Adoption Ceremonies

[Hair lady]

well my son was legaly adopted by my German husband...he is a memeber of the navajo nation, and is part lenape, and white, and has at least 10 lakota uncles, that watch out for him and pray for him....see what a lot of people don´t understand is that calling someone your uncle or aunty, or grandma, amoungst natives is a term of respect.  I don´t know anything about Lakota adoption ceremonies..but with us Lenape, if you take someone in then they are part of your family, and are treated that way. You feed them cloth them and if there is ceremony you take them with you.  I wonder why this is sucha  big issue...if a ndn person decides to adopt someone from the outside then it is thier right, and I don´t feel good about deciding what people should be abel to do and not do concerning this issue.
I can not know what the spirits told these other people.   MAybe they said adopt that person.

[rickmiller]

I have to agree with what was said earlier,as it it acceptable and that families right if they choose to adopt someone into thier family,thats fine they are a part of that family,however,that doesnt make them a part of that particular Nation. It is a huge problem as i see on facebook especially this person from Lenhartsville Pennsylvania,claimin,"I'm adopted Lakota" well she may have been adopted into a particular family,but that does NOT make her Lakota,PERIOD! She has no card,no CDIB,and has even posted on her site that she "Cannot find any Native bloodline" in her family tree,and yet is getting alot of attention because shes"Adopted Lakota" and people who dont know any better are amazed by this. To me people like that are misleading and miseducating the public. And making themselves look really silly to the ones theyre trying to impress but know better than that.

[rickmiller]

earthw7 ,Thank you for posting this! If u have a facebook page could you please post this on there so a few "Adopted" Lakotas i see on there can see this also? Rick

[Hair lady]

LOl Hey Rick I bet she is getting lots of attention..EVERY one loves those lakotas hehe....

I wouldn´t worry about it too much though...waste of time if you ask me..as long as she´s not exploiting people or selling ceremonies...

[rickmiller]

Hello Ms. Hair lady  how are you? Well i dont know if shes exploiting it too much but now that shes "Adopted" Lakota,everything she makes now is "Native made" i have seen that on her crafts.

[earthw7]

well my son was legaly adopted by my German husband...he is a memeber of the navajo nation, and is part lenape, and white, and has at least 10 lakota uncles, that watch out for him and pray for him....see what a lot of people don´t understand is that calling someone your uncle or aunty, or grandma, amoungst natives is a term of respect.  I don´t know anything about Lakota adoption ceremonies..but with us Lenape, if you take someone in then they are part of your family, and are treated that way. You feed them cloth them and if there is ceremony you take them with you.  I wonder why this is sucha  big issue...if a ndn person decides to adopt someone from the outside then it is thier right, and I don´t feel good about deciding what people should be abel to do and not do concerning this issue.
I can not know what the spirits told these other people.   MAybe they said adopt that person.

you know we are not talking about adoption with children but these adults who claim to be adopted and become an instance medicine man

[earthw7]

LOl Hey Rick I bet she is getting lots of attention..EVERY one loves those lakotas hehe....

I wouldn´t worry about it too much though...waste of time if you ask me..as long as she´s not exploiting people or selling ceremonies...

people who claim to be adopted but do not live among the people but use our name is personal gain are telling lies

[Hair lady]

@earth of course I know that... was just stateing about legal adoptions, and family adoptions in general    And no just because you are adopted into a family does not mean that what you make is automaticly native made. That is just silly. Now and this is just hypotheticly speaking what if a natvie family adopted a person and they craftred items and then donated those items to a good cause to help that familes Nation? My point is that there are not set rules about this, each family, Nation sees it differently, and I am not the person who is authorized to make official set in stone rules about what an adopted person can do. I can just give my opinion on it, and hope that when a person has the honor to be adopted inot a native family that they treat that with respect. I feel that there is so much more important issues to worry about...like next winter...again just my opinion.
@ rick the sun is shining and spring is here! I feel pretty good!

[earthw7]

we do have rules for our ceremonies that are a thousand years old
I was taught that there is no One way but the is a way and it is
a thousand years old.
I understand our native adoption ceremonies it is called Hunka, I have three Hunka
brother and soon to have four Hunka sons all of them know they are not adopted
by the nation only by me which means as their sister and mother I am treated as such
but they do not speak for my nation, my ceremonies, or my culture.
There is an honor and respect that happens with these ceremonies my hunka sons are
all my from nation so it is not a problem with them known their rights, but my hunka brother
were adopted by my father and two are Japanese and one is Jewish they are repeated told
there place in my family. They are very respectful

[rickmiller]

Earth7,
    As a Native (Not Lakota) however still a Native,its offensive to me when a wasichu claims to be adopted into a Nation when they are only adopted into a family,and uses that to get attention and to sell items. I feel its exploiting the culture,and making a joke of the true adoption ways. Thats just my opinion. Rick

[Hair lady]

The ceremonies of our Peoples are thousands of years old,, this is the truth. They were made before contact happend. So I suposse it can get confusing now a days. Again I would say it is an honor to be adopted out of love into a family, and that person should treat this adoption with respect. A person who does this has no problems. It seem some people go overboard with it for sure. I have great respect for other Peoples ways myself. Thank you earth for sharing about your way.

[NicoleK]

Sorry if this has been answered, I read through the 5 pages and didn't see it, though...

... does this pertain to infants?

If an infertile Lakota couple decides to adopt, say, a 10-month-old Japanese-American baby out of the foster system, does that mean the child doesn't get to be a member of the Lakota nation?

Also, what if they decide to use a surrogate mother?

I don't know anyone in any of these situations, I'm just curious.

If I were to adopt a Chinese baby, she'd get Swiss/US citizenships and all the benefits and responsibilities (taxes) associated with those nations. However, there'd definitely be some (not all) Swiss people who would think to themselves, "Yes, but she's not REALLY Swiss". It would be a personal thing, though, not a legal status issue.

[earthw7]

Sorry if this has been answered, I read through the 5 pages and didn't see it, though...

... does this pertain to infants?

If an infertile Lakota couple decides to adopt, say, a 10-month-old Japanese-American baby out of the foster system, does that mean the child doesn't get to be a member of the Lakota nation?

Also, what if they decide to use a surrogate mother?

I don't know anyone in any of these situations, I'm just curious.

If I were to adopt a Chinese baby, she'd get Swiss/US citizenships and all the benefits and responsibilities (taxes) associated with those nations. However, there'd definitely be some (not all) Swiss people who would think to themselves, "Yes, but she's not REALLY Swiss". It would be a personal thing, though, not a legal status issue.

No they would have no rights, They would have to be born to one or more Native parents

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

Wow. So an adopted baby would grow up never having the same rights as the rest of their family, they would never really feel they belonged.. sorry, but I think that's really sad. I can understand an adult, but a baby? .. just really sad here.

[educatedindian]

I don't know why you'd think they "never really belong." Does a minority child adopted by white parents feel the same?

It's little different than children born in the US who are automatically citizens, but their parents are not because they were born elsewhere.

Adopting into the tribe used to be quite different pre reservation days, much more common. BQ is pretty much a colonialism inherited practice. But I see why it's kept. Imagine the incredible abuse, and huge public outcry by those already hostile to NDNs, if nonNatives actually could be adopted into tribes. "Why're we throwing away my tax dollars on people who ain't really Indians?"