Adopting a Native American baby can be full of uncertainty

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by lenora

Is it asking too much for politicians to stay out of these matters?

Update:

'Baby Veronica' birth father freed after surrendering - chicagotribune.com

Why should she have? She was legally allowed (and, I argue, obligated based on her oath of office) to do what she did.

[prospectheightsresident]

While well-intended, I have a huge problem with how ICWA has been implemented and believe that it clearly violates equal protection principles inherent in the 5th Amendment. Similarly, I believe that state carbon copies of ICWA violate the 14th Amendment. The reason? Its simple. Tribal membership in EVERY federally-recognized Indian tribe is based on descent to an Indian by blood or by other blood/racial basis (i.e. Freedmen membership in the Cherokee Nation and Seminole Nation). Note, this is not to say that every tribe has a set blood quantum (they don't), but even those tribes that enroll based on lineal descent only require that a lineal descendant be an Indian by blood. That is a clear race classification (yes, its political in that it goes to tribal membership, but its politics mixed with race, just as Jim Crow laws were, even if ICWA and Jim Crow were designed to meet far different goals) that is subject to strict scrutiny. Under no honest strict scrutiny analysis can many of the ICWA provisions (especially heightened burdens of proof for termination of parental rights and placement preferences) stand; there is no compelling governmental interest to discriminate in such a way. Hopefully, the courts don't dodge the issue this year (there are several lawsuits which were recently filed regarding the constitutionality of the ICWA and new ICWA regulations).

[no kudzu]

Baby Veronica's father Dusten Brown welcomes baby son | Daily Mail Online