Natasha an Alaskan Native adopted into a non native family shares her recovery journey.
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The Practice of Native American Boarding Schools and Adoption
The history of adoption and Native American boarding schools is a tough one, deeply intertwined with attempts to assimilate Native children into white culture, often at the cost of their own identity and heritage. This all kicked off in the late 19th century with the establishment of Native boarding schools like the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879. These schools were built on the idea of “Kill the Indian, save the man,” with a mission to transform Native kids into what was seen as “civilized” by European-American standards. They banned students from speaking their languages, wearing traditional clothes, or practicing their customs, pushing them instead to adopt English and learn trades that fit into mainstream American society.
These boarding schools were, frankly, brutal. Many kids were taken from their families against their will, subjected to harsh discipline, poor living conditions, and even physical and emotional abuse. With the goal of erasing Native culture, children were forced to reject their heritage, and it led to a deep sense of cultural dislocation that still impacts families today. While this system peaked in the early 1900s, it persisted well into the 1960s.
In the mid-20th century, this approach continued through government programs that encouraged Native American adoption by white families. The Indian Adoption Project of the 1950s to the 1970s led to many Native kids being adopted out, often without proper consent or understanding from their families. This effort to remove Native children from their cultural backgrounds and place them with non-Native families has led to generations of Native people growing up disconnected from their roots, sometimes called a “Lost Generation.”
After years of activism and resistance from Native communities, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed in 1978. The ICWA pushed back on these forced assimilation efforts, aiming to keep Native kids within Native communities whenever possible. Today, there’s a lot of work being done by boarding school survivors, adoptees, and their descendants to reconnect with their culture, share their stories, and heal the historical trauma created by these policies.
For more information visit https://boardingschoolhealing.org/list/ and https://www.pbs.org/articles/native-american-history-documentaries-about-residential-schools-and-forced-adoptions
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