Margaret D. Jacobs, “A Generation Removed: The Fostering and Adoption of Indigenous Children in the Postwar World” (University of Nebraska Press, 2014)

New Books in Indigenous Studies · Mar 5, 2015 · 1h 1m

In 2012, a young Cherokee girl named Veronica became famous. The widespread and often coercive adoption and fostering of Indigenous children by non-Native families has long been known, discussed, and challenged in Indian Country. Now, because of an interview on Dr. Phil with the white South Carolina couple seeking to adopt Veronica, the issue went national.

Veronica’s mother had agreed to the adoption, but her father, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, wanted to raise her. And according to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), Indian children should grow up in Indian families whenever…