First Nations Children Should Never Be Adopted By Non-Aboriginal Parents - Term Paper Example

First Nations Children Should Never Be Adopted By Non-Aboriginal Parents Introduction The debate of whether it is appropriate for non-Aboriginal parents to adopt Aboriginal children has hotly been discussed by many people and for many years. This has caused the establishment of many court battles between individuals, and the formation of different human rights tribunals in relation to the actions from both sides. The media, also, has been attentive on the matter although no consensus has been made yet in favor of Aboriginal children who are agonizing to get long term care. This paper, therefore, outlines why the non-Aboriginal parents should not adopt the Aboriginal children based on the political and cultural perspectives. The article focuses on the cultural context since the interests of the theme is mostly considering the issue as a cultural one. A discussion of the social difficulties of the Aboriginal children under the care of non-Aboriginal management or parenting helped in criticizing the children formation of their identities in adolescence stage. The paper also draws to a conclusion that many adopted Aboriginal children by the non-Aboriginal families break down the relationship during the adolescent stage which shows that identity formation and cultural dynamics play an important role. The amendment of the Indian Act in 1951and the implementation of the Canada Assistance Plan1 in the year 1966 changed the nature of how the child welfare services were delivered to Aboriginal by the First Nation communities. This is because, before the enactment of Indian Act in 1951, very few resources were being provided to the reserves but after the amendments, the child welfare authorities were tasked to serve the communities in the reserves as an official capacity. With these changes made by the governments, the Aboriginal children apprehender developed to be a state issue to have the care arrangements. This means that most of the Aboriginal children were not placed for care according to the families but as the citizens of the states, in which case, most of them found themselves under the non-Aboriginal family care. The movement arrangement also had no hopes of returning the children back to their families or in their home communities. In regards to the adoption of the children, the total number of the First Nations children adopted by the non-Aboriginal families increased from the early 1960’s to late 1970’s. According to Fournier and Crey2, about 78% of the total children adopted were by non-Aboriginal families and the rest 22% were adopted by the Aboriginal parents. There had been major developments in the interests of the children especially through courts3, the social wok practices and also through different policies as part of becoming a consideration to the children welfare. The separation and distinction of the children from their families, culture of their communities violates the children’s interests and has mostly contributed to the individualism in the European culture. The First Nations in Canada has a notion of believing in tribal societies where the individual are valued, acknowledged in a context within families, cultures and even communities. The interests of the children in this case are mostly linked to the interests of their communities. This means that, if a child is embodied in a certain culture, he or she is required to grow within that culture. The relationship between the community and its subjects enhances one to compel as much as possible to produce adults in order to strengthen it through generations. This becomes an integral importance for a child to be part of it as well as maintain the survival of the community. This is the reason as to why every one in the community has a responsibility to care for the children for the future of the cultural survival. It is for this reason why the children are named ‘sacred’ by the communities since they become the subject for its culture and its existence. The process of adopting the child, that is, separating the child from their maternal parents is said to be well informed by the contradicting information from the parents themselves and according to the environment they live. If the information given is confusing or even contradictory, the child risks experiencing negativities or problems which might lead to serious impacts to both the parents and the child. The children being adopted, either Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal may be questioning the adoptive parents on the reasons why he or she was separated from their original family. This is viewed as chronic doubt by the child even if the adoptive parent is sensitive or not on the issue. Moreover, this might result to the negative impacts to the self esteem of the child. The feelings of why the child’s parents decided to abandon him or her also complicate the challenge which no one can be able to answer or solve. It is also a challenge for the non-Aboriginal family in the communication between them and the adopted Aboriginal child as they have little information of the different meanings expressed by child although they are understood in their community. The facts of Aboriginal families are that, they were community of people centered for child caring, although some were blood related, being tied by clan or other social structures with a common responsibility. The responsibility is the goodness and welfare of the children in the community. In this case, the child can be cared by the parent, the aunty or even a cousin at any stage of child development since it’s traditionally an Aboriginal culture4. In contrast, the Non-Aboriginal systems use the standard views which are not locally practiced and are much foreign, hence miss different considerations on the issue. This is because the world has different diversities on how the child care is organized. The major point is that, no culture should be recognized in producing better adults than the other. According to Brad5, he draws an evidence that the Aboriginal children raised in non-Aboriginal homes has possibilities to experience crisis, especially in identity in adolescence stage which might lead to the psychological and acute social problems. This happens when they realize that they are no longer fit in the destined society where they have been socialized. The adoption of the Aboriginal child to the First Nations also affects the people of Canada although politicization affects them to come out and express their feelings. This is because they can be politically incorrect by challenging the efforts of the entrenched ideas by the states. It is due to the burden given to the people through offering their substantial personal responsibilities to cater for the young ones. Another social problem of the adapted children is the abuse of their rights by their adopted parents. The aboriginal child could be discriminated from other children in the family and be overworked. The mother cannot feel much on giving much work on the adopted son or daughter since they have no blood relations. In this case, therefore, needs to be avoided since even social elements in the growth of the child should be respected and being taken care of. In relation to this problem, some parents also take a notion to harass or abuse the child sexually such as a father starts a sexual affair with the adopted daughter since they have no biological relations or even the mother abuses the adopted son. These cases has its difficulties in reporting since the child can’t trace or go back to their original home but the reported one faces different challenges with police ad authorities failing to extract the need investigative reports or even fearing to expose the matter. The political interferences also hinder the authorities to expose these reported cases. The legislation of the Aboriginal child welfare which recognizes the importance and significance of the Aboriginal culture provides the best knowledge for optimism. The knowledge and experience explained on the impacts can tell otherwise. In current situation, there is significant wastage of funds in court battles where the lives of the Aboriginal children are being biased based on the incomplete information which is touted as hard science. A strong solution to the challenge should be sought from all the stakeholders in order to serve the interests of the affected children but not for the sake of the argument. The policies surrounding the discourse should also be revised in order to incorporate every party for an equal and suitable framework. Bibliography Brad McKenzie & Pete Hudson, Native Children, Child Welfare, and the Colonization of Native People, 127 Fournier, S. & Crey E. 1997. Stolen from Our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Aboriginal Communities, Vancouver, Douglas and McIntyre Hall, Edward T. 1981. Beyond Culture. Doubleday. Kline, M. Child Welfare Law, “Best Interests of the Child” Ideology, and First Nations. In Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 30 (2): pp. 375-425. Norman Desjarlais. Manitoba, Department of the Fatality Inquiries Act, 1992, 211. For example, see Associate Chief Brian D. Giesbrecht, The Fatalities Inquiries Act, 212-217. Read More