Native Americans feel enduring pain of coerced adoption

+ 'Cop City' protests in Atlanta test First Amendment limits US Edition - Today's top story: Native American mothers whose children have been separated from them experience a raw and ongoing grief that has no end [View in browser]( US Edition | 1 December 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [How the keffiyeh scarf came to symbolize Palestinian cause]( - [What is a ‘proportionate’ military response?]( - [Followed the news this week? Take our quiz to be sure]( Lead story The traumas endured by generations of Native American families whose children were forcibly removed for attendance at Indian residential schools have been well documented. But far less attention has been paid to the suffering caused by a program enacted in the 1950s known as the Indian Adoption Project. During this era, which lasted until the late 1970s, more than three-quarters of Native American families lost at least one child to adoption. To this day, Native American children are still disproportionately represented in the U.S. foster care system. “Many Native American birth mothers felt [forced to surrender their children to adoption]( because they were young and lacked resources,” writes Ashley L. Landers, an assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University. “In many cases, they were unable to say goodbye or hold the baby. They felt ashamed and unworthy.” The stories of ongoing loss, grief and trauma that Native American birth mothers experience as a result of these policies are only beginning to be told, Landers explains. Research that Landers conducts in partnership with the First Nations Repatriation Institute seeks to shine a light on the harms these families have endured and to promote healing and recovery. [ [Get our Understanding AI series – four emails delivered over the course of a week, with experts explaining this confusing topic.]( ] Amanda Mascarelli Senior Health and Medicine Editor Native American children are still disproportionately represented in the U.S. child welfare system. grandriver/E+ via Getty Images [Native American mothers whose children have been separated from them experience a raw and ongoing grief that has no end]( Ashley L. Landers, The Ohio State University Native American families have endured generations of systematic child removal, but the grief, loss and trauma that birth mothers still experience have been largely overlooked. 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