Native American Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories

by Rita J. Simon American University, Sarah Hernandez

Overview

Native American Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories presents twenty interviews with Native American adoptees raised in non-Native homes. Through the in-depth interviews they conduct with each participant, the authors explore complex questions of cultural identity formation. The participants of the study represent a range of positive and negative experiences of transracial adoption. Regardless of their personal experiences, however, all twenty respondents indicate that they are supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act and that they believe that Native children should be raised in Native households whenever possible. However, eighteen of the twenty respondents concede that non-Native families can raise Native children to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted adults. Through the interviews, Simon and Hernandez allow readers to better understand the different experiences of Native American adoptees.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739124932
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/15/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	380
Sales rank:	1,065,997
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.15(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

Rita James Simon is a professor at the School of Public Affairs at American University. Sarah Hernandez is a scholarship coordinator for the American Indian College Fund.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part I: History and Analysis of Native American Adoptees into White and Black Families Part 2 Part II: Native American Adoptees Describe Their Experiences: Introduction Part 3 Part III: Interviews Chapter 4 1 Diane Ames Chapter 5 2 Andrea Chapter 6 3 Leslee Caballero Chapter 7 4 Veronica Rose Dahmen Chapter 8 5 Denise Engstrom Chapter 9 6 Joyce Gonzalez Chapter 10 7 Shana Greenberg Chapter 11 8 Rosalind Hussong Chapter 12 9 Jordan Kennedy Chapter 13 10 RoSean Kent Chapter 14 11 Star Nayea Chapter 15 12 Tamara Watchman Chapter 16 13 Jean Wells Chapter 17 14 Paul DeMain Chapter 18 15 David Houghton Chapter 19 16 Dennis Jones Chapter 20 17 Paul LaRoche Chapter 21 18 Nicholas Leech-Crier Chapter 22 19 Jonathan Old Horse Chapter 23 20 Ted Smith Part 24 Part IV: Summary and Concluding Comments

Editorial Reviews

Transcribed interviews allow the adoptees to powerfully and poignantly express the impact of their experiences, thus challenging readers to make their own meaning....The book is important because it tackles an ignored subject....Recommended. Two-star review.

March 2009 Choice Reviews

Transcribed interviews allow the adoptees to powerfully and poignantly express the impact of their experiences, thus challenging readers to make their own meaning....The book is important because it tackles an ignored subject....Recommended. Two-star review.

March 2009 CHOICE

Transcribed interviews allow the adoptees to powerfully and poignantly express the impact of their experiences, thus challenging readers to make their own meaning....The book is important because it tackles an ignored subject....Recommended. Two-star review.

Choice Reviews

Not since David Fanshel's Far from the Reservation has a study so thoroughly examined the effects of transracial adoption on Native American people. This study fills an important gap in the history of the transracial adoption of Native American children. It portrays, in wonderful detail, the struggles of twenty Native Americans between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-nine who were transracially adopted as children into non-Native American families (sixteen into white families). It illustrates the 'highs' and 'lows' of their experiences and concludes by candidly addressing the ambivalence felt by these individuals to transracial adoption.

Howard Altstein

Transcribed interviews allow the adoptees to powerfully and poignantly express the impact of their experiences, thus challenging readers to make their own meaning....The book is important because it tackles an ignored subject....Recommended. Two-star review.

Choice

Not since David Fanshel's Far from the Reservation has a study so thoroughly examined the effects of transracial adoption on Native American people. This study fills an important gap in the history of the transracial adoption of Native American children. It portrays, in wonderful detail, the struggles of twenty Native Americans between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-nine who were transracially adopted as children into non-Native American families (sixteen into white families). It illustrates the 'highs' and 'lows' of their experiences and concludes by candidly addressing the ambivalence felt by these individuals to transracial adoption.--Howard Altstein, School of Social Work, University of Maryland

Transcribed interviews allow the adoptees to powerfully and poignantly express the impact of their experiences, thus challenging readers to make their own meaning....The book is important because it tackles an ignored subject....Recommended. Two-star review.--CHOICE, March 2009

From the Publisher