The Cherokee Nation looks to be involved in another adoption battle. A couple has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s Indian Child Welfare Act.
"A biological father and mother cannot voluntarily place a child for adoption if it’s an Indian child without having to notify the Indian tribe in question, and that is not the same thing as what’s required in the federal act," said the couple's attorney, Paul Swain.
The birth mother and prospective adoptive father are both enrolled Cherokees. The birth father and adoptive mother are not members of any tribe.
The couple is disputing the tribe’s right to be notified of and intervene in voluntary cases where both parents agree on adoptive parents.
Cherokee Assistant Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo said the state claims a right to its children.
"They exercise those rights by passing adoption laws that affect the adoptions that take place in the state. The Cherokee Nation, as a government, as the same types of rights to its children as the state of Oklahoma has to its children," Nimmo said.
Nimmo said when the tribe is notified, it makes it easier to keep records allowing the child to claim citizenship later.
The couple also contend they have a right to privacy.
"There’s a lot of language in there about what the tribe might do and how we might reveal this information, and we are bound by both state and tribal law to keep any information that we receive confidential," Nimmo said.
The state attorney general’s office is also named in the lawsuit. A spokesman said he is reviewing it.
