Demand Federal Action: Free DNA Testing for All Native Americans to Reunite Families
The Issue
We, the undersigned, urge the Federal Government to provide free DNA testing to all Native American individuals to support the long-overdue reunification of families separated by federal policies. This initiative would help to mend the harm caused by forced adoptions, boarding schools, and other practices that have disrupted Native communities for generations. By facilitating reconnection, we can begin to address the legacy of these policies and restore the bonds that are every family’s right.
The U.S. took Native children into the federal Indian boarding school system by force, in the open and secretly. Native children often ended up at federal Indian boarding schools as prisoners of war captured by U.S. soldiers. It was standard for the federal government to take children and send them to boarding schools without parental consent. Parents often did not know if a missing child had been taken and sent to boarding school.
Like the Boarding School Initiative, the goal of forced Native adoptions was to break Indigenous families apart and strip future generations of their ancestral languages, teachings, and practices. Estimates from government agencies suggest that between 25 and 35 percent of all Native children were stolen from their homes and communities. Of these children, an estimated 85% were often adopted into non-Native families to further the government's goal of assimilation. This was the first national effort to place an entire child population transracially and transculturally. These children are called the "Lost Generation."
For generations, countless Native children have been denied knowledge of their heritage and family ties due to federal policies that severed them from their communities. Many were never issued their government-mandated Indian Enrollment Number, effectively stripping them of their right to access their reservations and reconnect with their families and culture.
Join us in demanding that the Federal Government take action by enacting legislation to provide free DNA testing to all Native Americans, helping restore these lost connections and repair the harm caused by past policies.
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The Issue
We, the undersigned, urge the Federal Government to provide free DNA testing to all Native American individuals to support the long-overdue reunification of families separated by federal policies. This initiative would help to mend the harm caused by forced adoptions, boarding schools, and other practices that have disrupted Native communities for generations. By facilitating reconnection, we can begin to address the legacy of these policies and restore the bonds that are every family’s right.
The U.S. took Native children into the federal Indian boarding school system by force, in the open and secretly. Native children often ended up at federal Indian boarding schools as prisoners of war captured by U.S. soldiers. It was standard for the federal government to take children and send them to boarding schools without parental consent. Parents often did not know if a missing child had been taken and sent to boarding school.
Like the Boarding School Initiative, the goal of forced Native adoptions was to break Indigenous families apart and strip future generations of their ancestral languages, teachings, and practices. Estimates from government agencies suggest that between 25 and 35 percent of all Native children were stolen from their homes and communities. Of these children, an estimated 85% were often adopted into non-Native families to further the government's goal of assimilation. This was the first national effort to place an entire child population transracially and transculturally. These children are called the "Lost Generation."
For generations, countless Native children have been denied knowledge of their heritage and family ties due to federal policies that severed them from their communities. Many were never issued their government-mandated Indian Enrollment Number, effectively stripping them of their right to access their reservations and reconnect with their families and culture.
Join us in demanding that the Federal Government take action by enacting legislation to provide free DNA testing to all Native Americans, helping restore these lost connections and repair the harm caused by past policies.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on October 27, 2024