I urge you to read this personal true story of an adopted Native American. He pulls no punches with a powerful account of his formative years.
These words are, according to Eric Schweig, his “mission statement.”
“We can never go home because the concept of home is lost on us.”
Adoption of aboriginal children by Caucasian couples is to me, for lack of a better term ‘State Sanctioned Kidnapping.’ Too often Euro-American couples are preoccupied with the romantic notion of having a “real live Indian baby” or a “real live Inuit baby” which instantly transforms the child into an object rather than a person. For decades our communities’ babies have been unceremoniously wrenched from the hands of their biological parents and subjected to a plethora of abuses. Physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse and a host of others.
I have first-hand knowledge of this because I was one of those children.
For years my adoptive parents beat me bloody on a regular basis. I’ve been trapped in rooms naked and beaten with belt buckles, hockey sticks…
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beetleypete 
Thank you very much for sharing this,Pete! Such things are a crime, but not or less sanctioned. Michael
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Thanks for reading, Michael. It needs to be known.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Indeed, Pete! Thank you!
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Pete, I just got online and wanted to thank you for sharing. As an adoptee, I found many stories like Eric’s across North America. My book series Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects has personal narratives all about this history. Eric is a famous actor that many people recognize but many do not what happened in his early life. [https://blog.americanindianadoptees.com/] Knowing our history is very important. It connects the dots. It speaks to assimilation and genocide.
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I wanted more people to know about the history, and Eric’s post was a powerful and uncompromising read that got his message across perfectly.
Best wishes, Pete.
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It surprises me a bit that more people do not know how Native children were taken, what some call kidnapped.
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I would like to have read why these children are put up for adoption in the first place. I would think a tribe would be a closer knit community than most.
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There is a lot of stuff out there to read about those adoptions, but I wanted to show just one story of a part of history that so many seemingly know little about.
Best wishes, Pete.
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There were numerous projects run by governments in North America. One was called ARENA which trafficked children between the US and Canada. Churches ran programs to adopt them to non-Indians. Tribal parents were not allowed to keep their own children.
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Thanks for sharing this powerful piece Pete.
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Thanks, Kim. It needs to be publicised.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thank for sharing this important and painful story! C
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Thanks, Cheryl. I think it needs a bigger audience.
Best wishes, Pete.
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This is tragic, and I can totally get “Your paternalism is insulting”……
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Many thanks for reading and commenting, Sue.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pleasure
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