Indian Child Welfare

ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᏗᏂᏲᏟ ᏗᏂᏍᏕᎵᏍᎩ

ᏗᎦᏘᏗᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏧᏓᏘᏅᏅᎢ

Please visit Homes for Cherokee Kids for applications and additional information.

By passing the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, Congress guaranteed Indian children the right to stay connected to their tribe. This unit helps ensure that Cherokee children who cannot be cared for by birth parents can benefit from new and permanent ties with Native American families through adoptions or guardianships. This unit is involved in civil guardianships and adoptions of Cherokee children in all state and tribal judicial courts across the United States. The unit assists court in the compliance of the Indian Child Welfare Act. For more information on adoption services, email adoption@cherokee.org.

Guardianship & Adoptions Unit offer the following services:

Advocate or establish the safest and most appropriate environment for a child
Cherokee Nation referral and networking services for parents and children
Home assessments to determine safe living environment.
Recommendations to the court that are in the best interest of the child and tribe.
Expert testimony on cases
Monitor case activity to ensure compliance with the Federal Indian Child Welfare Act and other state and tribal laws that provide protection for Indian children
Education and guidance for attorneys, court appointed guardians, and families on the rights and responsibilities of the judicial system to ensure the protection of Cherokee children under federal and state law

Guardianships:
This unit monitors and reserves the right to intervene in guardianship cases involving Cherokee children whom are registered citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

Private Adoptions:
The unit works with private adoption agencies, attorneys and all other petitioners in an effort to assist them with compliance of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Cherokee Nation can provide home studies and profiles to agencies for birth parents that meet the federal placement preferences under the law.

Birth Parents:
This unit provides a variety of services for birth parents who wishing to voluntarily place their child for adoption. The Cherokee Nation will provide the birth parents with a variety of home studies and profiles of potential adoptive families that are willing to comply with the birth parents desires in regard to an adoptive family. This may include the amount of openness birth parents would prefer, the degree of Indian blood, the state in which the birth parents would like their child placed and so forth. The Cherokee Nation also provides birth parents with transportation to and from medical appointments, and assistance in setting up other services they may require.

If you are a birth parent wishing to voluntarily place your child for adoption, you may confidentiality contact Cherokee Nation Indian Child Welfare by calling 918-458-6900 or emailing adoption@cherokee.org.

Children are the heart of Cherokee Nation and if you want to make a difference in the life of a child, please consider being a resource parent for our children.

For more information or to make an application, please email homes4kids@cherokee.org or visit Homes for Cherokee Kids

To see updates on our program, "like" us on www.facebook.com/Homesforcherokeekids