Column: Questions on Indian Child Welfare Act in North Dakota

Is the Indian Child Welfare Act being ignored in adoptions of American Indian children from North Dakota?

My curiosity was piqued when I saw a reference to North Dakota in a story that ran last week in Indian Country Today about an ongoing dispute over the attempted adoption of a Shawnee baby from Oklahoma. Her mother is Shawnee; her father, who is white, is citing the Indian Child Welfare Act in his fight to prevent the adoption of the baby by a South Carolina couple. Here is a link to the article: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/27/underbelly-us-adoption-industry-trafficking-native-children-151006

In the same article, the reporter claims that an unidentified lawyer made the claim that another South Carolina lawyer told him that he placed "upwards of 50 Native American children from North Dakota" last year alone. The lawyer also supposedly made the explosive claim that Indian children are easier to place, "because they're lighter-skinned." The article makes the claim that lawyers nationwide are making large amounts of money arranging the private adoptions of Indian children.