A child was taken from her foster parents because she’s 1/64 Choctaw. That’s cruel
To the editor: So a little girl in foster care was in a “temporary†home for four years? As a clinical social worker and child therapist for 30 years, I can say unequivocally that almost 70% of a child’s life, spent in one loving and devoted family, is not temporary — at least not to the child. (“Appellate court hears Santa Clarita family’s appeal in tribal custody case,†June 10)
Attachment theory and common sense tell us that although it is perhaps sad that the Department of Children and Family Services took this long to find and secure a home with Choctaw relatives (the 6-year-old girl is 1/64 Chocktaw), the family and emotional bond was already well established with her foster parents.
It is not credible that this child is “doing well,†as suggested in the article. She belongs with her true family —those with whom she has a psychological bond and emotional attachment.
Gina Adelman, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Six years old and 1/64 Chocktow? This warrants her being pulled out of a loving home where she has lived for four years? To be placed with extended family in a non-Chocktow household in Utah?
Are there no exceptions to the rules of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act? If the child wasn’t 1/64 Chocktow, she wouldn’t have to move to Utah as there would be no issue.
Whatever happened to doing what’s in the best interest of the child?
Georgette Rieck, Santa Monica
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