Personal histories, items can be claimed by adult adoptees from Minnesota’s DHS files
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On a warm July evening, a group of fewer than a dozen people met at the Minneapolis American Indian Center to share information about how adopted adults can claim personal items left for them at the time of their adoption by their birth parents.
Ann Haines Holy Eagle searched and found her birth family many years ago and now advocates for Native American children and families, including fellow adoptees.
“If I would have had something from my mom ... just to know that my mom loved me, you know, or thought enough to send something with me to fight in this world. It would have made a huge difference,” said Haines Holy Eagle.
For the past several decades activists have pushed for access to birth and adoption records. Last year, the state Legislature answered those calls, making state birth records available to adoptees for the first time.
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The change in state law — which went into effect on July 1 — has brought renewed attention to personal effects kept in adoption files. The agency which once placed children will now support adopted people in claiming these gifts.
Haines Holy Eagle and members of the Indian Child Welfare Act Advisory Council, which advises DHS, first learned about personal effects kept by agency this past spring during a routine meeting. She says they learned about items kept in storage for decades — items of personal value, including photos, family heirlooms and small keepsakes.
Haines Holy Eagle said she and others were taken by surprise.
“We were just kind of shook,” said Haines Holy Eagle.
Haines Holy Eagle and members of the advisory group invited DHS representatives to present that same information to members of the community.
At the public event in July, adult adoptees let DHS staff know they’d like to approach the process not as a private matter, but as a community.
Haines Holy Eagle said she’s prepared to use the wisdom gained through her personal experience to lead the process of claiming personal effects.
She says the work should center on the experiences of adopted people in connection with their birth and adoptive communities.
“It’s time for us to be at the forefront of our healing and truth and reconciliation,” said Haines Holy Eagle.
DHS staff member Crystal Graves began her presentation to the community by explaining that she’s handled these personal effects going back 20 years. Throughout the evening, Graves told everyone she welcomes input from the adoption community in re-thinking how DHS can help adoptees request their belongings.
She explained to the small gathering how adopted adults can make a request to claim their belongings — what paperwork to fill out and where to send it.
Few adoptees know personal effects exist
Adoptees have been able to recover personal effects for years. DHS says they have followed statutory requirements that mandate confidentiality of adoption records, and they say it’s likely most adoptees don’t know they might have a personal effect in their file. DHS says only a few adoptees recover personal effects from their adoption files every year.
DHS provided MPR News with general information about the personal effects associated with adoption files but declined to make a staff member available for interview.
The agency estimates approximately 7,500 adoption files contain personal effects — less than 10 percent of all the adoption files kept by the agency.
Haines Holy Eagle says she believes it’s possible that DHS has held onto these personal effects because they prioritized the wishes of adoptive parents over those of adoptees.
“You want it to be respectful of the adoptive parents, you didn’t want to disrespect them because you want them to feel like this is my new start. This is my new family,” said Haines Holy Eagle.
DHS estimates about ninety percent of the personal effects associated with adoption files are photos and the remaining ten percent are family documents.
DHS did allow MPR News to document a small number of personal effects in files over 100 years old.
A black and white photo shows a baby in a pram. Another black and white photo shows a group of three siblings standing in front of a farm building.
One of the personal items is a handcrafted Easter card. Inside is a hand pasted image of forget-me-not flowers, the signature page signed by the child’s birth parent.
Another item is a family document, an ornate baptismal certificate in the adoption file dating from just before 1920.
DHS points out the agency no longer places children up for adoption, following changes to adoption law in the 1980s. Still, as a state agency, DHS receives adoption files from placing agencies that have closed. DHS says its staff are still cataloging thousands of files, some of which contain still more personal effects.
DHS says it’s likely that current adoption placing agencies have adoption files, and those may contain more gifts.
‘Minnesota could actually be the leader in figuring this out’
One adoptee advocate says Minnesota could be the first in the country to help people recover their belongings.
Attorney Gregory Luce is the executive director of the Adoptee Rights Law Center and sometimes helps adoptees obtain court orders to open their adoption files.
“It’s taken 80 years to talk about personal effects,” said Luce. “[Adoptees] have become inured to this idea that you’re entitled to nothing.”
Luce, who is also an adoptee, applauds the state for its renewed effort at helping adoptees claim their belongings.
“It’s huge, because it didn’t take a court order to make them do this. And so, Minnesota could actually be the leader in figuring this out.”
The beginning of the work to recover these personal effects was marked with a ceremony held during the July meeting at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. An elder performed a healing ceremony first for DHS staff member Crystal Graves and then invited members of the adoption community to join.
DHS says it will reconvene workgroups with members of the adoption community this fall.
Individuals interested in initiating a search can fill out the post adoption search form at the Foster Adopt Minnesota website.