Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett reported today that 119 Indian children were placed for adoption during 1967 through the Indian Adoption Project. The program is sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America.
The number of children placed in 1967 almost doubled that of the previous year and compares with a total of 400 children placed during the nine years of the cooperative project program.
"Because of the isolation of Indian reservations, there previously had been long delays in finding the proper home for Indian children,” said Bennett. Nationwide Indian Adoption Project contacts have cut the time" children have had to face in prolonged care in foster homes or institutions, and provided permanent homes much sooner. “
Children placed through IAP came mostly from 12 states, with the leaders being Arizona 41, South Dakota 24, Washington 13, California 12, and Wisconsin 10.
These children were placed in adoptive homes in 25 states. Massachusetts led in total placement with 16, followed by Indiana with 14, Illinois and New York with 13 each, New Jersey 11, and Pennsylvania 10.
According to Bennett, the success of the Project has encouraged the New York-based Child Welfare League of America to establish a new agency, the Adoption Resource Exchange of North America (ARENA).
This agency will serve both Indian and non-Indian children and prospective adoptive families in Canada as well as the United States. Children for whom adoptive families are not available in their home states, and families who want to adopt these children, will be referred to the wider area that ARENA embraces.
The Indian Adoption Project will continue to function in this country as part of ARENA.
