Dan Burton: “I submit that one of the reasons is because of the uncertainty of an adoptive parent, whether or not they are going to…”

“I submit that one of the reasons is because of the uncertainty of an adoptive parent, whether or not they are going to have litigation problems and maybe lose that child a year or two after they adopt them. Can my colleagues imagine wanting to adopt a child and they say, well, this child has one sixty-fourth Indian blood in them and because of that they may have a problem down the road with the tribe. And so the parent says, well, I want to adopt a child desperately, but am I going to have to pay $200,000 or $300,000 down the road to keep this child? Am I going to have roots grow in the family and love and cherish this child and have it taken away after 2 years? And I tell Members, that happens. That actually happens. We had a case, I would say to the gentlewoman from Ohio, at a hearing we had this week, we had a family that adopted two children, and they did not even know these children had one sixty-fourth Indian blood, one sixty-fourth. And after 2 years, the tribe said we want those children back. The children had established roots, the parents loved the kids, the kids loved the parents, and here they were taking the kids away. That family has spent $300,000. They have almost lost their home because they had to mortgage it.”