This guest post is offered by Abigail Wenger, Regent Law 2L and current Family Law student --
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)(25 USCA § 1915(a)) is known among policymakers as the ‘gold standard’ of adoption statutes. Before a child with any amount of Indian descent in their blood is put up for adoption, three groups must receive preferential treatment in claiming the child: (1) a member of the child’s extended family; (2) other members of the Indian child’s tribe; or (3) other Indian families. ICWA directly advances the belief of the Indian culture that there are no “orphans,” but rather children in need are the responsibility of the entire tribe.
The policy of favoring a child’s relatives or cultural family before placing him or her for adoption resembles the Kinsman Redeemer concept found in Scripture. A kinsman redeemer, or guardian-redeemer, is “a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty.” One of the most well-known stories exemplifying the kinsman redeemer concept is the story of Ruth and Boaz. As seen in Ruth 3, upon learning that he was one of Ruth’s potential kinsman redeemers, Boaz immediately began providing for Ruth. Later, the two were married and God blessed their union with a child (Ruth 4:13) who would be in direct lineage to King David, and ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 1:5).
The greatest demonstration of the kinsman redeemer concept, however, is seen through the act of our Heavenly Father adopting us as his children (Ephesians 1:4-5). Not only do we have an eternal inheritance in Christ when we accept him as our Lord and Savior, but God has historically also provided for the earthly needs of his children – through escape from persecution and through provision in dry times (Exodus 6:6-8).
As Christians, we are called to resemble the Biblical attitude of immediately providing for our relatives in need by adopting them into our family and caring for their needs. This notion is at the core of family restoration. May the Christian community likewise be known for seeing children in need as our responsibility, and effectively eradicate the need for the term “orphan.”
Great post! It's inspirational that the Indian culture believes it is their responsibility to provide for their entire tribe. The U.S. would be entirely different if we adopted such a mentality. It is understandable why ICWA is known as the "gold standard" of adoption standards, and it should certainly be replicated. Thank you for the post!
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