Sixty-seven Indian children found adoptive homes in 1966 through the Indian Adoption Project of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America. It was a record year for the project, which is conducted by the two agencies in cooperation with State and local welfare services and voluntary agencies.
Temporarily, because of increased interest, there are more prospective parents than there are Indian children referred to the project for adoption. However, a recent survey of 90 registered placement agencies revealed that more than 400 children were in need of adoption, according to the Child Welfare League.
Since the Indian Adoption Project began in 1958, there have been 276 Indian children placed, the great majority in non-Indian homes. The children have ranged, in age from birth to 11 years, with about half of them being under a year old. Seventeen of the adoptive homes took more than one child from a family.
South Dakota and Arizona rank highest among 15 States in placing Indian children for adoption in non-Indian homes. Other States from which the Indian Adoption Project has drawn are Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Mississippi, Washington, New Mexico (Navajo only), California, Wyoming, Alaska, Colorado and South Carolina.
The adoptive parents who found children through the Indian Adoption Project represent a cross-section of eastern, midwestern and southern States, with more than half residing in the East.
