COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A five-year legal battle over the adoption of twin girls that sparked congressional debate over American Indian sovereignty is officially over.
Jim and Collet Rost signed adoption papers Monday for 5-year-olds Bridget and Lucy. The girls, born before parents Richard and Cindy Adams were married, were put up for adoption and had been raised since they were 2 weeks old by the Rosts.But the birth parents later sought their return, citing a federal law that gives Indian parents or any tribal members the first right to adopt Indian children. Richard Adams is part Pomo, a northern Californian tribe, and Cindy Adams is half Yaqui, a Southwestern tribe.
The case prompted debate on Capitol Hill about whether changes were needed in the federal law, the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act. The law was written to curb a rise in adoptions of Indian children by non-Indians, a trend that threatened the survival of some tribes.
"I don't believe it was meant to be used in the way it was used in our case," Collet Rost said. "It was put into play to keep white social workers from putting Native American children in non-Native American families."
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a California Court of Appeals ruling in favor of the Rosts. The appeals court had ordered that a trial court should determine whether the birth parents had significant social, cultural or political affiliation with their tribes before the twins were born.
The dispute was settled when the Adamses agreed last year to allow the adoption and the Rosts agreed to bring the girls to California for visits every other year until age 18.
"They are welcome to come out here and visit them as well," Rost said.