.
.fflSSSSfftT:«K^ f.%5v. :.•,
I
mmsimmmmmmmmssmmmesmmmmmmmi
in wuh
an.
oal
Ihe York
ihildren.
_
in a newspaper article.
By then the adoption was final, and Grace had
no recourse. v;
The Reeves family
Randolph Blackbird was placed with Dem and
Barbara Reeves in Central City in November 1959,
and on Dec. 30, 1960, he became Randolph Kirk
Reeves. '>'»"■
The Reeves family, who are members bfV
Quaker community, had applied to adopl a child
more than a year earlier. ^ v' ^
Because they could have children of theirown,
Don Reeves said, they were not high on the list.
“We forgot about it and had another youngster
of our ownf Reeves said. “Then they showed up
with Randy Jlpriay” r %
The Reeves had five children: two of their own;
Randy and two more adopted children.
“Randy was accepted by our extended family.
and the community,” Reeves said. “He was always
one of our kids.”
Randy Reeves’ situation was unusual among
American Indian adoptions, because the Reeves
family provided a caring environment and present
ed his heritage in a positive tight.
“Now we realize that everyone underestimated
the trauma of taking these kids from their home,”
Don Reeves said. “But there is no hard evidence of
this trauma in Randy’s life.”
Don Reeves said Randy Reeves had some nor
mal teen-age problems, but nothing unusual.
The Reeveses sought counseling for him after
he ran away at 14. and doctors found that Randy
Reeves was “confused about his role in life.
“Somehow he (Randy) has rejected being
adopted by a white family, and although he doesn’t
Id IK IUU 1I1ULI1 dL WU St,
he feels different from
his adoptive parents and
on many occasions has
rebelled against fbat,”
said Ted Kawa, afisy
chiatric social worker,
in a letter to the proba
tion officer who pre
pared the pre-sentence
report for Reeves’ cas6.
Besides those pre
conclusions,
been little
of the
on
Randy
: yHe
attend the
haa Deepspsen trom their tarmiies revealed a con-’
sister pattern of psycho-social dysftmction.' v
"Something on the inside is broken, and they
can’t form bonds with other people,” said Carol
Locust, the scientist who conducted the study for
.^University of Arizona.
.Jllniose taken before their fourth birthdays were
loudest hit, she said.
|g|t. Locust called these children “split feap^jjpp
because they were split #om their heifeger^%
W In all of the surveys, not one respondent Said
Itheir parents had adopted the child because fey
Wanted him or her, Locust said. _ ... -
“Violence and theft were common among the
split feathers, and sopie of the respondents were in
prison,” Locust said.
Today Phillips is in Washington, D.C., working
with the Native Youth Alliance to Create a foster
care system run by American Indians for American
Indian children feen from their families.
“I want to establish a safe place for our kids to
go if they can’t be with their parents,” Phillips said.
Ideally, the homes would be on a ranch or farm
„ setting where children could work the land, he said.
Phillips wants American Indian children to
realize all the opportunities there for them and to
gain an appreciation for their heritage.
He doesn’t want them to be robbed of their cul
ture like he and Randy Reeves were.
“I don’t want our children to think that prison is
the only place for them to go.”
I eeves’ fate