Family & Belonging - Capital Area One Book - There There (2019-2020) - Research Guides at Lansing Community College Library

Discussion Questions

What does family mean to you? Who counts as family in your life?

How important is it to know your own family history?

What does it mean to belong to a community? What do you need to experience to feel like you belong?

Why do you think Tommy Orange chose to portray family members in non-traditional roles? Do you have a role in your family?

Native Family Websites

Blood Memory: A Story of Removal and Return Documentary Website "For Sandy White Hawk, the story of America’s Indian Adoption Era is not one of saving children but of destroying families and tribes. At 18 months of age, Sandy was removed from her Sicangu Lakota relatives and placed with white missionaries over 400 miles from the reservation. Growing up as the only brown girl in a small Wisconsin town, Sandy’s cultural identity was rejected, leaving her feeling ugly, alone and unworthy of love. After a 30-year struggle through abuse and recovery, Sandy set out to restore the missing pieces of her stolen past and reclaim the Lakota identity she was taught to disown. She soon discovered that her adoption was not an isolated case but part of a nationwide assimilative movement that targeted American Indian children." - Blood Memory About page
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Resources - National Indian Law Library
National Indian Child Welfare Agency "NICWA works to support the safety, health, and spiritual strength of American Indian and Alaska Native children along the broad continuum of their lives. We support tribes in building the capacity to prevent child abuse and neglect through positive systems change at the state, federal, and tribal levels. We are the most comprehensive source of information on American Indian and Alaska Native child welfare." - NICWA About NICWA page
MDHHS - Native American Services "Our Native American Affairs office provides a broad range of social services to protect, preserve and strengthen Native American families both on and off tribal lands. We support an Indian population of approximately 130,000 with various services provided in partnership with Michigan's federally recognized tribes, the state historic tribes, Indian organizations, federal government and other community and state organizations." - Native American Affairs Department of Health & Human Services Homepage