Law: The Adoption Battle over Baby K.

Native Americans resist adoption of their children by non-Indians

Not all custody battles involve contending parents. The fight over a nine- month-old girl named Allyssa is a classic clash of cultures. The mother, Patricia Keetso, 21, is an unwed Navajo Indian who would like her daughter to be adopted by Rick and Cheryl Pitts of San Jose, who have been caring for the baby since birth. But tribal officials, fearing that the flow of Indian foster children to non-Indian homes threatens their survival as a people, are seeking to rear the baby on their Arizona reservation. The emotional case has become a symbol of tribal resistance to the baby drain.

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