Kandis Martine, an assistant attorney general of the Navajo Nation, said that while it might seem painful to remove children from foster homes where they had lived for months, the tribes were thinking about the long trajectory of the children’s lives.
“We wonder what will happen to these children down the road and how this will all be explained to them,” she said. “How will they be told that their tribe and their family fought for them, but this non-Native, nonrelative family won?”
The Brackeens originally filed the lawsuit because language in the act suggests that Zachary’s adoption might be revocable for two years. Now they have fresh cause: When Zachary’s 11-month-old half sister was born, both she and her biological mother tested positive for methamphetamine, and the baby was immediately placed in state foster care with another Texas family. The Brackeens want to adopt her, too.
The Navajo Nation, invoking the child welfare act, opposes the couple. Last month, during a tense 10-hour hearing in a Texas family court, the Brackeens fought the tribe as well as the baby’s Navajo relatives, who had driven to Fort Worth from the reservation in Arizona, intending to return home with her.
‘A Charming Little Baby’
The Brackeens, both 39, are self-conscious about their material success: a large brick home on an acre, with pool, greenhouse, zip line and a kitchen big enough for Zachary and their two biological sons, 10 and 7, to zoom around it on Rollerblades.
Dr. Jennifer Brackeen, an anesthesiologist, works 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at a day-surgery center. Her husband is a civil engineer turned stay-at-home father and portrait photographer. Their schedule is jammed with sports, music lessons, family hikes and walking their two dogs.
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