No American Indian family remains untouched by government policies of forced family separation. Prior to the Adoption Era (1940-1978) the progressive approach to America’s “Indian problem” was to “Kill the Indian and save the man” by shipping Native youth and toddlers to an estimated 500 federally-funded conversion schools and religious institutions (Boarding School Era: 1879-1978). This collective era of removal effectively displaced 25-35% of Native American youth from tribal communities nationwide by the late 1960s.
