I am interested in hearing your thoughtful reply to the following:

I am enrolled in a federally recognized Indian tribe. I am also the mother of three lovely children (14, 9, and 4). The "tribe" I am enrolled in is actually a "confederated" tribe. This means that three separate tribes are confederated for the purposes of determining how much "Indian" you are regarding what benefits you get from tribe and/or the federal gov't for tribal status.

My "tribe" determines automatic enrollment status as 1/4 blood. If you are between 1/8 and 1/4, you can apply for enrollment by adoption. This means a majority vote by the 18+ population that decides to vote. 51 yes/49 no gets you enrolled.

My children are all eligible for enrollment by adoption and an adoption is coming up. My personal feeling is I don't believe my children should be affected by campaigning and having other people tell them whether they are or aren't Indian by this voting process.

My parents and my ex-husband (the oldest's father) believe I am doing them an injustice by not applying for them to be in the election. My husband supports whatever I choose to do, but he's also said he believes that the benefits they could potentially receive (mostly via our casino revenue) may outweigh what I believe is the human injustice in the situation.

Anyone willing to discuss, please reply here or via PM. Thank you.

seems like a weird forum to post this in...

It is a weird forum to post it in, but it the one I most frequent and I have seen enough thoughtful replies on other topics I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

<span>The consideration would be whether or not my <span>granchildren receive the benefits</span> <span>if my children opt to have children with less tribal blood.</span></span>

I would enroll them for that reason alone.

It is tough enough to make it in this world, I see no point in passing up benefits for your children and their children. You should do whatever you can to give your children the best shot at life IMO.

all you want is cheap gas and free education you fucking wagon burner!

Depends on what tribe you can get enrollment status from, Mr. Blonde. You have to be enrolled in a federally recognized tribe for federal benefits. Some tribes are not federally recognized by do have state recognition (mostly WA). Each tribe determines benefits on top of what the federal gov't provides (usually only college/health care). Each tribe determines enrollment guidelines.

LOL. That's more along the lines of what I expected to see. :)

Thanks for the replies so far.

edit: don't forget casino revenue and tobacco w/o taxation

Hey Rain..........when i was growing up and trying to go to college i didn't have any money to go. My mom and dad had 5 other kids to raise and i was ass out. My grandmother lived on a reservation too. No one ever bothered to find out how to get scholarships and what not. Long story short.........i ended up swingin around a pole for years to feed my kids. lol, don't pass up the opportunity to get funds and scholarships and all that good stuff for your children. You'll regret it later. I'm not sure i really understand the process you have to go thru to get the benefits, but is it really that bad? Good luck with whatever you decide.

You can give your kids an extra bonus that will make their life easier by doing this and you only need to do it once. The only thing that would prevent most people from doing something that gives their kids an advantage in life is if it might also hurt the kids. I think I know you well enough to guess that the only reason you wouldn't do it would be because you might be teaching your kids something bad and setting a bad example by campaigning for them.

This is like PokerTracker to me. It's a distinct advantage, and other people have it, so it is in fact a disadvantage to not have it.

I sincerely hope that you get those kids elected for my own selfish reasons -

1. You are a great mom, and your kids will be much better than average human beings, so I want them to do well, and they will also be a credit to the tribe.

2. Most people suck. If there are going to be some people who don't suck helping to form our world in a few years, I want them to have every advantage to influence the world in a positive way.

3. Because most people suck, I don't want all that money going to the people who are getting it now and people who are willing to campaign shouldn't get advantages that your kids don't.

4. You can use this as an oppurtunity to teach your kids about getting hold of resources when they can, and using their heads to do wise things with those resources when the time comes. Your kids will probably have much of the same strength and killer instincts you have yourself, and you would be wise to teach them how to properly harness those instincts now.

The world isn't fair, and I don't think you should have to campaign for your kids, but that's the way it is. Best of luck.

Man Hostiles post made me laugh and get mad kind of at the same time. 3 tribes making one nation is common. The sioux indian nation is just one example. Its a collection of tribes rolled under one baner. As I have stated before my grandma grew up on a reservation in the Dakotas.
it would be the same as the USA its a collection of 50 states. Its not like there is only 5 Native Americans left and they all enter mix.
Sadly do to how far the populations have fallen. 1/4th is considered pretty much full Native American now. In some cases I have heard as far as 1/16th getting benefits.
I would take all the benefits they would allow me. As previously stated allow them to help you if they will.