Potsmoking dad on public assistance wants custody of 2-year-old (Cranston, Rhode Island)

Here's the case in nutshell. Dad JACKIE ROBINSON is a chronic pot-smoker who already has 4 kids with his common law wife, and they're all on public assistance. He didn't have anything to do with his 2-year-old daughter until now, wasn't interested. (The girl has been in foster care.) But just because this guy is Native American, he should have the right to strip this little girl of the only home she has known up until now? I have a lot of respect for Native rights and cultural traditions, but father custody isn't even consistent with the Native cultures I'm familiar with. Matrilineal rights are far more emphasized from what I can tell. So just how is this in the child's best interest? It's not. Period.

http://www2.turnto10.com/jar/news/i_team/article/i-team_couple_could_lose_adopted_child_over_indian_law/20592/

I-Team: Couple could lose adopted child over Indian law
By Jim Taricani
Investigative Reporter
Published: July 28, 2009

CRANSTON, R.I.—Bob and Donna D’Andrea, foster parents for 15 years, added 2-year-old Tameka to their clan two years ago when she was just 2 weeks old.

“I think it’s safe to say we all kind of adore her,“ said Bob D’Andrea.

In a court document Tameka’s biological father, Jackie Robinson, who is a member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, admits telling his substance abuse counselor that he needed to smoke marijuana all the time.

“I can’t stop. It’s part of my life,“ he said in the document.

Robinson also admitted to cheating on his common-law wife with whom he had Tameka.

Robinson, who is partially disabled, and his wife have four other children, all of whom are on some form of public assistance.

After Tameka’s birth, Robinson didn’t want much to do with her. However, things changed.

“Slowly but surely the bio dad got involved in Tameka’s life. Since then there have been a whirlwind of problems,“ said Bob D’Andrea.

Originally, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families convinced the court that Tameka would be better off with the D’Andreas.

But because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the state Supreme Court said Robinson will get another hearing and a chance to get his daughter back.

The act guarantees Indian children the right to be brought up in their culture.

“The state still has the responsibility, and in this case to share with somehow the Indian tribe, to make sure the safety and well being and permanency of that child is maintained,“ Garcia said.

Bob D’Andrea is perplexed about Robinson’s use of marijuana.

“The fact he couldn’t stop smoking pot … It gives me some concern she is not a priority in his life like she certainly is in our life,“ he said.

NBC 10’s attempts to contact Robinson and the Narragansett Indian Tribe went unsuccessful.