After 5 Years, ‘an Instant Family’ : Families: Garcias officially become parents of four siblings next week as legal battle over adoption of Indian children ends.

Renee Garcia had always wanted children, so as she sat in her living room Monday afternoon, she dealt cheerfully with the never-ending demands of motherhood.

“Mommy, help me tie my shoes,” 3-year-old Jessica begged impatiently as she watched her older brothers Loren and Robbie run into the back yard. As she tied Jessica’s shoelaces, Garcia turned and reminded 8-year-old Riva to do her homework.

It was just another afternoon in the life of a parent, but for Garcia and her husband, Henry, every moment of the past five years has been bittersweet, tinged by the fear that their children may be gone tomorrow.

But next week, those fears will finally be over when the Garcias formally adopt the four children, ending a five-year legal battle that has pitted the Garcias against the children’s natural parents and a Montana Indian tribe determined to preserve its cultural identity.

“The hardest thing about all this is that I never knew who was going to take my children. Five years of trying to be a family and not knowing. . . .” Renee Garcia left the sentence unfinished.

The Garcias’ odyssey began in October, 1987, when they became foster parents to Loren, a 4-month-old infant who had been removed from his mother’s custody when traces of cocaine were found in his bloodstream.

Although Loren’s natural mother, a member of the Cheyenne Indian Nation, did not resist Loren’s placement with them, the Garcias knew that adopting the boy would be difficult.

The process was further complicated because the Indian Child Welfare Act, a set of federal laws enacted in 1978 to curb the massive exodus of American Indian children into non-Indian homes, required the Garcias to gain the consent of the mother’s tribe before adopting Loren.

“Once he was in our arms, there was no way we could give him up,” Renee Garcia recalled.

The Northern Cheyenne tribe deeply opposed the adoption and petitioned the state court to place Loren and his three siblings into the custody of the tribe, a move that was strongly favored under the federal guidelines.

In the fall of 1988, it appeared the tribe would win. One day, the Garcias’ attorney called and told them that someone from the tribe was coming to pick Loren up the next day.

Stunned by the news, the Garcias sat down to watch a videotape of Loren’s first year with them and, to their horror, discovered it had been erased.

“My world just collapsed,” Garcia said. “Here he was leaving the next day, and I had erased all my memories of him. I couldn’t function for several days from the disbelief that they were going to take this child from us.”

The Garcias frantically decided to find Loren’s natural parents and try to persuade them to support the adoption. After locating them, the Garcias reluctantly invited the couple to come to their home and see Loren.

“Our fear was that they would fall in love with this gorgeous little baby, and when they saw him and began to cry, I was sure we had done the wrong thing,” Garcia said.

Loren’s parents supported the tribe.

But eight months later, the tribe withdrew its objections to Loren’s adoption and asked the Garcias if they also were willing to adopt Riva and Robbie, Loren’s older sister and brother. The children had spent two years in foster care after their mother, pregnant with Loren at the time, said she could not take care of them and relinquished custody to the state.

According to Garcia, the tribe withdrew its claim because it could not find a home for the children that met the state’s standards, a problem that William Walks Along, the vice president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal council, agreed was not uncommon.

“I see adopting out as a manifestation of our inability to provide services to these children. But we have no other choice. When the unemployment rate on the reservation is 65%, meeting the white man’s middle-class standards is unrealistic. Still, I believe the children belong with us,” he said.

While not familiar with the Garcias’ case, Walks Along said he was optimistic that the children eventually would return to the tribe voluntarily.

“The curious thing is that they always come back, just like the salmon. Maybe they’re looking for their true selves,” he said.

The Garcias have no intention of letting the children forget their roots.

“We love the Indian in them,” she said. “That’s a special thing. We want to keep their Indian heritage and we want them to be proud of that. They’ve even chosen Indian middle names for themselves.”

Riva and Robbie arrived just before Christmas in 1989, and Renee recalled how they spent their first Christmas together at their then-unfinished home in San Juan Capistrano.

“We had no hot water and no gas and ended up spending Christmas surrounded by moving boxes and the children’s new toys,” Garcia recalled with a smile.

Coping with the arrival of three children was a bit daunting for the Garcias, who had never considered the possibility of having more than one.

“All I wanted was one little baby; I never even thought about having four children. Then, all of a sudden, we’re an instant family!” Garcia said.

In March of 1990, they were joined by the children’s younger sister, Jessica, who had been taken from her mother after being diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Just when it looked like their problems might be over, the children’s natural father sued for custody. Although both he and the children’s mother had wanted the two oldest children back, they had repeatedly failed to meet the court’s requirements.

Their mother eventually relinquished all custody, but their father did not, and sued for custody, claiming that the court had failed to follow the guidelines of the federal act. The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, where his argument was rejected in October, 1991.

Since then, the Garcias have quietly restrained their optimism and waited for the final paperwork to wend its way through the bureaucracy.

“They’re ours and we couldn’t love a natural child any more than I have these kids,” Rene Garcia said as she watched her children play.