AMERICA REFRAMED: Daughter of a Lost Bird

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published May 5, 2022 at 10:17 AM PDT

April and Kendra meet for the first time at The Grove in Portland, Ore.

Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 11 p.m. on KPBS 2

Kendra, a Native adoptee, grew up assimilated in a loving, upper middle-class white family with little connection to her heritage. Now, as an adult with a family of her own, she embarks on a seven year journey to find her biological mother, April, and return to her Lummi homeland.

Kendra, a Native adoptee, grew up assimilated in a loving, white family with little connection to her heritage. Now, as an adult with a family of her own, Kendra embarks on a seven year journey to find her biological mother, April, and return to her Lummi homeland. Together, Kendra and April, also a Native adoptee, navigate what it means to be Native and to belong to a tribe from the outside.

Together, Kendra and April, also a Native adoptee, navigate what it means to be Native and to belong to a tribe from the outside looking in. "Daughter of a Lost Bird" documents the complex process of finding oneself in the context of a history filled with both trauma and resiliency.

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For Kendra, searching for and finding her birth mother comes with mixed emotions. The first step of connecting with April opens the door to a journey for both as mother and daughter, and as women adopted from a Native tribe.

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From 1958 to 1967, Indigenous children were separated from their communities and adopted by white families under the Indian Adoption Project. The children, who suffered from loss of tribal identity, would be deemed Lost Bird - the name of an early Native adoptee in the late 1800s.

Credits:

A co-production of Same Land Film and Vision Maker Media. Director / Producer Brooke Pepion Swaney. Producer: Kendra Mylnechuk Potter. Producer: Jeri Rafter. Executive Producer: Gita Saedi Kiely. Composer: Laura Ortman. Impact Producer: Colleen Thurston. Editor: Kristen Swanbeck. Director of Photography: Zelmira Gainza.

AMERICA REFRAMED: Daughter of a Lost Bird

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