Star nayea bio

HOLLYWOOD — As an infant, Star Nayea was taken from her home in Canada and adopted by a white family in Detroit, Michigan under the Indian Adoption Project, a controversial federal program that placed Native children into adoptive homes from 1958 to 1967.

She suffered years of abuse and does not know to which Tribe she belongs.

Nayea overcame those obstacles and other subsequent issues to become a multi-award winning singer who shared her inspirational story with children at the Hollywood Boys & Girls Club July 27-28.

“I was stolen and part of the illegal human trafficking ring,” said Nayea, who lives in Seattle.

“I have no family name; it was cultural genocide. A Dakota leader once told me I may never find out where I came from.”

According to a 1976 report by the Association on American Indian Affairs, 85 percent of Native children removed from their families from 1941 to 1967 were placed in non-Indian homes or institutions, leading to the loss of t