Bither Claims Debunked: Adopted in Indonesia
President Obama spent 4 years of his childhood living in Indonesia when his mother married an Indonesian student who had come to Hawaii to study. There's no evidence President Obama was ever formally adopted by his stepfather. Indonesia didn't allow children of his age to be adopted. Indonesia also didn't allow adoption if it would create a dual-citizenship. Children can't relinquish their US citizenship without proving to a US consulate/embassy that they understand the consequences of their decision, something no 6-year-old can do. Since there was no legal way for Obama to be adopted in Indonesia, he was and still is a natural born citizen of the United States of America.
Claim: There's evidence Obama was adopted in Indonesia.
The only "evidence" is a handwritten school registration page from the Santo Fransiskus Assisi (Saint Francis of Asisi) Catholic School in Jarkarta, Indonesia. According to school officials at the Assisi School, it was customary for students to be enrolled with their father's last name and religion.
Claim: His mother lost her US citizenship when she married an Indonesian.
Stanley Ann Dunham Obama married Lolo Soetoro in Hawaii, after divorcing Barack Obama Sr. She did not automatically lose her US citizenship when she married an Soetoro, an Indonesian national. Under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Title III, Chapter 3, Mrs. Soetoro would have had to actively declare allegiance and naturalize as an Indonesian in order to lose her US citizenship. According to documents released in July 2010 under a Freedom of Information Act request, Mrs. Soetoro never naturalized in another country. The documents showed that she had held and renewed US passports since 1965 until 1986.
Claim: Obama lost his citizenship when his mother married an Indonesian.
Parents can't relinquish the natural born citizenship of their minor children. Under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Title III, Chapter 3,
"...nationality shall not be lost by any person under this section as the result of the naturalization of a parent or parents while such person is under the age of twenty-one years, or as the result of naturalization obtained on behalf of a person under twenty-one years of age by a parent, guardian, or duly authorized agent,unless such person shall fail to enter the United States to establish a permanent residence prior to his twenty-fifth birthday: ...."
Since Obama returned to the United States in 1971 at age 10 and has permanently resided in the US since then, he never lost his natural born citizenship under this Act. Even if his mother HAD renounced her citizenship, Obama would not have lost his natural born citizenship under the Act. He maintained his birthright citizenship.
Claim: Obama could have been adopted in Indonesia.
During the time Obama and his family lived in Indonesia that country didn't allow dual-citizenships. US law doesn't allow parents to relinquish the citizenship of their minor children, so Obama would be unable acquire Indonesian citienship.
Law No. 62 of 1958, Law on the Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia describes the laws for adopting children but none of them applied to Obama. To be eligible for adoption, children had to be under the age of five years old. Obama was 6 when he moved to Indonesia and thus ineligible.
Since Lolo Soetoro was a Muslim, any adoption would have been under Islamic law. Islamic adoptions are unlike US adoptions because the child doesn't take the name of the family and is still considered part of the birth family. The relationship is considered more like a foster-child than a biological child. Had Obama been legally adopted by Lolo Soetoro, his name would have remained Obama.
For an indepth discussion of the legal aspects of Indonesian adoption, see The Indonesian Citizenship Myth Part I and Part II on Badfiction, and Did Obama Become an Indonesian Citizen when His Mother, Ann Durham, Married Lolo Soetoro, and Moved to Indonesia? on What's Your Evidence?
Claim: Foreign students couldn’t attend schools in Indonesia in the 1960s.
Sure they could, and it happened quite often. No one has been able to find any laws banning non-citizens from Indonesian public schools in that era. There have, however, been stories from other Americans and Europeans who attended Indonesian public schools at that time.
In 1965-1971, when Obama was living in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather, Chinese schools were banned by the New Order regime and Chinese living in Indonesia (citizens and non-citizens) had to attend Indonesian schools. That's strong evidence that foreigners could attend Indonesia schools.
The Indonesia Constitution of 1945 states that:
(1) Every citizen has the right to receive education.
(2) Every citizen has the obligation to undertake basic education, and the government has the obligation to fund this.
(3) The government shall manage and organise one system of national education, which shall increase the level of spiritual belief, devoutness and moral character in the context of developing the life of the nation and shall be regulated by law.
That doesn't mean that ONLY citizens can attend public school.
Claim: His real name Barry Soetoro.
Barry Soetoro isn't his legal name. In the modern world of fractured families, kids can go by different names during their lives. There is some evidence that he was called Barry Soetoro while in Indonesia. Soetoro was his stepfather for a while, and it was easier for the family to all have the same name. Informally changing a last name to that of a step-father has always been pretty common.
Other presidents have gone by other names in their youths. Leslie Lynch King, Jr (Gerald Ford) and William Jefferson Blythe III (Bill Clinton) both changed their names legally as adults but went by other names in their childhoods.
Claim: Barry Soretoro never legally changed his name to Barack Obama.
Since Obama never legally changed his name to Barry Soetoro, there was no need to legally change it back to Barack Obama. When he returned to Hawaii at age 11, he went to school as Barry Obama. Barry is a nickname.
"Contemporary public documents, such as the 1979-80 freshman 'Lookbook' published at the beginning of President Obama's first year at Occidental, list him as Barack Obama. All of the Occidental alumni I have spoken to from that era (1979-81) who knew him, knew him as Barry Obama....To date, all of the litigation filed regarding President Obama's student records at Occidental has been rejected by the courts. Occidental has not released his transcripts or his student file." Occidental College Director of Communications Jim Tranquada.
Claim: Obama never took the Loyalty oath which restored his citizenship.
There's no evidence that Obama was ever adopted by his step-father. No adoption, no loss of US citizenship, no need for an oath to reinstate what was never lost.