Standing Strong for Native Families
A website from the Native American Rights Fund
News related to Indian child welfare.
A bill revising the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act — a priority bill this session for the Montana American Indian Caucus — was signed into law earlier this month, though in a much weaker form than initially proposed. Read the full article at the Montana Free Press.
A guiding principle of state and federal laws governing child abuse and neglect cases is that foster homes must be safe, comfortable and respectful in order to serve children’s “best interests.” The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has expanded that legal definition — requiring that children attend cultural events and learn their Native language. Read the … Read more
Brittani Lopez cuddled her 15-month-old daughter while testifying at a virtual hearing before the Colorado state Legislature earlier this year. Elizabeth, who spent her early months in the child welfare system, wore a pink onesie and tugged at her Sicangu Lakota mother’s long porcupine-quill earrings as Lopez urged lawmakers to improve Colorado’s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). … Read more
Two priority bills for the Montana Legislature’s American Indian Caucus are back in play after strategic moves last week by Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a Democrat from Box Elder. While the bills were previously voted down in Senate committees, Windy Boy on Feb. 21 brought motions to revive legislation to update and extend Montana’s Indian Child … Read more
Utah’s version of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act has once again stalled in the Legislature. Around two dozen Indigenous Utahns from some of the state’s eight federally recognized tribes gathered at the capitol on Feb. 21, to call on lawmakers to pass the latest version of the bill. Read the full article at KUER NPR Utah.
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) has been considered the “gold standard” of child welfare best practice from experts in the field. This is because it requires active efforts to keep children safe in their homes and connected to their families, communities, and culture. For the past 46 years, ICWA has stood as a powerful force in … Read more
In a landmark decision, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has signed Assembly Bill 81 (AB 81) into law on California Native American Day, enhancing protections for Native American children, families, and tribal rights in child welfare cases. Read the full article at the Native News Online website.
Amid drums, smudging and chants to “bring our children home,” supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act gathered early this morning outside the Minnesota Capitol building, as the state’s highest court considered the latest legal threat to the bedrock 1978 law. Read the full article at the Imprint’s website.
The California Supreme Court on Monday reinforced those rules in a new decision, stressing that child welfare agencies must investigate (PDF) whether children have Native American ancestry before placing them in foster care. It’s a decision that could strengthen tribes’ hand in disputes over separating families by compelling social workers to go a step further before removing a child. … Read more
Due to inconsistent regulations, different standards exist for Native American children and non-Native children in the CPS system. Read the full article at the Texas Scorecard website.
The newly created Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council held its first meeting Thursday to discuss South Dakota’s foster care process and how to improve communication and collaboration between the state and tribal governments. Read the full article at the Bluestem Prairie website.
The state law was intended to address shortcomings in the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. Read the full article at the MinnPost website.
The “Strengthening Tribal Families Act of 2024” would require the Department of Health and Human Services to create a technical assistance plan using six metrics of data to assess the strengths and weaknesses of states’ implementation plans of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the full article at Native News Online.
Under the terms of the agreement, which recognizes the government-to-government relationship between federally-recognized tribes and the United States, Tlingit & Haida will collaborate closely with DCYF to deliver culturally sensitive and responsive services that prioritize the well-being of tribal children and families. Read the full article at Alaska Native News.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe purchased the Simply Smiles Children’s Village last month, allowing the tribe to reopen one of the few foster care villages in the state meant to serve Indigenous children. Read the full article at the Bluestem Prairie website.
Black children are twice as likely as white kids to be removed from their parents. For Native American kids, the disparities are even more stark. Read the full article at the StarTribune website.
“I’m ready to hurry up and get the program started, because horses are in our DNA, they’re in our culture and our heritage,” Sam said. “Whether they’re with their own families or not, that horse can bring peace to them. Horses can bring healing to a part of their heart. That feeling is culturally tied, … Read more
Its goal is to improve communication and cooperation between tribes and the state when it comes to developing policies to improve Native child welfare. Read the full article at South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
A case now before the Minnesota Court of Appeals revives debate over the nation’s 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act and a local version of the law — alleging that the legal statutes protecting Indigenous children, families and tribes racially discriminate against white foster parents. Read the full article at The Imprint.
Seneca Nation citizen Terry Cross is widely known as the founding executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, launched in the early 1980s, and continues to serve as a senior adviser to the organization assisting tribes with preventing child abuse and neglect. Read the full article at The Imprint.
The Biden administration announced plans to add new requirements for states to report on their compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a decades-old law designed to maintain the bonds between Native children and their families and tribes. Read the full article at The Imprint.
How a Billings court is putting the Indian Child Welfare Act into action The Family Recovery Court, a specialized track for parents involved in ICWA-eligible child welfare cases, launched in 2021 with more than $600,000 in federal grant support and the encouragement of community groups who wanted to better serve Native families navigating the local … Read more
Pourier’s bills would create a two-year task force to study Native American child welfare as well as codify and expand a piece of ICWA in state law. Republican Rep. Tamara St. John, from Sisseton and a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is the prime sponsor of a bill that would establish an Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council in the state … Read more
“This was not just a win for me,” she said. “It was a win for everything and everyone I represent — tribes, young people who have experienced foster care … kids who have been involved in juvenile justice. This felt like a really, really positive step for me.” Read the full article at AOL.com or … Read more
Native American mothers whose children were separated from them – either through child removal for assimilation into residential boarding schools or through coerced adoption – experience the kind of grief no parent should ever feel. Yet theirs is a loss that is ongoing, with no sense of meaning or closure. Read the full article at The Conversation.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) announced nearly $2 million in grants to support the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in off-reservation communities across the nation. Read the full article at Indianz.com
Native American children are overrepresented in South Dakota’s child welfare system — accounting for nearly 74% of foster children in the state at the end of fiscal year 2023, despite making up 13% of the state’s child population. Read the full article at the Argus Leader.
A quarter of all foster children in 2021 were placed in kinship care, with Native American children accounting for 53% of the kinship placements, according to the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. Bruner and other kinship families say the lack of support is a massive barrier preventing others from accepting a kinship placement. Foster … Read more
A non-Native woman in Alaska refuses to abide by a tribal court order to turn an Alaska Native foster child over to the girl’s family members. It’s a blatant disregard of tribal sovereignty even after a notable re-affirmation of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the U.S. Supreme Court. The woman took custody of the … Read more
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed a bill into law codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into North Dakota, and our Native Americans have a lot to say about it. Read the full article at the KX News website.
Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s FireLodge Children & Family Services works to protect children and vulnerable adults who are at risk of being abused or neglected, providing services such as court advocacy, investigations, prevention services, parenting education, counseling, foster home approval and adoption. Read the full article at Potawatomi.org
A federal law preventing parents from taking custody battles across state lines did not apply to tribal nations, a federal appeals court ruled this week. Read the full article at NBC News.
U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reintroduced the Native American Child Protection Act (NACPA), bipartisan legislation that authorizes three programs that ensure Tribes have the tools needed to treat, prevent, investigate and prosecute Native American child abuse and neglect. Read the full article at the Los Alamos Daily Post.
The state’s Indian Child Welfare Act Task Force met for the first time in Riverton to discuss next steps after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 1978 federal law earlier this summer. Read the full article at Wyoming Public Radio.
While ICWA remains a federal law, a dozen states have already moved to bring some or all of the law’s tenets into state child welfare codes. During the current legislative season, several other states have local ICWA laws under consideration. The Imprint has set up this basic state ICWA tracker to update readers on developments. … Read more
Jones said it is unclear which act, ICWA or ASFA, applies to South Dakota Native families at which time, and that the conflict of these two laws has caused confusion among Native families. He said state legislation could help iron that out. Read the full article at the Mitchell Republic website.
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday acknowledged Nebraska courts’ obligation to follow federal regulations in cases involving the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the full article at Lincoln Journal Star.
A recent ProPublica investigation showed how ICWA was being unevenly applied in some states, breaking up Native American families that should have received additional protections under the law. There’s still room for improvement, advocates say. Read the full article at ProPublica.
“In adopting the Indian Child Welfare Act, Congress exercised that lawful authority to secure the right of Indian parents to raise their families as they please; the right of Indian children to grow in their culture; and the right of Indian communities to resist fading into the twilight of history. All of that is in … Read more
“This case is about children who are among the most vulnerable: those in the child welfare system,” wrote Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority opinion. “The bottom line is that we reject all of petitioners’ challenges to the statute, some on the merits and others for lack of standing.” Read the full article at … Read more
By a 7-to-2 vote, the court upheld the law’s preferences for Native tribes when Indian children are adopted, ruling that the law does not discriminate on the basis of race and does not impermissibly impose a federal mandate on traditionally state-regulated areas of power. Read the full article at NPR.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 1978 law aimed at keeping Native American adoptees with their tribes and traditions, handing a victory to tribes that had argued that a blow to the law would upend the basic principles that have allowed them to govern themselves. Read the full article at the New York Times.
To help participants understand why ICWA is so important, the training focuses first on what Littlewolf calls “heart work — understanding the historical trauma, the correct history of Indigenous families.” Read the full article at Minnesota Public Radio News.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed legislation giving Native American families preference in fostering and adopting Native children involved with child protective services, a proactive move to protect such rights as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could undercut them nationally. Read full article at Religion News Service.
Beyond the tangle of legal matters, the Supreme Court case delves into the evocative terrain of historical trauma, race, identity, cultural biases — and the very meaning of family. Read the full article at Searchlight New Mexico.
The Supreme Court is about to decide on a case arguing that the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, discriminates against white people. The lawsuit seeks to reframe tribal membership as a racial rather than a political category, and argues that it disadvantages white foster parents trying to adopt Native children. This week, Rebecca Nagle, host of the This Land … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 sought to keep Native children in tribal communities. The Supreme Court may change that this spring. Read the full article at the New York Times.
Right now, people who become a child’s legal guardian aren’t eligible for state assistance if their case is in a Michigan tribal court. Two bills in the state legislature would change that. They would extend the financial benefits of the Guardianship Assistance Program to all legal guardians, regardless of what court handles their case. Read … Read more
Bipartisan legislation now before Congress would enhance funds available to tribal courts and child welfare systems, support tribal ways of adopting children and ease administrative burdens necessary to access the resources. Read the full article at The Imprint.
At a U.S. House Natural Resources Committee virtual roundtable on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) on Tuesday, lawmakers heard from experts about the dark legacy of the U.S. government removing Native children from their homes as well as personal anecdotes about the impact of growing up as a Native child in a non-Native community. … Read more
Some states are working to enshrine their own versions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act ahead of the anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision that could overturn the policy. But Utah isn’t one of them. Read the full article at KUER.
While ICWA is a federal law, a dozen states have already moved to bring some or all of the law’s tenets into state child welfare codes. During the current legislative season, several other states have local ICWA laws under consideration. The Imprint has set up this basic state ICWA tracker to update readers on developments. … Read more
Congresswoman Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and other House Democrats say they’re worried the U.S. Supreme Court is about to weaken the Indian Child Welfare Act, to the detriment of Native children and their tribes. Read the full article at Alaska Public Media.
North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law to protect tribal cultures by codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law, Burgum’s office announced Monday. Read the full article at Valley News Live.
A report released Monday by a northern California civil grand jury finds that the local child welfare system routinely misses court deadlines, creating “an unnecessary amount of stress” for children and families — particularly members of tribal communities who are overrepresented in the foster care system. Read the full article at The Imprint.
In a novel ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court found the exclusivity does not cover children who belong to one tribal nation but live on the reservation of another. The state can assert decision-making power over the lives of those children without the consent of the reservation tribe, the court determined. Read the full article at … Read more
The Oklahoma Supreme Court used the reasoning of the 2022 ruling in Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma, which rolled back parts of McGirt, to come to their decision. The Oklahoma Supreme Court say that states have jurisdiction over child custody proceedings, and ICWA only limits the state’s jurisdiction when a member child is on their tribe’s reservation. Read the … Read more
The Federal Indian Child Welfare Act is at risk. In the closing days of the session, a duel — or a duet? — of would-be replacements plays out. Read the full article at Montana Free Press.
North Dakota House Bill 1536 passed the state legislature yesterday, April 25. The bill codifies ICWA into state law, meaning if the Supreme Court were to make changes to the federal law, it would not apply to North Dakota law unless the North Dakota Legislature chose to amend the law adopted in HB 1536 in … Read more
“If the court rules the law unconstitutional, it will not only prevent family reunifications like my own — it will tell tribes that we do not have a right to our own children, and that our political sovereignty, which Congress has recognized for centuries is no more. For all of us, this should be a … Read more
Being a grandparent comes with trials and triumphs, sleepless nights and days that fly by, boundless joy and a sense of purpose. I’ve loved all of it, and it was only made possible by a law that is essential to keeping Native American families like mine together. It’s called the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), … Read more
Uncertainty about the future of ICWA brought urgency to legislative efforts this year to strengthen the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act or MIFPA. Lawmakers in both houses passed the legislation and Governor Walz is expected to sign it. “MIFPA legislation creates basically the gold standard of protection for our native kids,” said State Senator Mary … Read more
Let me be clear, this law is not about preventing non-Native families from adopting children when the situation and best interests of the child call for it. It’s about keeping families together whenever possible; it’s about fighting for the futures of Native American children; and it’s about giving tribes a long-awaited seat at the table. … Read more
While a Supreme Court decision overturning ICWA on sweeping equal- protection grounds would likely invalidate those state laws as well, other outcomes — such as a ruling that the federal law exceeded Congress’s authority — could leave state protections in place. Read the full article at USA Today.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon last week signed legislation codifying the Indian Child Welfare Act into state law. A similar bill is moving through the Montana Legislature. Read the full article at the Montana Standard website.
“With some of the sponsors of the bill and the support we have in tribal and state supporters, we’ll bring this issue back up again,” Estes said. “The fact of the matter is that tribal and state leaders need to find a better path forward to work together to put aside our differences and do … Read more
Utah’s eight sovereign tribes push for support on HB40, a bill that would codify the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, or ICWA, into Utah law. Read the full article at the Salt Lake Tribune website.
Davis said the potential reversal of ICWA at the federal level adds urgency to her mission to pass a similar state law in North Dakota. The Democratic legislator said all five tribes that share geography with North Dakota were consulted during the drafting of House Bill 1536. Read the full article at InForum.
The Supreme Court of Montana has ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act applies to third party custody arrangements in which a Native American parent allows the courts to place their child in the care of a family member. The ruling overturns previous case law in the state that had said ICWA did not apply … Read more
“There are some anomalies and gaps in the federal [law] that could be strengthened on the state side. And to have a task force to look at those and identify those and to determine if we do indeed want to adopt those on the state side is still a worthy discussion,” Larsen said. Read the … Read more
The department’s investigation found that Alaska’s system of care is heavily reliant on institutions and that key community-based services and supports needed to serve children with behavioral health disabilities in family homes, such as home-based family treatment, crisis services and therapeutic treatment home services, are often unavailable. As a result, many children with behavioral health … Read more
“As the only federally recognized tribe in the State of Mississippi, our 11,000 plus members are descendants of those members who chose to remain here in Mississippi to preserve our cultural heritage on our ancestral homelands,” the tribe said in a statement. “Today, just as in the past, the preservation and security of our tribe, … Read more
Janine Jackson interviewed Crushing Colonialism’s Jen Deerinwater about efforts to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act for the December 9, 2022, episode of CounterSpin. Read the transcript or listen to the interview at FAIR.org.
The Supreme Court will decide a case that affects Native children and their adoptive families. Although both sides claim to have children’s best interest at heart, removing kids from Native communities has a troubled history in America. Read the full article at Harper’s Bazaar.
On the heels of oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), an organization comprised of a coalition of California tribes on Nov. 21 announced its creation of a think tank to advance and defend protections for Native children. The California ICWA Institute—a new project under The California Tribal … Read more
Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s FireLodge Children & Family Services welcomed DeAnna Voeks as its new foster care and adoption specialist in June 2022. She knew from her first day that working for the Tribe and FireLodge would be different than any of her previous jobs — in a good way. Read the full article at Potawatomi.org.
If the law is stricken, Utah legislators talked Tuesday about plans to enact a nearly identical version statewide that would codify the same preference for continuing to place Native kids with Native foster parents. The Native American Legislative Liaison Committee voted unanimously in support of running that bill for the upcoming session that starts in January. Read … Read more
Indigenous affairs reporter Miles Brady talked with Koston Lathoris, a Las Vegas lawyer and citizen of the Southern Paiute tribe, about the case. Listen to the full story at Nevada Public Radio.
Each side presented their oral arguments Wednesday to the U.S. Supreme Court for the most serious challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act in recent memory. The decision in Haaland v. Brackeen will be a major force in the future of ICWA and the scope of tribal sovereignty. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce … Read more
The Supreme Court appeared likely Wednesday to leave in place most of a federal law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children. Read the full article at Indian Country Today.
And because Native children represent about 55% of all children in state custody, Chen says overturning ICWA would have huge implications for Alaska. At the same time, Native people only make up a little over 20% of the population, so there’s a disparity, she says, and a feeling that the state hasn’t done enough to … Read more
The law, known as ICWA, includes many other provisions that impact Native families across Indian Country. What ICWA will look like following the Supreme Court’s decision depends on how the justices rule. Amicus curiae briefs filed in the case cover arguments made for and against the law. Read the full article at Native News Online.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed conflicted Wednesday, as the justices heard arguments challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act, known by the acronym “ICWA.” Listen to the full story at NPR.
The Court is hearing a case that challenges the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which prioritizes the placement of Native American children in foster care or adoption with relatives, other tribal members, or in other Native homes. Read the full article at Time.
Brackeen v. Haaland attacks a 44-year-old law enacted to halt cultural genocide. Read the full article at Vox.
The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed to redress years of mass separations of Native families. This month, the court hears a case that could overturn it Read the full article at The Guardian.
Every Native child deserves the deep sense of safety that comes with being cared for in a home that shares their culture. Read the full article at romper.
In the sprawling federal lawsuit Haaland v. Brackeen, a handful of white foster parents, among other plaintiffs, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a law called the Indian Child Welfare Act. ICWA was created in 1978 to prevent family separation in Native communities. When the law passed, about a third of Native children had been removed from … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act set out to fix generations of harm to Native kids. The Supreme Court could soon toss it aside. Read the full article at the Mother Jones website.
There’s a central question at the core of every child welfare case: What is the best interest of the child? When it comes to Native adoptions, the fate of the law that set the standard for four decades now rests with the Supreme Court. Read the full article at the Christian Science Monitor website.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Brackeen v. Haaland, a case engineered to hobble the federal government’s power to protect Native communities from exploitation. The plaintiffs are asking the justices to invalidate the 44-year-old Indian Child Welfare Act, which prioritizes the placement of Native children in custody proceedings with Native families. But they’re … Read more
The issue is whether a federal law that seeks to place Native American foster children in Native American homes is constitutional. The case could turn on whether the justices see tribes as racial groups or sovereign nations. Read the full article at the New York Time website.
The case has enormous implications for Indian Country, its children and the ongoing existence of tribal sovereignty, said Sarah Deer, professor at the University of Kansas and chief justice for the Prairie Island Indian Community. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today website.
The Imprint walks readers through highlights of the Brackeen v. Haaland case Read the full article at The Imprint.
“Who could ever believe that [ICWA] would be taken away?” she said. “That’s one of the last things keeping our community together in the way that it has, so imagining a world where that doesn’t exist is just too, too painful.” Read the full article at the KTOO website.
California’s Morongo Band of Mission Indians is one of five tribes that have intervened in the Brackeen v. Haaland case, scheduled for oral arguments Nov. 9. The tribesspoke out this week alongside leaders of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, the Quinault Indian Nation of Washington, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Navajo Nation. Read the … Read more
Kendra Lowden, a Citizen Potawatomi Nation member, discussed the case as well as the Indian Child Welfare Act and the impact its repeal could have on tribes and children across the country. Listen to the full podcase at Potawatomi.org.
“We will not go back to a time when our children were stolen from our communities without cause.” Read the full article at The Imprint.
The Biden administration proposes spending $20 billion over a decade to help some of the most vulnerable families in the country, including relatives suddenly thrust into child rearing. Read the full article at The New York Times website.
Matthew Fletcher, Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law, University of Michigan, and Rebecca Nagle, Creator and Host, “This Land” Podcast, discuss the case before the Supreme Court. Listen at the Ideastream Public Media website.
The case, known as Brackeen v. Haaland, has galvanized Indian County. Tribes are concerned the Supreme Court will nullify their right to oversee foster care placements in cases involving Native children, and they fear it could lead to further erosion of their federal rights. Read the full article at the MinnPost website.
Brackeen v. Haaland is a case centering around the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), which focuses on assimilation, tribal culture and the adoption of Native children. Across the country, tribes are watching this case unfold to see how it will impact tribal sovereignty and the relationship between tribes and the federal government. Read the … Read more
This week, Representative Judy Chu (CA-27) and Representative Don Bacon (NE-02) introduced the bipartisan Strengthening Tribal Families Act, legislation designed to assist state and local child welfare agencies with implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA, which sets federal standards for abuse or neglect custody proceedings involving native children, lessens the trauma of removal … Read more
The proposed options could include drafting a trigger protection legislation. What that means is if the federal government does strike down ICWA, Wyoming could say ‘no, we will still follow the tenets of ICWA’. Or use the federal law as a template to draft a state law. Read or listen to the full article at … Read more
Read the full article at the Navajo-Hopi Observer website.
Pascua Yaqui children taken into state custody in Arizona will continue to learn and grow up according to the tribe’s customs and traditions, and the tribe will still be able to intervene in custody proceedings such as adoptions and the termination of parental rights. The state and tribe signed a memo of understanding last week … Read more
The Minneapolis-based National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University of Minnesota are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind survey asking those difficult questions. Researchers have compiled close to 1,000 accounts, submitted on paper and online, for the Child Removal in Native Communities survey, which concludes September 11. Read the full article … Read more
The American Indian College Fund has announced four grants totaling $6.25 million in support of its Indigenous Early Childhood Education (IECE) program. Read the full article at Philanthropy News Digest.
In an outpouring of support, 497 Tribal Nations, 62 Native organizations, 23 states and DC, 87 congresspeople, and 27 child welfare and adoption organizations, and many others signed on to 21 briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of upholding ICWA. This large, bipartisan coalition of tribal leaders, policymakers, and organizations understand that the far-reaching … Read more
Today, five tribes filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Brackeen v. Haaland defending the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Read the full article at Indian Country Today.
On Friday, August 5, HB 184, a bill codifying the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact, automatically became State law without the Governor’s signature. The Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact began in 2017, under Governor Bill Walker and HSS Commissioner Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, who signed the landmark State-Tribal Compact with 18 Tribal Co-Signers, representing 161 federally-recognized Tribes. … Read more
Read the full article in The Desert Sun.
For the last 44 years, a federal law called the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) has sought to prevent these situations by prioritizing that Native children adoptees be placed, when possible, with Native relatives or other members within the child’s tribe. But after months of consequential rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing majority, four … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in Native News Online.
More than half of Native American children in California who are taken into foster care end up in non-Indigenous households. Assembly Bill 1862, which has so far met unanimous support in both houses of the state Legislature, would provide annual funding for tribes to recruit foster parents among their members, and to refurbish and repair … Read more
Legal Topics: Child Custody; Tribal Courts Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest operating foundation dedicated to safely reducing the need for foster care and building Communities of Hope for children and families, announced today the recipients of the 2022 Casey Excellence for Children Awards. These awards recognize outstanding individuals for their inspiring work, exceptional leadership and unwavering dedication to improving the … Read more
The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma (UINO), the Shawnee Tribe and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) announced today that they will host a summit with tribes in the area discussing the history and impacts of Indian Boarding schools on June 22 at the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The … Read more
Legal Topics: Custody; Jurisdiction Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in Indian Country Today.
Read the full article in Native News Online.
The California Tribal Families Coalition (CTFC) applauds the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for withdrawing a controversial rule from the Trump Administration that would have exposed millions of tribal children and families to unnecessary risk and removed countless regulations meant to uphold key healthcare standards. Read the full article in Indian Country Today.
Read the full article in The Imprint.
Register and learn more about this training at the Turtle Talk blog.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in Alaska Public Media.
Read the full article in the Tahlequah Daily Press.
Read Susan Devan Harness’s essay in the Harvard Law Bill of Health.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read Kathryn Fort’s essay in Harvard Law’s Bill of Health.
The child welfare system is racist. As with all systems in the United States, the system charged with protecting children is not exempt from the racist policies, practices, and mindsets that created and justified colonialization and slavery. Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color continue to fall prey to the harsh realities of child welfare … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full law review article in the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read Kathryn Fort’s post on Turtle Talk.
Read the notice in the Federal Register.
Minnesotans are needed to help shape child welfare policy, practice and training recommendations by serving on Citizen Review Panels for the state’s child protection system. The Minnesota Department of Human Services is currently seeking more than 80 volunteers for citizen panels in Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey and Winona counties. By bringing a crucial community voice to … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Rebecca Nagle, host of This Land, joins Leah and Kate to discuss the issues at stake in Brackeen v. Haaland, a case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act that the Supreme Court will hear next term. Listen to this episode on the Crooked Media website.
Read the article in the Bangor Daily News.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Jurisdiction Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library.
Legal topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the decision at the Turtle Talk blog.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Listen to the segment on the Turtle Talk blog.
Read about this on the Turtle Talk blog.
Read the article in Native News Online.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Even though this is not an ICWA case, three people have sent me this opinion by Justice Montoya Lewis regarding the primacy of relative placement in child protection proceedings. This opinion points to all sorts of issues that beleaguers relative placement, especially certain aspects of background checks and prior involvement with the system. Here, the … Read more
Read the article in Youth Today.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the decision at the Turtle Talk blog.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
New Mexico can provide support for Native families and their children this legislative session — perhaps in the nick of time, depending on the Supreme Court. Read the full article in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Read more in the Grant County Beat.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
The OST Council met Tuesday in Batesland at the Bill C. Bear Memorial gym at Batesland school for their January regular session; after many questions from the gathered tribal council representatives, the council voted 11-6-1 to approve the annual attorney contract for Dana Hanna who represents the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Indian Child Welfare Act … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Termination of Parental Rights Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the guest essay in the Navajo Times.
Read the article in The Oregonian.
Read the dataset created by Kathryn Fort at the Turtle Talk blog.
Read the full decision, and additional commentary, at the Turtle Talk blog.
George F. Will’s Jan. 6 op-ed, “The racial politics of the Indian Child Welfare Act,” ignored the benefits of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the basic facts of tribal citizenship. The ICWA is considered the gold standard of child welfare laws and establishes a process that promotes efforts to keep children connected to their families, … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
S.3337 — A bill to protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country. Read about this bill at the 117th Congress website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Termination of Parental Rights Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article at the Indian Country Today website.
Read the full decision at the Turtle Talk blog.
Read this article in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the article in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law.
Register for this conference at the Turtle Talk website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full federal register entry at the govinfo.gov website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website. Further reading materials are available at Turtle Talk.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full federal register entry at the National Indian Law Library website. Access the ICWA tribal agent directory at the federal register website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in the Norman Transcript.
Read the full law review article in the American Indian Law Review.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
On September 3, four tribes and the United States Solicitor General filed cert petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court in Brackeen v. Haaland, defending the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and its constitutionality. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Morongo Band of Mission Indians Chairman Charles Martin, Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill, and Quinault Indian Nation President Guy … Read more
Read the full federal register entry at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in The Rural Blog.
Read the full article at the Native News Online website. Listen to ‘This Land’ at Crooked Media.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
After the forced separation of Indian families, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to create heightened procedural protections to maintain and preserve Indian families. Following Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. 637 (2013), courts have indicated concern that the heightened standards of ICWA may be overbroad and harm Indian children. This Note … Read more
Several years ago, the Lummi Tribal Council told Diana Phair, the executive director of the tribe’s Housing Authority: “We have 200-some children in foster care. We need to bring our children home.” With the tribal members’ input, she and her colleagues devised Sche’lang’en Village, a novel housing arrangement for parents seeking to reunite with their … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision and Turtle Talk commentary at the Turtle Talk website.
Read the full article on the Native News Online website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Bay Mills Indian Community 3rd annual Noojimo’iwewin: A VAWA and ICWA Training Aug. 4-6, in-person and online BRIMLEY, Mich. — Picking up where last year’s training left off, Bay Mills Indian Community sets out to host its third annual Noojimo’iwewin: A VAWA and ICWA Training, Aug. 4-6. The event is hosted both in-person at the Bay Mills … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article at the New York Times website.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Nine Rosebud Lakota children began their last morning away from their homelands Friday at the base of a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday morning, a caravan carrying the nine Lakota children who died more than 140 years ago arrived here with a police escort in front … Read more
S.2326 — A bill to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act to reauthorize programs under that Act, and for other purposes. Read about this bill at the 117th Congress website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
SAN DIEGO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Carlsbad resident and professor Joely Proudfit to the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, making her the first Indigenous woman to serve the organization. Proudfit (Luiseño/Payómkawichum) is a professor at California State University, San Marcos who has served as American Indian studies chair and director … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
H.R.4348 – To remove administrative barriers to participation of Indian tribes in Federal child welfare programs, and increase Federal funding for tribal child welfare programs, and for other purposes. Read about this bill at the 117th Congress website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full statement on the Indian Country Today website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full federal register entry at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full press release at the Department of the Interior website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
S.2167/H.R.4052 – A bill to establish a national, research-based, and comprehensive home study assessment process for the evaluation of prospective foster parents and adoptive parents and provide funding to States and Indian tribes to adopt such process. Read more about this bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Shortly after a First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, confirmed it found the remains of 215 Indigenous children buried under a former residential school, news of more sites just like it started to surface across the country—and in the United States. Read the full article on the Vice News website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
As I read stories about an unmarked grave in Canada where the remains of 215 Indigenous children were found last month, I was sick to my stomach. But the deaths of Indigenous children at the hands of government were not limited to that side of the border. Many Americans may be alarmed to learn that the United … Read more
Oregon lawmakers have voted to codify provisions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law in an effort to honor tribal customs and sent the bill to the desk of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. Read the full article at The Imprint website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
The NCAI, which passed two different resolutions in the past decade on the issue, is calling for transparency and accountability for historical and generational trauma caused by boarding schools that was a program of the federal government that operated on the mantra to “Kill the Indian, Save the man.” Read the full article on the … Read more
S.1868 – A bill to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require that equitable distribution of assistance include equitable distribution to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, to increase amounts reserved for allotment to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations under certain circumstances, and to reserve amounts for migrant programs under certain circumstances, and … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act became law in 1978 with a goal of keeping Native children with their families and tribes. As Blackfeet citizen and Salish descendant Brooke Pepion Swaney found out, the law was overlooked when Kendra was adopted by the Mylnechuk family. Brooke’s first feature-length documentary, “Daughter of a Lost Bird,” premieres at the prestigious Human Rights … Read more
Save the date for a virtual Domestic/Family Violence Advocacy Training, June 16-17, 2021. For more information, or to register, email: training@native-knowledge.com. Original post from Turtle Talk.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the article at the Indianz website.
Read the full article in the Washington and Lee Law Review Online.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act; Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Legal Topics: Custodial Agreements; Tribal Law Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Read the full article in the American Indian Law Review.
These foster youth say the state of Alaska pocketed thousands of dollars that belonged to them. Nationwide, government agencies take money owed to foster children with disabilities or a deceased parent, The Marshall Project and NPR found. And most kids never know it’s gone. Read the full article at the Marshall Project website.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA or the Act) is a federal statute that protects Indian children by keeping them connected to their families and culture. The Act’s provisions include support for family reunification, kinship care preferences, cultural competency considerations and community involvement. These provisions parallel national child welfare policies. Nevertheless, the Act is relentlessly … Read more
H.R.2740 – To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country. Read more about this bill at the 117th Congress website.
Read the full article at the Wyoming Public Media website.
Read the full law review article in the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice.
I am an Ojibwe autistic parent of autistic children, and a disability advocate. My children and I are statistically insignificant, and we routinely endure systemic erasure. Most Native autistic people do not get an accurate diagnosis or the support they need at any age. Native communities desperately need access to accurate information about autism and … Read more
Read the full article in the Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law and Practice.
Read the full article in the Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law and Practice.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Today, the Yurok Tribe, Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, the Wiyot Tribe and the Trinidad Rancheria announced their support of the California Attorney General’s effort to pursue a court order requiring the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Child Welfare Services Division and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office to fully and … Read more
A recent, unanimous opinion of the Washington State Supreme Court authored by Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis, the first Native American justice to serve on the court, gives critical life to the rights granted under the act by giving expansive meaning to the “reason to know” standard that invokes its protections.
Unlawful rollback of data collection requirements is “riddled with errors,” ignores critical need to understand challenges facing American Indian and Alaska Native children, LGBTQ+ foster youth. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today website.
Repairing and strengthening Indian Country’s ancestral social safety net Indian Country Today Opinion by: -Tara ‘Katuk’ Sweeney, Iñupiat member of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior -Jeannie Hovland, Flandreau Santee Sioux Member and Commissioner … Read more
The law protects Native children from being taken from their homes without tribal involvement. The case before the state Supreme Court could tighten those rules. Read the full article at the Crosscut website.
Under the direction of Children, Youth and Families Secretary Brian Blalock, state leaders announced in October the creation of New Mexico’s first Indian Child Welfare Act court. Only the nation’s sixth, the court opened Jan. 1 in the 2nd Judicial District to enforce and adjudicate the 1978 congressional law that requires the placement of Native … Read more
CYFD, in an effort to align with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — a congressional law that aims to keep Native American children with Native families — created an all-woman, all-Native American ICWA unit within the child protective services division. Additionally, the state’s first — and only the nation’s sixth — ICWA court officially … Read more
The case centers on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which was designed to protect American Indian communities against state-led efforts to break up Native families. The challengers in the case—several Republican-led states and non-Native families seeking to adopt Native children—are attempting to invalidate ICWA’s restrictions on breaking up Native families and on non-Native families … Read more
Northern Arapaho leaders and state officials are looking for ways to improve a child protective services program that the tribe says needs more money from the state to be more effective. Gov. Mark Gordon and Northern Arapaho Tribe leaders met last week to discuss the tribe’s child protective and social services, which is funded with … Read more
The amicus brief urges the Fifth Circuit to uphold the court’s previous decision affirming the constitutionality of IWCA. The decision the Fifth Circuit issued in August reversed an unprecedented ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas which wrongly struck down ICWA as unconstitutional. Read the full press release and view … Read more
Get ready for round two. Oral arguments in a closely-watched Indian Child Welfare Act case will take place on January 22, 2020. After offering a tentative date last month, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals made it official on Wednesday. The case known as Brackeen v. Bernhardt will go before an en banc panel of judges … Read more
The legal status of the Indian Child Welfare Act is again going before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2018, a Texas federal court found the Act known as ICWA to be unconstitutional. But this summer a panel of three Fifth Circuit judges reversed that finding. Now the full panel of appellate judges will … Read more
Simply Smiles, Inc. is seeking Native American foster parents for the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation (South Dakota). … Native foster parents at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village will ensure that Native children who have been removed from their homes on Cheyenne River can remain with their “kin and … Read more
Attacks on the law, enacted in 1978, have inexplicably risen in the past seven years and attracted the support of a seemingly disparate array of high power ultra conservative players and organizations. Today’s challenges to the child welfare protocols aren’t only about adoption because if the Indian Child Welfare Act is found to be unconstitutional … Read more
Pima County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Quigley said having an ICWA court would allow a legal team to specialize in these cases, much like with a mental health or drug court. “Instead of having 14 judges deal with ICWA cases, we’d have one judge who would deal with it the same way, so everybody could … Read more
The Yellowstone County District Court is working to improve the outcome for Native children with the Indian Child Welfare Act Court launched 18 months ago with Judge Rod Souza presiding. It is one of only six ICWA courts in the nation. Read the full article at the Montana Standard website.
Native American tribes got a big win in August when a federal court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, a pivotal 1978 law that requires states to prioritize placing Native children in foster or adoptive homes with Native families over non-Native families. But the decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals … Read more
In the 40 years since Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act, the law has been criticized in legal challenges that have climbed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the ICWA, as the act is known, has always prevailed. Now its constitutionality is being questioned again. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of … Read more
After initially deciding the closely-watched case in favor of Indian Country, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals announced that it will hear the dispute all over again. A larger set of judges will now scrutinize the landmark law but tribal nations remain confident that their sovereign rights and their most precious resource — their children — will win … Read more
Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order directing a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to be reheard en banc — before the entire Fifth Circuit. As previously reported, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit had held ICWA Constitutional in August, finding it was not a race-based statute that would violate the … Read more
More than 40 years after the federal law took effect, the child welfare system continues to absorb a disproportionate number of Native American children nationally and in Utah, noted Alisa Lee, Indian child welfare program administrator for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services. Data provided by Lee’s office shows that roughly 5% of … Read more
The Supreme Court didn’t give a reason it declined to hear the case that began in 2013, when the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux Tribes and three parents in Pennington County brought a class action lawsuit against state Department of Social Services and Pennington County officials.The American Civil Liberties Union, representing the tribes and parents, alleged that Native American … Read more
Emails to the adoptive family from the director of Bright Star Adoptions, an adoption firm for which Petersen served as general counsel, suggest that concerns came up about the firm’s compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act following Petersen’s arrest. Read the full article at the Phoenix New Times website. Read related news: “Indigenous Lawmakers … Read more
Carlisle, and boarding schools like it, are remembered as a dark chapter in the history of the ill-conceived assimilation policies designed to strip Native people of their cultures and languages by indoctrinating them with U.S. patriotism. But child removal is a longstanding practice, ultimately created to take away Native land. Although Carlisle is located in … Read more
Nearly 200 pages of child welfare regulations are proposed for repeal by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and will be replaced by less than a dozen pages of regulations on adoption, the Indian Child Welfare Act and alternative response. Read the full article at the Beatrice Daily Sun website.
The leaders of four American Indian tribes in North Dakota have signed a new agreement with the state over federal funding for child welfare services, including allowing tribes to license foster care parents on and off reservations. Read the full article at the Bismark Tribune website.
In the 21st century, we are still fighting to protect indigenous children whether it is north or south of the Mexican border. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act was a critical step to keep our families, communities and identities intact. Now, some legal protections need to be … Read more
As president of both the Quinault Nation and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Fawn Sharp is a busy person. As of late, much of her time has been dedicated to the fight for Native children and, more broadly, tribal sovereignty. Sharp knows firsthand how difficult it is for Native parents hoping to provide a … Read more
United States: Fifth Circuit Upholds Indian Child Welfare Act As Constitutional. Akin Gump (Aug. 14, 2019) Federal District Court of Appeals Upholds Indian Child Welfare Act. Nonprofit Quarterly (Aug. 13, 2019) EDITORIAL: ICWA ruling a victory for tribes. Tahlequah Daily Press. (Aug. 13, 2019) Fifth Circuit Court reaffirms Indian Child Welfare is constitutional. The Ada … Read more
Now 18, Carlisle was placed into the foster care system as an infant and adopted when she was a child, but one box checked on her foster care and adoptive records identify her as African-American. There’s no mention of her Native roots, meaning the state doesn’t legally recognize her status.She’s spent the last two years … Read more
During her testimony, Representative Smith described her disillusion with some social workers who only look at potential foster and adoptive parents from a European standard; in doing so, Smith stated that they dismiss and diminish cultural norms that are in place to provide positive reinforcements for Native children. Having heard stories of other parents of color involved … Read more
Now the [Indian Child Welfare Act] is facing its most serious challenge yet. In a case that has implications far beyond the adoptions of American Indian children, three non-Native families and three Republican state attorneys general have sued the federal government saying that the ICWA relies on racial classifications that violate the equal protection clause … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act was established to ensure that children benefit from Native families remaining together. Our families should not ever fear the removal of their children from their tribes and their culture. It is in the best interest of Indian children to keep their connections to their culture, communities and extended families. It’s … Read more
A LAW KEY to preventing state welfare agencies from separating Indigenous children from their families is at risk of being overturned thanks to the yearslong effort of a network of libertarian and right-wing organizations. In the 1970s, between a quarter and a third of Indigenous children across the United States had been removed from their … Read more
Zachary, or A.L.M. as he is called in legal papers, has a Navajo birth mother, a Cherokee birth father and adoptive parents, Jennifer and Chad Brackeen, neither of whom is Native American. The Brackeens are challenging a federal law governing Native American children in state foster care: It requires that priority to adopt them be given to Native families, to … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of an Arizona case challenging a law that gives preference to American Indians in adoptions of Native children.The order last week leaves in place a lower court ruling that dismissed a complaint from a Phoenix-based, right-leaning think tank. Read the full article at the Navajo-Hopi Observer. Read related … Read more
Please join the Bay Mills Indian Community for this multi-disciplinary, tuition-free training geared toward child welfare and domestic violence advocates to implement effective service and advocacy strategies in cases involving child welfare, domestic violence, or both. Minnesota CLEs are available for this training. This training will be in Brimley, Michigan on August 1-2, 2019. For … Read more
PDF version available from Turtle Talk website. Direct questions to kate@naicja.org.
The crazy thing is that the Indian Child Welfare Act is forty years old, and it’s still one of the least well-understood pieces of federal legislation, even by judges, in the country. Read the full article at The Progressive website.
Find information about (Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases including the annual 2018 case update on the Turtle Talk blog.
The Arizona Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing Thursday over the guardianship of a 6-year-old child who is subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Navajo Nation appealed the case, The Navajo Nation v. Department of Child Safety et al., in October 2018 after the juvenile court failed to hear the testimony of a … Read more
But a week ago, citing a “crisis” in child welfare, Brown called for creation of the advisory board and other steps to give her more direct control of the agency with an aim of getting it to improve and to do so quickly. She issued an executive order to put her wishes into effect. The … Read more
The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a local judge erred when he transferred a child abuse and neglect case from state court to tribal court without considering testimony from the child’s doctor. Read the full article at the Rapid City Journal website.
On April 23, 2019, ACF’s Office of Child Care (OCC) announced the availability of funds and requested applications for:* American Indian and Native Hawaiian Nonprofit Organization Child Care Grant* Native Hawaiian Nonprofit Organization Child Care Grant Each of these competitive funding opportunity announcements (FOA) provides grant funding for a private, nonprofit organization to provide child care services through … Read more
California lawmakers are considering a proposal to make it easier for Native American tribes to make their arguments in child custody cases.Technically, the proposed legislation, AB 686, would let lawyers or other representatives of Native American tribes appear by phone or electronically in cases involving the possible removal of Native American children from their families … Read more
So far, 325 tribes and states, including Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, have joined forces to preserve a law that gives Native families preference in adoption of Native children. Read the full article at the Wyoming Public Media website.
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University of Minnesota are pleased to announce the launch of our study: Child Removal in Native Communities. This is an anonymous survey about American Indian and Alaskan Native experiences and impacts of child removal to #BreakTheSilence and #BeginTheHealing. … If you are … Read more
Another way that ICWA differs from conventional child welfare laws is that it mandates “active efforts” to keep children with their families or tribe. In most regular child protection cases, social-service workers are obligated to provide “reasonable efforts” to help parents and children reunify, such as offering lists of treatment facilities, therapists, affordable-housing agencies or … Read more
Despite these challenges, Native American adoptees continue to lead a resilient fight both inside and outside the child welfare system to address disparities, often by providing support systems and advocates beyond what county or state governments offer families. And Native-led organizations hold the government accountable, ensuring that agencies and courts properly uphold ICWA and honor … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Department of Public Health and Human Services petitioned to terminate mother’s parental rights to children. The District Court, Silver Bow County, Brad Newman, J., terminated rights. Mother appealed, arguing that District Court had possessed reason to know that children could have been eligible for tribal enrollment so as to trigger Indian Child … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Notice Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the formation of the Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System.A senior administration official hosted a White House conference call, and released statements to the media which outlined that President Trump has “charged the task force with investigating the institutional and systemic … Read more
1978 law giving preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving American Indian children is an unconstitutional race-based intrusion on state powers that has caused families to be “literally torn apart,” an attorney told a federal appeals court March 13.But supporters of the decades-old law say it’s needed to protect and … Read more
The American Bar Association’s recently published book, “The Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook: A Legal Guide to the Custody and Adoption of Native American Children, Third Edition,” focuses on the new federal regulations of the ICWA and important cases decided during the last 10 years. Authors Kelly Gaines-Stoner, Mark C. Tilden and Jack F. Trope … Read more
Colorado is out of compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires courts make an effort to place Native American children in state custody with tribal or Native homes. House Bill 1232, co-sponsored by Rep. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, offers minor fixes to Colorado laws for administering ICWA. “This proposed law writes into Colorado law … Read more
A case before a federal appeals court could upend an historic adoption law meant to combat centuries of brutal discrimination against American Indians and keep their children with families and tribal communities.For the first time, a few states have sued to overturn the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which Congress enacted in 1978 as an antidote to … Read more
With the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act in the hands of a federal appeals courts, tribes and some states have come together to defend the law, which Congress enacted in 1978 to address the high rates of Indian children being taken from their families and their communities. Read the full opinion piece at the Indianz.com … Read more
Non-Indians think they know better than Indians what is best for Native American children, said lawyers for the Navajo Nation in arguments before a federal appeals court.It’s a bold argument, but goes to the heart of the case in Brackeen v. Bernhardt. Under the Indian Child Welfare Act, Indian tribes have priority over non-Indians in Native … Read more
A case before a federal appeals court this week could upend an historic adoption law meant to combat centuries of brutal discrimination against American Indians and keep their children with families and tribal communities.For the first time, a few states have sued to overturn the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which Congress enacted in 1978 … Read more
February 5, 2019Yesterday, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes met with the leadership of the Navajo Nation, reported on the proceedings of the ICWA lawsuit, and signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (between DCFS & Navajo Nation) with Governor Gary R. Herbert. The Agreement is the result of a two-year process working with the Navajo Nation on the … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act is under attack and tribes are pushing back after conservative and Christian groups joined a closely-watched battle over the landmark federal law. Read the full article at the Indianz.com website.
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, John Hoeven, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Tom Udall and Jerry Moran reintroduced the bipartisan Tribal Adoption Parity Act legislation that would bring parity to tribal government for the adoption tax credit. Read the full article at the Minot … Read more
A Dec. 17 report on All Things Considered about the Indian Child Welfare Act prompted harsh criticism from the Native American Journalists Association, which called it “inaccurate and imprecise.” A meeting between NAJA leaders and NPR editors resulted in a clarification being posted on the online version of the piece, but NAJA members continued to have concerns about the reporting. Read … Read more
Joint Press Release from National Native Organizations on the Overwhelming Support for the Indian Child Welfare Act Available at https://www.narf.org/icwa-brackeen/. (Portland, Ore., January 18, 2019)—On Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 325 tribal nations, 57 Native organizations, 21 states, 31 child welfare organizations, Indian and constitutional law scholars, and seven members of Congress joined the United States … Read more
An author recounts how 1960s policies ripped apart families and communities, including her own. An essay from author Susan Harness about her memoir, Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption. Read the full article at the High Country News website.
December 18th, 2018 at12:00pm PT | 1:00pm MT | 2:00pm CT | 3:00pm ET (1.5 hours) More information and register at https://t.e2ma.net/message/yfr9cc/e0pis1
The Indian Child Welfare Act requires that Native American children be placed in Native American foster or adoptive homes, where possible, to maintain their heritage and identity.The law is being challenged with increasing regularity in courts and by special-interest groups who contend it prioritizes race over a child’s best interest.In October, U.S. District Judge Reed … Read more
A 5-0 decision by the South Dakota Supreme Court says a man who admitted to killing his wife and is serving a life sentence in prison did not have his rights under a federal Indian adoption law violated when a Brookings judge awarded custody of his child to the slain mother’s brother and sister-in-law. Read … Read more
[Dec. 13, 2018]WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Martin Heinrich praised the Senate passage of a bicameral resolution commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and recognizing its importance to promoting the stability and security of Tribal communities and families. Read the full press release at … Read more
Synopsis from Westlaw: Department of Public Health and Human Services filed petition for termination of mother’s parental rights as to her two minor children. Following termination hearing, the District Court, Cascade County, Nos. ADN 16-175 and ADN-16-176, Gregory G. Pinski, P.J., terminated mother’s parental rights. Mother appealed. Holdings from Westlaw: The Supreme Court, Beth Baker, J., … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Foster and adoptive parents and states of Texas,Louisiana, and Indiana brought action against United States, United States Department of the Interior and its Secretary, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)and its Director, BIA Principal Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs,Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Secretary seeking declaration that Indian … Read more
A federal appeals court granted a stay requested by the four tribes on Monday to preserve the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act. “The law is going to stay the same for now,” said Dan Lewerenz, one of the attorneys working on the Brackeen v. Zinke case. That means Native American families will stay together under the law. Read … Read more
The United States will join four tribes defending the Indian Child Welfare Act against a district court ruling in Texas. The Department of Justice, with the Department of Interior and Health and Human Services, and their officials, filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 30 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, … Read more
A state circuit judge didn’t violate the federal Indian Child Welfare Act when she terminated a father’s right to his four-year-old son, the South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled. Read the full article at the KELO-LAND Media website.
“Dawnland” is premiering on the PBS series Independent Lens, as part of November Native American Heritage Month programming. The investigation by the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission represented a groundbreaking moment in the history of tribal-state relations and its goal was to uncover and acknowledge the truth about what happened to Wabanaki … Read more
Despite a federal appeals court vacating a previous local ruling ordering Pennington County to change the way it runs its initial hearings for Native American child removal cases, the county isn’t planning on reverting back to its old practices. Read the article at the Rapid City Journal website.
Title: Tensions underlying the Indian Child Welfare Act: Tribal jurisdiction over traditional state court family law matters. Author: MacLachlan, Elizabeth Source: 2018 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 455 (2018)
Treppa: Why the ICWA is critical to the health of native children and tribal communities SHERRY TREPPA POSTED ON WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2018 A Texas judge’s recent decision to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, sets a dangerous precedent that unravels federal policy carefully designed to correct centuries of tragic injustices committed … Read more
A federal appeals court has delivered a major blow to tribes and parents who have been seeking stronger enforcement of the Indian Child Welfare Act in South Dakota.The Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and three Indian parents went to court more than five years ago, alarmed by the large numbers of Indian children being taken from their families. They … Read more
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that South Dakota officials violated the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the story at the http://listen.sdpb.org/post/aclu-will-ask-eighth-circuit-reconsider-opinion-icwa-due-process.
In 2016, the Obama administration finalized AFCARS rules that would for the first time require states to track information related to, among other subjects, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the disruption of adoptions and guardianships, education stability and sexual orientation. Read the full article at the Chronicle of Social Change website.
See the following stories: Judge upholds Indian Child Welfare Act (Arizona Daily Sun) 8/7/18,Court rejects challenge to Native American law on adoptions (Arizona Republic) 8/7/18, and Appeals court won’t rule on challenge on Indian Child Welfare Act (Indianz) 8/7/18. Read the court decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
When social workers take a Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Assiniboine or Sioux child from their parents in Yellowstone County, 75 percent go to live somewhere with a Native connection — mostly to relatives … Read the full article at the Billings Gazette website.
A Grand Traverse Band Tribal Court judge soon will decide whether three children who have lived with their Traverse City foster parents since 2009 will stay with them or will be removed from the home. Read the full article at the Traverse City Record-Eagle website.
A Federal Register Notice by the Indian Affairs Bureau made on 6/04/18. The regulations implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act provide that Indian tribes may designate an agent other than the tribal chairman for service of notice of proceedings under the Act. This notice includes the current list of designated tribal agents for service of … Read more
A Glendive woman is suing the Bureau of Indian Affairs for $1 million over a 2015 child custody dispute that pitted state and tribal courts against each other. Patsy Fercho, 64, fled to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 2015 with her two grandchildren in an attempt to avoid a Minnesota court’s order granting custody to … Read more
The Colorado Court of Appeals issued its opinion in People in Interest of I.B.-R. on Thursday, May 17, 2018. Read the case summary at the Colorado Bar Association website.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, leading a bipartisan coalition of Attorneys General, filed an amicus brief late last week in Brakeen et. al. v. Zinke to defend the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Read the full press release at the Attorney General’s website.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the father of two American Indian children is entitled to withdraw his consent to terminate his parental rights because the adoption of his children has not yet been finalized… Read the full article at the Detroit Free Press website.
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Application of Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) entered into a Support Services Funding Agreement with the State of Alaska’s Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS), Office of Children’s Services (OCS) to conduct diligent relative and Indian Child Welfare Act preference searches. Read the full article at the Alaska … Read more
The Miccosukee Tribe is defending its handling of a child welfare case that has drawn national attention.The tribe said a newborn was taken from her mother, a Miccosukee citizen, in order to protect the baby girl and her older siblings from domestic violence. The mother had previously been victimized by her non-Indian former partner, whose presence at … Read more
MIAMI — The Miccosukee nation insists that it acted lawfully when its tribal court issued a child-custody order, and then sent two tribal detectives to seize newborn Ingrid Johnson from her Indian mother at a hospital. But Indian law experts and two former Miccosukee police chiefs said they believe the tribe overstepped its authority. And … Read more
A 5-year-old Native American boy at the center of controversy for more than a year will remain with his Coshocton County foster family, for now. Last week, the Ohio Court of Appeals reversed an earlier juvenile court ruling that would have sent the preschooler 2,000 miles from his home to a reservation in Arizona. The ruling stated the juvenile court should … Read more
Native American tribes across Michigan will soon have access to certain state child protection records for children in tribes. Read the full article at the Morning Sun website. Read related article “Amended Child Protection Law Benefits Tribes” at The National Law Review website.
Since the passage of ICWA in 1978, the law has been labeled the “gold standard” for child welfare laws — and not just for Indian children. Policies created under ICWA have been adopted by some states to ensure that children are only removed from their homes as a last resort. To honor the children and … Read more
Without comment, the justices on Tuesday denied a petition in Renteria v. Superior Court of California, Tulare County. The move, which came in an order list, ends a lawsuit which claimed ICWA was based on “race” and should be declared unconstitutional. Read the full article at the Indianz website.
A lawyer representing two American Indian tribes urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to keep in place the changes a judge ordered for a South Dakota county’s system of removing children from homes in endangerment cases. Read the full article at the ABC News website. Read related coverage at the Indianz website.
The Office of Children’s Services and tribal governments are taking the first steps to implement an agreement that transfers control of welfare services for Alaska Native children from the state to a group of 18 tribal governments and organizations. Read the full article at the Peninsula Clarion website.
The Department contended that mother’s signing of a written advisement of her rights, which included a question about the ICWA, served as the court’s initial inquiry. The inquiry should be made on the record. Regardless, the Court of Appeals found that the Department failed to send notice to the appropriate tribes when mother identified a … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act lawsuit filed in Rapid City’s federal court almost five years ago is going to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel is hearing oral arguments in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday, Feb. 12. In March 2013, the Rosebud and Oglala Sioux Tribes, as well as tribal parents, brought … Read more
State Rep. Daire Rendon has voted with the House Families, Children, and Seniors Committee to give tribal social services access to certain records that would allow them to communicate with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the best interest of children in their tribe. Read the full press release at the Michigan … Read more
Title: Are you my father? Adopting a federal standard for acknowledging or establishing paternity in state court ICWA proceedings. Author: Heiner, Kevin Source: 117 Colum. L. Rev. 2151 (2017) Contact the National Indian Law Library if you need help obtaining a copy of the article.
Alaska Governor Bill Walker used an appearance Thursday at the annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage to sign a historic compact between the State of Alaska, tribes, and tribal organizations. The compact will allow tribes and tribal organizations to provide child welfare services and programs that previously were delivered by the Alaska Office … Read more
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) has announced the release of the Indian Child Welfare Act Judicial Benchbook to improve court practice for judges in handling Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases.
Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal district court arguing that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which dates back to 1978, is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The lawsuit is on behalf of a non-Native American foster family from Texas that wants to adopt a Native American boy. Read the full article at the … Read more
Madison, Wis. (Oct. 16, 2017) – More than 350 court, child welfare, school, tribal representatives, and legal professionals from across Wisconsin will join forces Oct. 18-20 in Elkhart Lake to find better ways to serve youth and their families involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Read the full article at WisPolitics.com.
Two non-Indian parents filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the state of Minnesota from transferring Indian child custody cases to tribes. Read the full article at Indianz.com.
Research and data from states tell us that American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children are disproportionately represented (or overrepresented) in the child welfare system nationwide, especially in foster care. This means that higher percentages of AI/AN children are found in the child welfare system than in the general population. The overrepresentation of AI/AN children often starts … Read more
Bonnie Littlesun is raising eight children, all but one of whom are her grandkids, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “They’re crazy,” she said, laughing. It was midmorning and she had a brief break while her grandbaby slept and the others were at school. The kids range in age from 13 months to … Read more
The North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Child Support Division recently received the 2017 Partnership Award from the National Tribal Child Support Association for its collaboration with tribal child support programs in accessing federal offset payments that support tribal children and families. “Partnerships with other jurisdictions are vital in child support. Borders shouldn’t be barriers … Read more
Margaret Jacobs, professor of history and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, won the Bancroft Prize for her book White Mother to a Dark Race, an investigation of the U.S. and Australian policies of breaking up indigenous families and removing children to be raised in boarding schools … Read more
The number of lawsuits alleging Mormon church leaders failed to protect children from sexual abuse has grown to include two more Navajos and a member of the Crow Tribe. Thousands of American Indian children, most of whom were Navajo, participated in a now-defunct church-run foster program from the late 1940s until around 2000. The program … Read more
“So they turned to this policy of trying to close down the boarding schools and they turned toward a policy of trying to turn over the education and care of Indian children to the states,” says Jacobs. While there were some American Indians working for the BIA in the ‘50s and some sympathy to the … Read more
The seventh annual Indian Child Welfare Act Conference is scheduled Thursday at the Silver Star Convention Center at Choctaw. Tribal leaders and as many as 200 attorneys, judges, social workers and other professionals who deal with Native American children in a youth court setting are expected to attend the conference. Read the full article at the … Read more
Under the Indian Child Welfare Act, parental rights can only be severed if it is found beyond a reasonable doubt that the children are at severe risk of harm. Testimony to this fact must come from expert witnesses, and under tribal law, it must be proven that an effort was made to keep children with … Read more
TAHLEQUAH — The Cherokee Nation announced a new foster care paid leave policy that is the first of its kind in Indian Country, and also one of the first in the state of Oklahoma, according to a news release. The new policy announced at the 2017 Cherokee Nation Employee Appreciation Day grants Cherokee Nation full-time … Read more
AKWESASNE — The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council and New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance have signed a historic agreement to cooperate in providing child support services. The tribe’s Child Support Enforcement Unit became the first comprehensive tribal child support unit in New York in April 2014 and is also the only … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Notice Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website. Related News Story: Colorado Court of Appeals: dependency and neglect court should have followed ICWA’s notice requirements (Legal Connection) 3/31/17
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Application Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Cloaking its efforts in the language of civil rights, Goldwater has launched a coordinated attack against ICWA alongside evangelical and anti-Indian-sovereignty groups, adoption advocates, and conservative organizations like the Cato Institute. Since 2015, Goldwater has litigated four state or federal cases against ICWA, and filed several briefs in support of other cases. Goldwater’s stated goal … Read more
Butte County State’s Attorney Cassie Wendt presented to the Butte County Commission during its March 21 meeting, delineating to the commission the county’s rise in Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases and the added expense the county has shouldered in recent months. Read the full article at the Black Hills Pioneer website.
On appeal, A.T. contended that the order should be reversed because the Department did not comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) notice requirements. First, when there is “reason to know” the child is an Indian child, the juvenile court must ensure that the Department sends notice to any identified Indian Tribe. Second, the … Read more
This past Monday morning (March 13) in a courtroom in Alameda County I witnessed three non-Native attorneys and a non-Native judge make the decision to end reunification and move towards terminating Allen Kepa’s parental rights. It was a broken day for Native American children and Native American Parents. The Honorable Judge Ursula Jones spoke about … Read more
March 17 – Yesterday, the federal District Court for the District of Arizona dismissed A.D. v. Washburn, a case brought by the Goldwater Institute challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act’s (ICWA) application to Native children in the Arizona foster care system. This case was an attempt by a special interest group to dismantle the law … Read more
On January 22, 1818, the House Committee on Indian Affairs reported that Indian children “will grow up in habits of morality and industry…and become useful members of society” if they are given ‘the primer…the hoe…”and the Bible. By 1879 off-reservation schools were created to separate Indian children from their families, culture, language, sacred history, and … Read more
One might be surprised to know that the removal of Indian children from their families is still going strong, seemingly unabated. For example, in Pennington County, South Dakota, the state has removed more than 1,000 children from their Native American families since 2010. A 2013 class action lawsuit and a 2015 validation by Chief Federal … Read more
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) has selected the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Child Dependency Court as one of six new courts to join their Implementation Sites Project, which helps to improve outcomes for abused and neglected children and their families. Read the full article at … Read more
In March 2015, Chief Federal District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Viken confirmed what our complaint had alleged: State employees were removing children from their homes and then holding hearings in state court within 48 hours, in which parents were not assigned counsel to represent them, were not given a copy of the petition accusing them … Read more
The Capacity Building Center of Tribes has just published a new 8 page ICWA Guide for Tribal Governments and Leaders. Read the announcement here. Download the guide.
The Indian Child Welfare and Wellness Conference will be held Feb. 22-24 at the Baymont Inn and Suites in Mandan. The Native American Training Institute will host the 16th annual conference, which will cover child welfare issues, juvenile justice, cultural and tribal relations, as well as child behavioral health. Read the full announcement at the … Read more
Two years ago, Tarnowski attended a training in Duluth given by the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues. Stories of historical trauma that have helped lead to that disparity, and also what led to the creation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, were shared, Tarnowski said, creating “a little fire in … Read more
With the number of American Indian children in Minnesota foster care reaching “unacceptable” levels, the state pledged Thursday to spend $400,000 over the next three years to reduce those numbers. The announcement comes after a Star Tribune report found that Minnesota has more Indian children in foster care than any other state, including those with … Read more
South Dakota and Pennington County officials filed an appeal Friday challenging U.S. District Court rulings that ordered changes in their handling of temporary custody hearings involving Native American children. Read the full article at the Rapid City Journal website. Read a related article at the Native Sun News website.
In a case that has national implications for how state courts are supposed to conduct 48-hour custody hearings involving Native American children a federal judge has given one county in South Dakota very specific guidelines for how to conduct themselves. Read the full article at the Indianz.com website.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a foster family’s challenge to the adoption of their former foster daughter under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the full article at the ABA [American Bar Association] Journal website.
South Dakota and Pennington County officials must make changes in their handling of temporary custody hearings involving Native American children as the result of judgments issued Thursday by the U.S. District Court. Read the full article at the Rapid City Journal website.
UMD’s Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies, which is part of the Department of Social Work, will serve as the grant’s lead organization and will work with six other organizations including courts, child welfare agencies, and tribes, to determine the most successful methods to help children and families. Read the full announcement at … Read more
“The important thing to remember is that you’re not saving these children,” Walksalong said. “You’re helping them.” Walksalong began in October working as CASA’s Indian Child Welfare Act program coordinator. Part of her job is helping programs like the Center for Children and Families and Child and Family Services, understand the cultural background of Native American … Read more
Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website. Synopsis from Westlaw: County children and family services agency filed petition against mother and father to terminate their parental rights to minor children, who potentially had Indian heritage. Following hearing, the Superior Court, Mendocino County, Nos. SCUK-JVSQ-14-1702501 and SCUK-JVSQ-14-1702601, David Riemenschneider, J., found both … Read more
Utah tribal leaders gathered in the community of Wendover, Utah to discuss issues that would affect tribes at the state and national level, such as the Indian Child Welfare Act and voting issues that includes inefficient polling sites and a lack of language interpreters to aid non-English speaking Navajo people in San Juan County, Utah. … Read more
State and federal law protect the rights of Native American children even when one of their parents is not Indian. That’s the word today from the Washington state Supreme Court. Read the full article at the NW News Network website.
The children have recovered from their injuries, but they now are innocent victims of a custody battle that pits their relatives in Visalia, Calif., against relatives in the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians in Placerville, Calif. The case in U.S. District Court in Sacramento is being closely watched because a federal judge has ruled … Read more
The University of North Dakota Department of Social Work has received a $2.4-million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support implementation and evaluation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in North Dakota over the next five years. UND is partnering in this grant with the Children and Family Services … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: County child welfare agency filed dependency petition as to two daughters. The Superior Court, Los Angeles County, No. DK02646, Zeke D. Zeidler, J., terminated parental rights and transferred care, custody, and control of the daughters to the county child welfare agency for adoptive planning and placement. Mother appealed. Holding provided by … Read more
Local Native American tribes are creating their own child foster care system in response to problems statewide in implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act, put in place to ensure native children are placed in Tribal homes. The Yurok Tribe and Tolowa Dee-ni Nation are developing a Title IV-E program that would allow them federal funding … Read more
The tribes, represented by Alaska Legal Services Corp., had alleged defendants North Star Behavioral Health Center and Christy Lawton, director of the Alaska Office Children’s Services, had improperly warehoused foster children at the [psychicatric hospital] facility for indefinite periods of time. Read the full article at the Alaska Dispatch News website.
The case has angered many within the American Indian adult adoptee community, who believe the law should be upheld and strengthened. Their protest on Friday is one of many protests across the country as the litigation moves forward. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today Media Network website.
The issuances by the Department of the Interior of non-binding guidelines in 2015 and of legislative rules in 2016 are opportunities for states to promptly examine their current practices and standards and voluntarily adopt the guidelines and regulations as enforceable state requirements. New York State is an example of a state that has evidenced support … Read more
Title: Case comment: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 133 S.Ct. 2552 (2013) Author: Akpan, Anietie Maureen-Ann Source: 6 Colum. J. Race & L. 1 (2016) This Comment discusses the 2013 United States Supreme Court case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, which involved an unwed Cherokee father’s (Petitioner) journey to regaining custody of his child, … Read more
The courts in California have determined that the 1978 law applies to a Choctaw Nation girl who has been placed with relatives in Utah. But a non-Indian couple — aided by an attorney who has tried to weaken ICWA — has insisted on fighting. The battle will continue after the California Supreme Court on Thursday … Read more
Targeted News Service 2016/09/09 WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 — The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the Department of Health and Human Services assistance to tribes in implementing the another planned permanent livin… Read the article here. Read the report here.
The Indian Child Welfare act is a unique piece of legislation that governs the settlement of family law cases for children of Native American descent. Critics allege, however, that its definition of who counts as a Native American, as well as several other aspects of the law, can often work against children’s best interests. The … Read more
The state of South Dakota has been violating the due process rights of Indian parents and a provision of the Indian Child Welfare Act for decades ruled a federal judge last year and continues to violate them. Read more at the Indianz.com website.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s death impacts Indian country in dramatic ways. Last term, the most critical tribal court jurisdiction appeal to hit the Supreme Court of the United States in decades was affirmed by a 4-4 tie in favor of tribal jurisdiction. The court declined certiorari in a pair of tribal labor relations cases where there was a gaping circuit split, possibly … Read more
Although the proceeding only involved one child, it’s being closely watched because the non-Indian foster couple is being represented by the Goldwater Institute. The conservative-leaning organization, which is based in Arizona, has launched a public relations and legal campaign aimed at undermining and even invalidating the landmark Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the full article … Read more
Minnesota has more American Indian children in foster care than any other state, including those with significantly larger Indian populations, according to a Star Tribune analysis of federal and state data. Less than 2 percent of children in Minnesota are Indian, but they make up nearly a quarter of the state’s foster care population — … Read more
When it was first passed into federal law nearly 40 years ago, the Indian Child Welfare Act was a beacon of hope for many in the Native American community who considered the legislation a civil rights victory. But a lack of compliance from child welfare agencies has led a tribal task force in California to find that neither the … Read more
Interior Secretary Says Changes To Indian Child Welfare Act ‘Close Loopholes.’ Oregon Public Broadcasting. June 10, 2016. BIA announces final ICWA rule revisions. Native Times. June 9, 2010. Breaking: BIA Publishes Final ICWA Rule. Indian Country Today. June 8, 2010. Judges must ask about youths’ tribal status under new rule. Salon.com (AP). June 8, 2016.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a measure meant to bolster protections for Native American children placed into the tribal foster care system. The law, which comes years after serious flaws were uncovered in the child welfare system of a Native American tribe in North Dakota, requires background checks … Read more
Title: What is Measured is What is Done: Methods to Measure Compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act. Author: Williams, Jason R. et al. Cite: 4 American Indian Law Journal 502 (2016) Enacted more than three and a half decades ago, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA or “Act”) of 1978 is one of the … Read more
Grant Posted April 29, 2016 Funding Opportunity Title: Standing Announcement for Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants Full Grant Information at Grants.Gov. The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to solicit proposals for one-time grants to tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal consortia that are seeking to develop and, within 24 months of grant … Read more
Woodbury County has too few foster homes to care for a steady population of Native American children, a state panel heard Friday. Read the full article at the Sioux City Journal website. Read a related article at the SFGate website.
A judge in South Dakota has agreed to pay $50,000 in sanctions in an Indian Child Welfare Act case. Judge Jeff Davis did not admit to “concealing” information sought by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, two of the plaintiffs in the case. But he agreed to pay attorney’s fees for failing … Read more
In the United States, Native American children were torn from their tribes and families and forced to assimilate into white culture for decades. The upcoming documentary “Dawnland” explores the harm these policies created and how some of these practices still persist today. Watch the trailer at the Business Insider website.
Tester’s bill, the Tribal Youth and Community Protection Act, will reestablish the ability for tribes to arrest and prosecute any offender for drug related crimes, domestic violence against children, and crimes committed against tribal law enforcement officers. “Tribal communities must have every tool they need to protect themselves from folks who traffic illegal drugs and … Read more
This is a critical time for Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), our nation’s keystone federal law protecting Indian children. As you’ve already heard this morning and will hear more about during the conference, there is a lot of exciting activity in this area, at the federal, state and tribal level. Federal engagement is at unprecedented levels. But … Read more
In a major decision on child support, the Alaska Supreme Court stopped a Parnell administration effort against tribal rights that lingered during Gov. Bill Walker’s reign. The court ruled unanimously Friday in a case going back to the beginning of the decade that tribes have authority over child support. The court directed the state to enforce … Read more
The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) is disheartened by some of the mainstream reporting on the recent adoption case involving a Choctaw Nation child and a non-Native adoptive couple in Los Angeles County. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today Media Network website.
A California couple’s fight to reunite with a 6-year-old foster child who was taken from their home last week because she is 1/64th Choctaw Native American has cast a spotlight on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law has been long hailed as a protective tool for Native American communities by some and criticized as … Read more
The Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) at the University of South Dakota School of Law will hold its Indian law symposium March 30-31 entitled “The Indian Child Welfare Act: Old and New Challenges.” The free event in the law school courtroom is open to the public. Find more information at the University of South … Read more
On Monday, March 21, pandemonium broke out in Santa Clarita, California, at the home of foster couple Summer and Russell Page as social workers from the Department of Children and Family Services arrived to pick up a 6-year-old girl who was being held by the couple in defiance of a court ordering her returned to … Read more
On Friday, February 19, Viken denied South Dakota’s motion to reconsider a prior decision, holding that the state violated the ICWA and denied Native parents their constitutional rights. Read the full article at the People’s World website.
When children are taken out of their homes due to neglect or abuse, they’re under the responsibility and jurisdiction of the State Office of Children’s Services. Now, through an agreement signed Wednesday night at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall between the State of Alaska and Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, … Read more
A Federal Register Notice by the Indian Affairs Bureau made on 3/02/16. The regulations implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act provide that Indian tribes may designate an agent other than the tribal chairman for service of notice of proceedings under the Act. This notice includes the current list of designated tribal agents for service of … Read more
Citing a “fundamental lack of competence,” a federal judge on Friday, February 19 denied South Dakota’s motion to reconsider an earlier decision, which found the state violated the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and denied Indian parents their Constitutional rights. In March 2015, Judge Jeffrey Viken issued a partial summary judgment in favor of the … Read more
From the National Indian Child Welfare Association: On February 12, 2016, the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced two tribal consultation calls regarding a new round of Title IV-E Foster Care program development grants. Title IV-E funds placement activities related to foster care, relative guardianship, adoption, and independent living services. … Read more
America’s multibillion-dollar adoption industry and its allies seek to undermine ICWA’s enforcement by filing lawsuits they hope to take to the Supreme Court. If successful, the lawsuits would deny tribes of their right — and their duty — to look after the welfare of their children. Read the full letter from Chief Baker at the … Read more
A federal judge on Friday questioned the legality of statutes that give tribal courts the right to decide adoption and foster care placement of Native American children who have never lived on the reservation. Read more at the Verde Independent website.
Rucinski & Reetz Communication unveiled last week its video titled “Missing Threads: The Story of the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act.” The hour-long documentary represents nearly three years of work and “explores the connection between family, tribal culture and children, and the consequences of severing those ties,” said Susan Reetz, a partner in the communication firm. Read … Read more
On Thursday a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a suit challenging both the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the new federal guidelines that were implemented last February by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, citing a lack of subject matter jurisdiction and standing in the case. Read the full … Read more
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officers escorted two children off an American Indian reservation in Montana where their grandmother brought them amid a custody dispute, bringing the federal government into a clash between state and tribal courts. Read the full story at the ABC News website.
Tekamuk Training and Events, a wholly-owned enterprise of the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians, has joined forces with Columbia Law School, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), and the National American Indian Judges Association to present the Indian Child Welfare Summit, a major national conference on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), December 7-9 … Read more
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — An organization designed to improve links between tribal, state and federal courts is focusing on American Indian child welfare and domestic violence crimes during a two-day gathering. Read more about last week’s meeting at the San Francisco Gate website and the Michigan Lawyers Weekly website.
Wyandotte Nation hosted all nine Oklahoma Indian nations for a workshop to recruit native families to become foster families for native children. Read more at the KOAM-TV website.
Two children who were disenrolled by the Pala Band of Mission Indians cannot be protected by the Indian Child Welfare Act, a California appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The tribe formally objected in July 2009 when K.P. and Kristopher were put up for adoption. Their mother, Michelle T., is enrolled. But sometime during … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: After Office of Children’s Services (OCS) took three minor children into emergency custody, a standing master determined that no probable cause existed and recommended that children be returned to mother’s custody. Following remand from the Supreme Court, 2014 WL 1888190, the Superior Court, Fourth Judicial District, Aniak, Douglas Blankenship, J., rejected … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Termination of Parental Rights, Drug Abuse Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Father appealed from decision of the Juvenile Court, Cass County, East Central Judicial District, Susan J. Solheim, Judicial Referee, terminating his parental rights. Holdings provided by Westlaw: The Supreme Court, Kapsner, J., held that: (1) juvenile court’s finding that the conditions and causes of child’s deprivation were likely to continue was … Read more
The failure to protect children has a damaging impact on the quality of life on Indian reservations. Native youth are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of abuse or neglect than youth of other ethnicities. Children exposed to violence are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol and suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic … Read more
The [American Bar Association] ABA is urging Congress to follow the recommendations of recent reports by the U.S. Justice Department and the Indian Law and Order Commission that call for giving American Indian and Alaska Native tribes more authority to exercise criminal jurisdiction and apply their own remedies in cases that occur on tribal lands, … Read more
In court filings Friday, attorneys for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the state Department of Child Safety federal agency acknowledged the Indian Child Welfare Act does require state courts when placing Indian children for adoption to give preference to a member of the child’s extended family. That is followed by priority by other members … Read more
HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance awarded $1.8 million to eight tribes and tribal organizations in Alaska, Montana, California and Washington to help strengthen vulnerable families through the tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) child welfare coordination grants. The grants fund tribes to demonstrate models of effective coordination between tribal … Read more
For nearly four decades, couples wishing to adopt American Indian children out of troubled situations have faced several hurdles, including giving the child’s tribe a chance to find suitable tribal parents first. Now some prospective adoptive parents, Indian birthparents and members of the adoption industry are challenging the laws and regulations involved. Read the excerpt … Read more
This annual conference will include the following tracks: Data and Research: Learn about current research in the fields of Indian child welfare, children’s mental health, and youth development. Learn how to use and share data. Child Welfare, Foster Care, and Adoption Services: From grant writing for child welfare programs to implementing differential response and identifying … Read more
The Pala Band of Mission Indians is the first tribe in California to receive clearance to conduct LiveScan background checks for tribal foster homes under new State law (Senate Bill 1460). The tribe is also the first to apply to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) program, Purpose Code X, to … Read more
The Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona and the National Indian Child Welfare Association have released a report detailing the second part of a study on tribal welfare codes designed to protect children and youth…. Based on the study’s findings, the team affirms that: · To help protect children from abuse and neglect, … Read more
Oct. 1, 2015. Keeping tribal children in their tribal communities is the solution to improving regional child welfare, according to a Tribal-State Child Welfare panel yesterday during the Association of Village Council Presidents 51st Annual Convention at the Bethel Cultural Center. Read the full article at the Alaska Public Media website.
From the website of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation; Office of the Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services: Fourteen tribes and tribal organizations received demonstration grants from the Office of Family Assistance for Coordination of Tribal TANF and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families in 2011. The … Read more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the tribe a $300,000 grant to create an independent tribal-run family services program for enrolled Omaha members. “We know what’s best for our children and our youth,” Omaha Tribal Council Chairman Vernon Miller said Thursday. “The federal government recognizes that.” Read the full … Read more
Race is ugly business. The business of race can be seen in the higher rates of incarceration of black Americans. It is in the higher rates black Americans and Native Americans are killed by law enforcement. It is an aspect of our existence that we created, and one that has no basis in fact. George … Read more
When we talk about “blood-stained” laws, we should talk about the history of the treatment of Native Americans: laws of genocide, sterilization, forced removal and assimilation; compulsory boarding schools; underfunding of critical health care; and a trail of broken promises. Read the full letter at the Washington Post website. And a related Letter to the … Read more
By treating children, however attenuated or imaginary their Indian ancestry, as little trophies for tribal power, the ICWA discourages adoptions by parents who see only children, not pawns of identity politics. The Goldwater Institute hopes to establish the right of Indian children to be treated as all other children are, rather than as subordinate to … Read more
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Cherokee Country is a local volunteer program that recruits and trains community volunteers to serve as advocates for abused and neglected children in juvenile deprived proceedings, an volunteers are greatly needed….CASA volunteer child advocate training will be offered to individuals age 21 or older in October. Certification will be … Read more
Aug. 19, 2015 – Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced a new Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) program to assist federally recognized tribal social services agencies seeking to place children in safe homes. Read the full press release at the U.S. Department of the Interior website. The Bureau … Read more
Aug. 4, 2015 – Senator Jon Tester, a former teacher and Vice Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, today is introducing a bill that will help recruit and retain more teachers in Indian Country to eliminate the teacher shortage that is widening the achievement gap for Native American students. See the full press release at … Read more
On August 4, 2015, the American Bar Association House of Delegates unanimously adopted Resolution 113, which adopts and urges prompt implementation by the Administration, Congress, and state and tribal governments of specific recommendations contained in the November 2014 report of the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence… Read … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: The Department of Health and Human Services initiated child protection proceedings with regard to mother’s child. The District Court, Portland, Powers, J., entered judgment terminating mother’s parental rights. Mother appealed. Holdings provided by Westlaw: The Supreme Judicial Court held that: (1) the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) did not apply to … Read more
September 11, 2015 (White Cloud, KS): 14th Annual Native Nations Law Symposium. The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska presents the 14th annual Native Nations Law Symposium. The symposium includes an overview on the Indian Child Welfare Act – Revised Bureau of Indian Affairs Guidelines for State Courts & Agencies. Learn … Read more
This must-attend conference will address the past, present and future of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, emphasizing the need for education, reform and implementation of the Act. Tribal leaders, tribal members and professionals in the legal field will benefit from this comprehensive conference. Learn more at the Mesa Grand Band of Mission Indians … Read more
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2015 Kids Count report found that nearly 22 percent of children nationwide were living in poverty in 2013, compared with 18 percent in 2008. The poverty rates, families of four living on $23,624 a year, nearly doubled among black and American Indian children, with the biggest problems in the Southwest … Read more
The announcement of A.D., et al. v. Washburn by the conservative group known as the Goldwater Institute comes with a bitter deja vu of “haven’t we heard this before?” I’ve got a few things that I can say are wrong with the pleadings filed by Goldwater on behalf of minor American Indian children, “next friend,” and … Read more
“We want to spend a moment to celebrate the successful reunification of families in foster care and honor the professionals who work in this field,” Sankaran began. “This is one of many celebrations across the country but the only one in the state. We are proud as a community to put together this event and … Read more
More than 1,000 Native American children gathered Thursday for the first-ever Tribal Youth Gathering at the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama called them precious and sacred members of society. “Each of you was put on this Earth for a reason. Each of you has something that you’re destined to do, whether that’s raising a beautiful family, whether that’s … Read more
“At this point it is pretty clear that anti-ICWA advocates, who primarily represent adoption interests, have started a coordinated attack on ICWA,” said Kate Fort, Staff Attorney and Adjunct Professor for the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University College of Law. “They are looking for cases of opportunity in courts across the … Read more
Title: Tribal rights, South Dakota class action highlights violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act Author: Laird, Lorelei Blue book cite: 101-MAY A.B.A. J. 15 (May 2015)
What: Press conference announcing anti-ICWA lawsuit and campaign When: Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 9:00 a.m. Pacific time Where: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoldwaterInstitute Who: Goldwater Institute representatives From the press release: Goldwater Institute to File Class Action Lawsuit Against Indian Child Welfare Act Phoenix—Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 7, the Goldwater Institute will launch a new project to reform the Indian Child … Read more
The final report of the Maine Wabanaki‑State Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was released at a closing ceremony on June 14 in Hermon. In their letter in the final report, the five commissioners… state that to improve Native child welfare, Maine and the tribes must continue to confront underlying racism still found in state institutions … Read more
Senator Jon Tester, Vice-Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, today held a committee hearing on efforts to prevent youth suicide in Indian Country. During the hearing, Tester heard from administration and tribal leaders about the lack of resources accessible to Native American youth struggling with mental health issues. Read the full press-release at Jon Tester’s … Read more
For more than a century, the governments of Canada and the United States pursued a policy of forcible removal of indigenous children from their homes and communities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada recently released a report on these removal practices, recognizing them to be part of a policy of “cultural genocide.” On June … Read more
The organizations will work together to provide early childhood training for teachers and service providers in underserved rural Native American communities…. The program will impact more than 660 Native families and their children across six tribal nations. Read the full article at the PR Newswire website.
Congress has before it several pieces of legislation that could have major impacts on the education of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children. The bills include exemption from budget cuts, Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act, Native American Languages Reauthorization Act, Building up Unique Indian Learning, Native Hawaiian Education Reauthorization Act, Native American … Read more
A local Native American couple wishing to place their newborn with a non-native family has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota’s adoption law, which they say could hinder their ability to make that decision. Read the full article at the Duluth News Tribune website.
Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, praised the Senate’s passage of S. 184, the Native American Children’s Safety Act and S. 246, the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act. Read the press release from the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Highlights of the Native … Read more
The same critics of ICWA that assert that ICWA far exceeds its original purpose; do not understand that ICWA is the only federal law that requires a fair process that considers the unique needs of Indian families and children, and requires consideration by state and private child welfare agencies and courts. Read the full piece … Read more
The Turtle Talk blog has posted the legal complaint filed by the National Council for Adoption on May 27, 2015 regarding the new Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Child Welfare Act Guidelines. See a copy of the court filing at the Turtle Talk website.
A husband-wife team from two Washington, D.C., law offices filed suit Wednesday challenging strict new government guidelines for adopting Native American children in the aftermath of a landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Read the full article a the National Law Journal website.
Throughout the day, one after the other, witnesses on both sides had pulled back and forth in a tug-of-war regarding perhaps the most seminal issue confronting American Indian tribes in the 21st century: The right to raise their own children in their home communities. The debates at the public hearings reopened old grievances and unhealed … Read more
Chief Justice David Gilbertson issued an order this week removing Judge Jeff Davis as presiding judge of the 7th Circuit, a position the 67-year-old Davis had held since 2006. Read the full article at the Capital Journal website.
These proposed regulations will provide much needed guidance and consistency in state court proceedings involving Indian children. These regulations, supported as they are by ICWA and the great weight of federal Indian law, provide balance and clarity between competing interests, and are well within the authority of the Department of the Interior to promulgate. Read … Read more
U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., will be chairing a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing Thursday to examine the federal government’s mismanagement of Native American schools, including in northern Minnesota, according to a release from his office. Read the full article at the Bemidji Pioneer website.
[G]rants ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 per fiscal year are available for federally recognized tribes and their education departments. The grants are designed to help tribes assume control of Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools in their communities, promote tribal education capacity, and provide academically rigorous and culturally appropriate education to Indian students on their … Read more
They come to Pine Ridge every few years, these suicide epidemics, with varying degrees of national media attention and local soul-searching. What the news media often misses though, and what tribal members understand but rarely discuss above a whisper, is that youth suicides here are inextricably linked to a multigenerational scourge of sexual abuse, with … Read more
The nation’s largest constituent group of adoption attorneys, law professors and judges submitted a 45-page response to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) concerning the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law established in 1978. The BIA announced earlier this year its attempt to amend the federal law. The AAAA’s formal response outlines a … Read more
“The first week of hearings and consultations demonstrated a tremendous groundswell of support in Indian Country,” said Dr. Sarah Kastelic. “It’s exciting to see the momentum created by such a diverse cross section of our communities. Foster and adoptive parents, Native adoptees, foster youth, attorneys and law professors, child psychologists, families still searching for displaced … Read more
May 13th, 2015. The Lakota People’s Law Project released a 35-page report today that reveals how private institutions and their cozy relationships with those in the highest seats of power in South Dakota are responsible for the daily violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the systemic human rights abuses against the Lakota population … Read more
A South Dakota state judge and other defendants have filed motions requesting a federal judge reconsider his ruling in which he found state officials in Rapid City set policies that violate the federal Indian Child Act Welfare Act. Read the full article at the Seattle PI website. See related article, “Circuit judge and others claim federal … Read more
Four South Dakota tribes have applied for federal planning grants to help establish their own child and family services programs. Read more at the Rapid City Journal website.
Today, the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing to discuss the educational challenges impacting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students and schools. The hearing entitled “Examining the Challenges Facing Native American Schools” is the first hearing exploring this topic since 2008. Read the full press release at the Committee … Read more
There were more than a few teary eyes in the governor’s conference room on Thursday, when Gov. Bill Walker announced plans for a significant overhaul to Alaska’s adoption process for Alaska Native children. The move comes after a high-profile Alaska Supreme Court case added potentially impossible-to-clear hurdles to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act’s provisions … Read more
“With the Indian Child Welfare Act, we can look at the glass as half-empty or half-full,” said Dr. Diane Hammons, assistant professor of criminal justice at NSU. “We can say we’ve made strides and come a long way, or we can say there is still a lot of work to be done. There are a … Read more
Washington tribes and the country’s largest group representing Native Americans are asking for state and federal help in getting background checks when a tribe needs to place a child with a foster parent in an emergency situation. The state’s Children’s Administration, a division of the Department of Social and Health Services, had conducted the criminal … Read more
On Monday, March 30 a federal judge issued a landmark decision affirming that officials in South Dakota violated numerous provisions in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and denied Indian parents their rights under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. Referencing widespread and systemic failure to protect the integrity of Indian families, Judge Jeffrey … Read more
The federal funding [to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota] will support Early Head Start and Head Start programs as the tribe works to improve its governance, children’s health and safety and provide comprehensive early education services to improve school readiness for American Indian children, according to a news release. The funds will … Read more
Gov. Doug Ducey has signed a bill that makes all children living on Indian reservations qualified for private school vouchers. Learn more at the Education Week website.
The USDA says the tribe will help feed children through the At-Risk Children’s Feeding Program on the campus of the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in Ada. A child who is examined or has a routine appointment at the medical center is provided a nutritious, healthy meal if the child is hungry. Learn more at the … Read more
“The federal government’s unwillingness to hear from those groups who have been in the field for many years working directly with those families and children who will be negatively impacted by these guidelines is alarming,” said [American Academy of Adoption Attorneys President] Goldheim. “As a nonprofit organization comprised of child welfare experts, we are committed … Read more
The federal government and the state of Michigan show concern over potential separation of Indian children from their families and tribes through the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act (MIFPA), which include adoptive placement preference requirements for individuals seeking to adopt Indian children. Those laws again came into play … Read more
March 23, 2015, WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today reintroduced her bipartisan bill to ease the financial challenges of adopting children in tribal communities in North Dakota and across the country. In all 50 states, parents who adopt children with special needs are able to claim the full adoption tax credit, helping to … Read more
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) held a public meeting on tribal lands today at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. The focus of the meeting was for Commission members to explore key issues related to addressing and preventing child abuse and neglect fatalities … Read more
The Department of the Interior will be conducting tribal consultations and public meetings on the proposed rule through May 2015 to facilitate input and comment on the proposed rule. Meeting times and dates are listed below. The proposed regulations can be found at http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OIS/HumanServices/IndianChildWelfareAct/index.htm Comments can be submitted via any of the following methods: • … Read more
When the federal government opened foster-care assistance to Native American tribes in 2008, more than 80 expressed interest in the program. By 2014, however, just 27 tribes had applied and only five had been approved for the federal program, their efforts hobbled by a lack of resources, inflexibility by federal bureaucrats and cultural insensitivity, according … Read more
“The state has requested an additional 30-day extension because the administration needs additional time to determine its response to the issues raised in the petition and the amicus brief,” Jacqueline Schaffer, an assistant attorney general with the Alaska Department of Law, told KNBA. Read the March 18 article at the Indianz.com website. Related links: March … Read more
The class action lawsuit, which involves the first 48 hours after an Indian child is taken from his or her family, alleges the State of South Dakota regularly violates the Constitutional Rights of Indian parents and provision 1922 of the Indian Child Welfare Act during the “show cause” hearing. The case, OST et. al vs … Read more
In a speech at the 2015 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference today about the extent of childhood hunger in America and the impact of USDA programs on reducing food insecurity, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more than $27 million in grants to fund innovative projects designed help end childhood hunger. The announcement was part of USDA … Read more
Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken delayed a ruling on whether … 7th Circuit Judge Jeff Davis, of Rapid City, would have to turn over records of his discussions with other 7th Circuit judges…. Viken’s ultimate decision may be a key ruling in the 2-year-old lawsuit brought by the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes and … Read more
A major development in tribal child welfare policy was announced on February 25, 2015. The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced that it had revised–effective immediately–the Guidelines for State Courts and Agencies in Indian Child Custody Proceedings for the first time since 1979. NICWA is hosting a free webinar on Friday, March 13, 2015, at 10 … Read more
Since the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978, there has been increasing movement to enhance state policy to support ICWA and address several of the challenges to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children’s well-being. The efforts that have proven most successful have been initiated by tribal governments and AI/AN Indian … Read more
Legal Topics: Indian Child Welfare Act – Placement Read the full decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
The updated guidelines, said Washburn, will provide much-needed clarity and comprehensive direction in for [sic] determining whether a child is an Indian child, identifying the child’s tribe, and notifying its parent and tribe as early as possible before determining placement. Further, they will provide clear instruction on the application of “active efforts” to prevent the … Read more
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has updated the Guidelines for State Courts and Services in Indian Child Custody Proceedings. These updated guidelines provide guidance to State courts and child welfare agencies implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act’s (ICWA) provisions in light of written and oral comments received during a review of the Bureau of Indian … Read more
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is visiting with American Indian youth to get their thoughts on how federal policy can improve their lives. The visits Tuesday to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Gila River reservation mark the start of a Native youth listening tour… Read the full AP article.
JUNEAU, Alaska – Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Dana Fabe stressed the importance of collaboration with tribal courts and the need to maintain rural access to the court system during her annual address to lawmakers… Read the full article at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner website.
Genocide is not too strong a term for what is now happening in South Dakota. The huge, shocking violation of legal and human rights being carried out by the state is tantamount to genocide against the Native American nations, the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Sioux, residing within its borders. It is the abduction and kidnapping … Read more
WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has approved the Native American Children’s Safety Act, legislation he authored to implement protections for Native American children placed by tribal courts into the tribal foster care system. Read the full press release at Senator Hoeven’s website.
U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), recently re-introduced their comprehensive bi-partisan plan to find solutions to the complex challenges facing Native American children throughout Indian country. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today website.
Every parent of color hopes that their children will grow up without exposure to the brutality of racism and other forms of social injustice. That is the promise we hold when we give birth to them and first grasp their tiny hands and look into their eyes as parents. Few parents of color, however, are … Read more
The Cherokee Nation recently donated $15,000 to the Murrow Indian Children’s Home in Muskogee to help the nonprofit provide essential care for Native youth. Read the full article on the Tahlequah Daily Press website.
The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota filed an Indian Child Welfare Act notice in a custody case in Omaha, Nebraska. Three Indian children are in temporary foster care after a three-year-old girl was found alone on the street… Read the article at Indianz website.
The Affordable Care Act provides funding for home-visiting programs to reduce health care disparities, despite limited evidence that existing programs can overcome implementation and evaluation challenges with at-risk populations. The authors report 36-month outcomes of the paraprofessional-delivered Family Spirit home-visiting intervention for American Indian teen mothers and children… Read the full article at PubMed website.
Enrollment in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation is based on descendancy only. A biological parent must be an enrolled member for the applicant to be eligible to become a Tribal citizen. The application process is very simple, but it must be filled out completely and a birth certificate is needed to confirm descendency. Copies are not … Read more
Four books dealing with Native history that were supposed to be introduced during the spring semester have been taken off the elementary-school curriculum in Juneau in the wake of concerns about their accuracy and sensitivity… Read the full article at Indian Country Today website.
President Obama’s budget request will include $1 billion for American Indian schools next year, including millions of dollars to renovate crumbling buildings and connect remote classrooms via broadband Internet… Read the full article at the Washington Post website.
A Seattle elementary school teacher and a University of Washington researcher testified Tuesday before Congress on the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, as lawmakers consider how to revise the framework for public… Read the full article at the SFGate website.
It has been eight years since a Republican Majority was elected to lead the United States Senate. No matter which party is in charge, the American people want action and solutions, not dysfunction. As Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, I am committed to a results-driven agenda focusing on enhancing tribal self-determination and self-governance. … Read more
It’s not by choice. The girl’s mother, Tricia Taylor, is accused of taking the child and her 7-year-old sister from Fargo last August to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Taylor w… Read the full story in the Grand Forks Herald.
U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., reintroduced a bill Thursday to address problems faced by Native American children. The bill, which has 22 supporters, would create a national Commission on Native Am… Read the full article in the Grand Forks Herald.
Brandon Indian Residential School students in 1946. (Library and s of Canada) Canada’s residential schools for aboriginal children were places of hunger, isolation and misery. Children as young as 3… Read the full article at the Washington Post website.
Hon. John Hoeven, R-N.D., has introduced legislation (S. 184) to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act to “require background checks before foster… Read the full article at Bloomberg BNA website.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the North Dakota Department of Human Services have signed an agreement to collaborate on child support services, the department announced Tuesday. The tribe began operating a child support program in 2013 funded by a federal start-up grant. Under the….. Read the full story at the Bismarck Tribune website.
The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) Board of Directors welcomed Sarah Kastelic as new executive director of the organization this week. Dr. Kastelic has served NICWA as both chief of staff and deputy director for the past four years. She assumes the role as part of a carefully designed succession and leadership transition plan. … Read more
From Casey Family Programs Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 1:00 p.m. ET Please save the date and join a webinar on January 21st introducing the Children’s Bureau’s new structure for delivering training and technical assistance. The Capacity Building Collaborative, a partnership of three centers, will serve Tribal and State child welfare agencies and Court Improvement Programs. … Read more
“This is preservation of our identity, that’s who we are,” said Angela Peters, interim director of language revitalization for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe. “Once we revitalize our language, we revitalize our cultural teachings.” Read the full story at the Port Huron Times-Herald website.
The chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has confirmed ancestry of a baby born earlier this month in Columbia and given to another family for possible adoption, a prominent Choctaw and former U.S. Senate candidate Matt Silverstein said in an interview last week… Read the full article at the Columbia Daily Herald website.
Two of the largest newspapers in the country are focusing today on justice — or lack of it — on Native American reservations in the Dakotas. First, the Washington Post is exploring child sexual abuse on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, where Charles Chipps Sr., a medicine man, has not yet … Read more
He was a world-famous medicine man, a traditional healer and spiritual leader. Followers would travel long distances to this tiny hamlet on the Great Plains to be in his presence and pray in the darkness with him in a sacred sweat lodge… Read the full article in the Washington Post.
In June of this year, President Barack Obama and the First Lady visited the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This was a historic visit. He was only the fourth sitting president… Read the full article at the Wahpeton News website.
Today, after the public apologies and restitution over the government’s residential school system, disproportionately high rates of aboriginal child apprehensions continue across Canada. “There are more First Nation children in care today than during the height of residential schools,” said Shawn Atleo, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. “We cannot lose another … Read more
“The Condition of Education for Members of Oregon’s Indian Tribes” was a study completed by ECONorthwest and the Chalkboard Project. The Spirit Mountain Community Fund paid for the study, which looked at students enrolled in seven of Oregon’s federally recognized tribes, including the Klamath Tribes. Read more about the report at the Herald and News … Read more
Tribes and race: the court’s missed opportunity in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. Deluzio, Christopher, 34 Pace L. Rev. 509-561 (Spring 2014) Part I of this article will provide an overview of the legal doctrines implicated in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. First, Part I will discuss both Indian Child Welfare Act’s text and purpose … Read more
The teach ICWA initiative: an action plan. González, Lizbeth, 86-APR N.Y. St. B.J. 31-32 (March/April 2014) Indian Child Welfare Act compliance protects Native traditions and families; noncompliance can have far-reaching and even tragic consequences. Consider these suggestions so you can play a greater role in increasing ICWA compliance within your local, state and national community… … Read more
The real meaning of ICWA noncompliance. González, Lizbeth, 86-APR N.Y. St. B.J. 29-30 (March/April 2014) During my tenure as Director of Legal Services of the American Indian Law Alliance, then located at the American Indian Community House in Manhattan, I represented several expatriated Native young adults. Their protracted attempts to reunite with their people had … Read more
Best interests of an Indian child. Herne, Peter J., 86-APR N.Y. St. B.J. 22-25 (March/April 2014) Family law treatises summarize New York’s “Best Interest of a Child” standard as follows: 1. Maintaining stability for the child(ren) 2. Child(ren’s) wishes 3. Home environment with each parent 4. Each parent’s past performance….. Read the full article here.
Why applying the Indian Child Welfare Act is worth the hassle. Kane, Julie Sobotta, 57-OCT AdvocateIdaho 28 (October 2014) After practicing for many years in the area of Indian Law, I often heard complaints about the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in child protection cases…. Read the full article here.
Adopting biology plus in federal Indian law: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl’s refashioning of ICWA’s framework. Fadia, Shreya A., 114 Colum. L. Rev. 2007-2044 (December 2014) This Note argues that the Supreme Court’s decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl creates an apparent tension in federal Indian law. The Court’s characterization of the broader aims … Read more
From kindergarten retention to high school graduation rates, education data show that American Indian and Alaskan Native students are faring the worst of all U.S. ethnic groups, according to a new White House report on Native youth. Read the full article at the EdSource website.
In any child custody proceeding involving Indian children, all parties should understand there are significant legal and procedural requirements that must be met before parental rights to Indian children may be terminated. The federal government and the State of Michigan show concern over potential separation of Indian children from their families and tribes through the Indian … Read more
At the conclusion of the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C. this month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder briefly outlined the plan to require more compliance with ICWA. “This federal initiative represents a long overdue recognition by the Department of Justice that, 38 years after Indian Child Welfare Act was enacted into law, … Read more
Pledging to fulfill a “sacred responsibility,” President Barack Obama unveiled an initiative Wednesday aimed at improving dire conditions and creating opportunities for American Indian youth, more than a third of whom live in poverty. Read the full article at the Huffington Post website. Read the president’s remarks, a related fact sheet and the 2014 Native … Read more
The removal of indigenous children from their cultures by colonial governments is recognized by the United Nations as a form of cultural genocide. The trauma is recognized, pervasive, and long term. Yet the practice continues in the United States despite federal laws designed to end it. It would seem that the routine removal of Native … Read more
Elise wanted her granddaughter, but after nearly six years in court fighting to assert her rights under federal law, time was not on her side. The Inupiaq elder, who has eight children and 26 grandchildren, had steadfastly refused to give up on a child whom she felt needed—and deserved—to be raised by her own family … Read more
Synopsis from Westlaw: Father filed emergency motion to modify custody after State initiated Child In Need of Aid (CINA) action against mother. Tribal council which had issued original custody order was permitted to intervene. The Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Andrew Guidi, J., awarded father primary physical custody. Council appealed. Holding from Westlaw: The … Read more
A Federal Register Notice by the Indian Affairs Bureau made on 12/04/2014. The regulations implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act provide that Indian tribes may designate an agent other than the tribal chairman for service of notice of proceedings under the Act. This notice includes the current list of designated tribal agents for service of … Read more
During his remarks on December 3, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new initiative to promote compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act : Under this important effort, we are working to actively identify state-court cases where the United States can file briefs opposing the unnecessary and illegal removal of Indian children from their … Read more
Around the country, juveniles on reservations are left to languish in cash-strapped facilities that cannot afford to provide the kind of rehabilitative services afforded to most young offenders in the United States. Because some reservations have no juvenile detention centers, offenders often are shipped to facilities far from their homes, compounding the isolation of incarceration. … Read more
Synopsis from Westlaw: In child protection case involving Indian child, the Circuit Court, Jackson County, Patricia Crain, J., entered order determining that Department of Human Services (DHS) made active efforts to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of an Indian family. Mother appealed. Holding from Westlaw: The Court of Appeals, … Read more
Synopsis from Westlaw: The Office of Children’s Services (OCS) petitioned to terminate mother’s parental rights to Indian child. The Superior Court, First Judicial District, Juneau, Louis J. Menendez, J., terminated parental rights. Mother appealed. Holdings from Westlaw: The Supreme Court, Fabe, C.J., held that: (1) counsel’s decision to enter into a stipulation as to psychiatrist’s … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Father appealed order of the District Court, Shawnee County, Jean M. Schmidt, J., terminating his parental rights. Holdings provided by Westlaw: The Court of Appeals, Leben, J., held that: (1) state sufficiently proved that it had complied with requirement of Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA); (2) clear and convincing evidence showed … Read more
Ensuring access to safe, good and affordable child care is crucial for helping to lift low-income parents out of poverty and build futures for their children. The child care bill signed on Wednesday by President Obama is a bipartisan step in the right direction, and it holds promise for further progress. Read the full article … Read more
A panel of Indian-country experts will recommend to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday that tribes be allowed to criminally prosecute non-Indians who sexually or physically abuse Native American children on tribal land, saying that juveniles on reservations are living with “dire” levels of violence and poverty. Read the full article at the … Read more
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that a lower juvenile court erred in failing to apply a federal law that seeks to prevent the removal of Native American children from their homes to a Nebraska case involving three Native American children. Read the full article at the Journal Star website. Read more about the lower … Read more
Nov. 12, 2014 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today awarded $3.9 million for outreach and enrollment efforts aimed at American Indian and Alaska Native children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The grant awards will fund activities to engage schools and tribal agencies in Medicaid and CHIP … Read more
The Washington Post reports: A panel of Indian-country experts will recommend to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday that tribes be allowed to criminally prosecute non-Indians who sexually or physically abuse Native American children on tribal land, saying that juveniles on reservations are living with “dire” levels of violence and poverty. See the … Read more
Synopsis: (from the opinion) “This consolidated child welfare dispute involves three dockets. In Docket No. 315510, respondent-mother, M. McCarrick, appeals of right the trial court’s March 13, 2013 order removing her three minor children from her home. In Docket No. 317403, McCarrick appeals of right the trial court’s June 28, 2013 order removing her minor … Read more
The Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum convened October 27-28 in Petoskey to review and adopt its charter and address the importance of judicial leadership in child welfare issues. The Forum was created by Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Order in June and is the first entity of its kind to meet since the previous Tribal … Read more
An article describing a recent social welfare conference at Chadron State College includes some ICWA references: During a panel discussion following the keynote, William Cross of Gordon, Nebraska, social worker with the ICWA ONTRAC office in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, challenged the Oglala Sioux tribe and CSC to collaborate more often to support Native American … Read more
The Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum, which was created this year and held its first meeting in Petoskey this week, provides an ongoing venue for all three jurisdictions to convene and improve working relations and communications. A priority for the Forum is addressing child welfare issues, and ensuring that our courts systems are meeting … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Department of Public Health and Human Services filed petition to terminate parental rights of mother and Indian father to Indian child. Notice was given to father’s tribe, and tribe intervened. The petition was dismissed and then refiled. Mother voluntarily relinquished her parental rights. The Eighth Judicial District Court, County of Cascade, … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: County department of children and family services (DCFS) filed dependency petition. The Superior Court, No. CK98476, Los Angeles County, Jacqueline Lewis, Referee, sustained jurisdictional allegations and removed child from adoptive mother’s care. Mother appealed. Holding provided by Westlaw: The Court of Appeal, Kitching, J., held that: (1) child’s sister had been … Read more
Justice Department (DOJ); Office of Justice Programs (OJP); Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (F.R. Page 56405) – Meeting (Webcast of meeting also available.) TIME: 10:30 a.m. EVENT: Justice Department (DOJ); Office of Justice Programs (OJP); Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (F.R. Page 56405) holds a meeting of the Coordinating … Read more
On October 17, 2014, the Winnebago community celebrated the grand opening of Educare Winnebago, a new state-of-the-art early childhood education school that ultimately will serve 191 children on the Winnebago Indian Reservation in northeastern Nebraska. The school is the first Educare in a Native American community, the fourth Educare in Nebraska and the 20th Educare … Read more
The 183 schools are spread across 23 states and fall under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Education. The schools serve about 48,000 children, or about 7 percent of Native-American students, and are among the country’s lowest performing. They are in some of the most out-of-the-way places in the country; one is … Read more
Native American children are disproportionally represented in child welfare. Efforts to effect change must be culturally competent and protect the best interests of Indian children and strengthen Native families. This month, we look at cultural adaptations of trauma treatments, research on the use of social services by urban American Indian families, and a guide to … Read more
Two tribes of the Lakota Sioux Nation in South Dakota Indian Country have been awarded planning grants by the Department of Health and Human Services, marking a historic moment in the ongoing effort to stop the illegal State seizure of Lakota children by creating an independent tribal-run family services program administered for Lakota, by Lakota. … Read more
In a split decision, the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against the village of Tununak, which was appealing a lower court’s decision that allowed an Alaska Native infant to be adopted by non-Native parents rather than giving custody to her extended biological family in the tiny Western Alaska community. The Supreme Court’s ruling this … Read more
State, county, and tribal leaders from Minnesota gathered at Fortune Bay Resort Casino on Thursday [Sept. 25] to talk about what they are calling a crisis of Indian children. Native Americans account for one percent of Minnesota’s population. However, Native American children are four times more likely to live in poverty than the state’s … Read more
[September 19, 2014] Last night, the U.S. Senate passed the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, bipartisan child welfare legislation aimed at reducing child sex trafficking, increasing adoptions and improving child support collections. The bill includes a number of proposals from legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) last September (S. 1518, the … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Children and Family Services (CFS) filed a dependency petition alleging that child, age four, came within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Indian tribe responded indicating that child was eligible for membership and that tribe was intervening. The Superior Court, San Bernardino County, No. J239345, Cheryl C. Kersey, J., found that … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: State filed petition to have child adjudicated as lacking proper parental care. Parents, one of whom was member of Indian tribe, entered no contest admission to petition, and child was allowed to remain at home under supervision. Guardian ad litem (GAL) subsequently moved to remove child from home. Following a hearing, … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: The Office of Children’s Services (OCS) filed a petition to terminate mother’s parental rights to child. The Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Palmer, Eric Smith, J., terminated parental rights. Mother appealed. Holding provided by Westlaw: The Supreme Court, Bolger, J., held that: (1) evidence supported finding that child was a child … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: County department of children and family services (DCFS) filed dependency petition. The Superior Court, Los Angeles County, No. CK58667, Amy M. Pellman, J., sustained jurisdictional allegations, terminated father’s reunification services and scheduled a hearing for termination of parental rights, granted de facto parent status to foster parents, found that foster parents … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: In termination of parental rights proceedings involving Indian child, the 392nd Judicial District Court, Henderson County, terminated mother’s parental rights to child. Mother appealed. Holding provided by Westlaw: The Court of Appeals, James T. Worthen, C.J., held that: (1) trial court’s failure to strictly comply with notice requirements of Indian Child … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: The Office of Children’s Services (OCS) filed a petition to adjudicate Indian child as a child in need of aid. The Superior Court, Fourth Judicial District, Bethel, Charles W. Ray, Jr., J., adjudicated child as a child in need of aid and ordered her to be returned to her parents’ home. … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: State petitioned to terminate parental rights of father, a member of an Indian tribe, of one child and to terminate his legal relationship with other child, both of whom were born during marriage to mother. The 9th Judicial Circuit Court, McDonough County, Patricia A. Walton, J., terminated parental rights and legal … Read more
Synopsis Provided by Westlaw: After Indian child was found to be child in need of aid (CINA) and parents’ parental rights were terminated, Indian tribe sought to enforce Indian Child Welfare Act’s (ICWA) placement preferences, and child’s non-Indian foster parents petitioned for adoption. The Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Frank A. Pfiffner, J., granted … Read more
BISMARCK, N.D. — A panel at the Tribal Leaders Summit on Thursday addressed problems facing the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act. … The consensus among the panelists is that the obstacle facing implementation of child welfare programs on reservations is lack of funding. Read the full article at the Bismarck Tribune website.
Federal officials got a firsthand look at one deteriorating Native American school in Minnesota Tuesday–they said it’s one of many suffering similarly throughout the country. After touring Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School in Bena, Minnesota, Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell said it’s just one example of how the country is letting down it’s Native American students. Read the full article and … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: Department of Children and Family Services filed a petition alleging that mother’s and father’s illicit drug use placed child at risk of harm. After terminating parents’ reunification services and setting a hearing on the termination of parental rights, the Superior Court, Los Angeles County, No. CK91018, Jacqueline H. Lewis, J., entered order … Read more
Protecting Native mothers and their children: a feminist lawyering approach. Joanna Woolman, Volume 40, William Mitchell Law Review, page 943-989. (2014). A mother killing her child is a shocking event. In the United States, our child protection system seeks to prevent this type of horror, along with countless other acts that harm children. Despite having … Read more
Lac du Flambeau hopes to provide more support for families and kids in its foster care system. The state of Wisconsin has signed an agreement allowing the tribe to access a new stream of federal funding. The Title IV-E program is the federal government’s foster care program. Until recently, funds from that program have gone … Read more
August 18, 2014. In what is being called a rare move, the Department of Justice last week threw its support behind two South Dakota tribes and two Native American mothers that have accused state officials of violating the Indian Child Welfare Act by taking custody of their children for 60 days after only a brief hearing. … Read more
The Passamaquoddy Tribe has been awarded the first of what could be several federal grants totaling millions of dollars aimed at coordinating and bolstering services to at-risk children. The $800,000 grant from the Center for Mental Health Services, part of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and … Read more
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has included South Dakota’s persistent and alleged illegal seizure of Lakota children in a report it is scheduled to present to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in August. Read the full story at the Indian Country Today website.
On Wednesday, July 23, 2014, the House of Representatives unanimously approved H.R. 4980, the “Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act.” This bipartisan, bicameral bill reflects agreements reached between House and Senate leaders on three separate bills designed to prevent sex trafficking of children in foster care, increase adoptions from foster care, and increase child … Read more
Imagine entering family court and knowing that what’s at stake is the person you hold most dear – your child. Now imagine having a judge tell you that he’s removing your child from your custody, from your home. When you ask him why, the judge’s replies, “I honestly can’t tell you.” The judge then signs … Read more
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday in support of an Interior tribal court in a child custody and tribal sovereignty case that was contested by Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration. The case, Simmonds v. Parks, started almost six years ago as a custody dispute in the Village of Minto, a town of 200 people about 130 … Read more
[Vice-president of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, Lori] Moriarty spoke to a gathering of about 150 tribal officials, law enforcement officers, educators, attorneys and victims’ advocates on developing a successful collaborative response to drug endangered children at the 2014 Indian Country Conference, July 16-17 at Prairie Band Casino and Resort in Mayetta, Kansas. … Read more
July 9, 2014 U.S. Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD), James Inhofe (R-OK), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) today introduced the Tribal Adoption Parity Act. The legislation ensures parents adopting American Indian and Alaskan Native children through tribal courts are treated fairly under our nation’s tax code by making it easier for adoptive parents across … Read more
This week 26 key decision-makers from the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, federal and state governments, as well as local and national private organizations met to kick off a comprehensive strategy called the “Spirit Lake Child Welfare Improvement Project.” The purpose of this gathering was to convene decision-makers to craft a vision and an initial plan … Read more
The past 11 months have been long, hard months for a Rosebud Sioux mother named Audre’y Eby. Last August, she picked up her twin 16-year-old sons from her ex-husband’s Iowa residence to bring them to visit her home in western Nebraska, and she discovered that the special-needs boys — one is blind and autistic, and … Read more
The level of racism in Indian schools is astounding. But the level of its exposure is miniscule. Most of it is covered up, hidden, not talked about, and not acted upon. But the affect it has on Indian children is horrendous and debilitating. Read the full article at the Indian Country Today Media Network website.
Five South Dakota tribes have asked the federal government for financial assistance to help operate their own foster care services. … The Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Yankton, Oglala and Crow Creek Sioux tribes submitted applications Monday seeking federal planning dollars to develop and operate their own programs. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe received one of the … Read more
Northeastern State University is one of 11 universities nationwide to receive five-year funding of $735,000 through the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, a service of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, a media release states. NSU’s Department of Social Work and the Cherokee Nation Indian Child Welfare entered into a formal partnership that will assist in building … Read more
On Friday, June 27, the Navajo Nation made an historic pact with the U.S. Department of of Health and Human Services to execute a direct funding agreement through the Title IV-E program under the Social Security Act that will reimburse the tribe and its child welfare agencies for federally eligible foster care, adoptions and guardianships. … Read more
A congressional committee has begun investigating why child abuse and neglect persists on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake reservation, almost two years after the federal government stepped in to address the problem. At a hearing on Tuesday, tribal leaders and officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services are … Read more
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is currently accepting applications for a Superintendent of Education. The person in this position will be responsible for the overall leadership, development, organization, management, operation, and implementation of Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Educational programs across departments including the Ahfachkee School, Ahfachkee Traditional Preservation, Pemayetv Emakakv Charter School, Brighton Charter Cultural … Read more
Here is text from the 2014 Advisory Committee regarding ICWA from the Turtle Talk blog. “With respect to [Rule 34.03] subdivision 1(j) and (l), in cases where the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is unclear, such as when it is not yet known whether the child is or is not an Indian … Read more
Three-year-old Elle was cleared to be adopted by her foster parents, and then was removed and placed with her uncle. See related articles at the KING website: Foster Child Adoption Halted Over Tribal Ties and Foster Child’s Uncle: ‘We Wanted Her All Along’
Statistics highlight the magnitude of the problem. Although they represent 1% of the U.S. population, Native American juveniles represent 2% to 3% of youth arrests in categories such as theft and alcohol possession. Similarly, they are committed to adult incarceration at a rate 1.84 times that of whites and are placed under the jurisdiction of … Read more
In the wake of Friday’s visit by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, the White House released an action plan to help strengthen and sustain at least two of Obama’s biggest initiatives in Indian country: Education and Economic Development. Acknowledging the “crisis” in Indian … Read more
On Tuesday, June 24th, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs will hold an oversight hearing entitled “Child Protection & the Justice System on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.” This hearing will assess whether Congressional action is needed to address systematic problems with the child welfare and justice system on the … Read more
ANCHORAGE, Alaska –The Advisory Committee of the Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence convenes its final public hearing in Anchorage, Alaska, today. The hearing, which commenced June 11, will examine the wide-ranging impact of violence on children in Alaska Native communities and consider programs to effectively support … Read more
Columbia Gorge CASA, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services, is hosting a community training about ICWA June 25, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Water’s Edge in The Dalles. Participants will learn about the history of ICWA; Oregon tribes and culture; and the legal parameters and application of ICWA within the child … Read more
(Portland, Ore., June 10, 2014)—National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) Deputy Director Sarah Kastelic, Ph.D., was named the 2014 recipient of the Independent Sector American Express NGen Leadership Award today. In announcing the award, Independent Sector cited Kastelic’s role as “a transformational leader working to further policy research that empowers American Indian and Alaska Native … Read more
When completed, the 26,000-square-foot Ardmore Early Childhood Development Center will provide educational opportunities for more than 200 Chickasaw children and non-Native children, from 6 weeks to 4 years old, in the Ardmore area. Read more about this project at the Indian Country Today Media Network website.
NICWA just announced a new webinar to be held in July, Enhancing Basic Skills for Tribal Child Welfare Workers: New to tribal child welfare? Want to brush up on your tribal child welfare skills? Want to know if your program is following best practices in tribal child welfare? This webinar series is geared toward tribal … Read more
Laguna Pueblo’s community programs, ranging from early childhood programs to assistance to military veterans, are now under the umbrella of the newly created Laguna Community Foundation, a nonprofit that will oversee their funding and provide needed guidance. “We decided to bring all of our programs under one entity rather than have them split up,” said … Read more
The federal government recently took a look at how American Indian children are faring in public schools—and the results are disturbing. Read the full article at Indian Country Today Media Network and see the data snapshot, School Discipline, Restraint, & Seclusion, released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
PHOENIX, May 29 — Arizona Democratic legislators issued the following news release: Rep. Albert Hale, D-St. Michaels (District 7), worked with Sen. Carlyle Begay, D-Ganado (District 7), and Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills (District 23), to ensure language requiring compliance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act was added to recently passed legislation that will … Read more
May 21, 2014: During a Senate Committee vote today, U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s bipartisan bill to create a Commission on Native Children overwhelmingly passed – the final step before the bill goes to the full Senate. Since the bill was introduced a few months ago, Heitkamp has worked to build strong support for it. The … Read more
White Earth tribal officials are preparing to begin the final phase of transferring human services cases from surrounding counties to the White Earth Nation. The movement began three years ago when a state law authorized White Earth to take control of all human services programs for its members and their families. See the full article … Read more
A total of $4 million is available for grants to eligible entities, including the Indian Health Service (IHS), Tribes and Tribal organizations operating health programs under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) (P.L. 93-638, as amended), and Urban Indian organizations operating health programs under title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act … Read more
By the end of the month, attorneys representing Native American families and two tribes in a federal child welfare case will know more about what happened during hearings that gave the Department of Social Services temporary custody of children. Read the full article at the Rapid City Journal website.
A 1938 law sweeps American Indian and Alaska Native youth into the federal criminal justice system when they commit anything beyond misdemeanor crimes. Although American Indians comprise little more than 1 percent of the nation’s population, one 10-year study found that at any given time 43-to-60 percent of juveniles held in federal custody were American … Read more
At a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee this week, Senator John Hoeven pressed Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn to do everything in the agency’s power to get to the bottom the recent death of an infant on Spirit Lake reservation. Read more about the hearing at Senator Hoeven’s website. Read more … Read more
The Osage Nation Social Services and Delaware Tribe ICW will host the 2014 Tribal Foster and Adoptive Family Recruitment Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 3 at the Delaware Community Center, located at 170 NE Barbara in Bartlesville. Fourteen tribes, two Department of Human Services offices and two DHS vendors will be on … Read more
A Miami appeals court says a custody dispute between a Miccosukee mother and non-Indian father should remain in state court, not tribal court. The decision Wednesday by the Third District Court of Appeal marks the first time a Florida appeals court has agreed to strip the authority of tribal court judges in a child custody … Read more
Casey Family Programs has posted the position of Senior Director Indian Child Welfare. Learn more and apply at http://www.recruitingcenter.net/clients/casey/publicjobs Casey Family Programs, an Equal Opportunity Employer, is a national operating foundation that provides and improves – and ultimately prevents the need for – foster care. We value a diverse and culturally competent workplace. Job Summary: … Read more
Jeri Williams [is] a member of the Klamath tribe and is a survivor of human trafficking. Williams has made it part of her life’s work to help others overcome the challenges she has faced. … She’s testifying … before U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to … Read more
[Montana U.S. Attorney Michael] Cotter and D-o-J’s Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Robert Listenbee, discuss the scourge of violence on some tribal communities and what’s being done about it. Listen to the interview at the Montana Public Radio website.
The new grant will focus on engaging families and kin groups in the child’s educational process. “Education in tribal communities used to be very integrated with the socialization of children, teaching children how to be within a family and a community,” said Crazy Bull. “Over the years, families have lost that role, … but we’re … Read more
This on-going series from the Indian Country Today Media Network examines Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Van Hunnik, which charges South Dakota State and local Pennington County officials with violating the rights of Indian parents and tribes in child custody proceedings. Although the State of South Dakota appeared to be flagrantly operating outside the scope of the … Read more
Notwithstanding setbacks like the Baby Girl decision, we will continue to stand up for ICWA because, as we said in the Supreme Court, it’s “a classic implementation of Congress’s plenary [trust] responsibility . . . for Indians.” You see, for us, standing up for ICWA means standing strong for tribal sovereignty. “Nothing could be more … Read more
Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Children & Family Services in collaboration with Casey Family Programs invite you to attend a webinar: “IV-E 101” Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe was the first tribe in the United States to be approved to receive direct Title IV-E funds. In this webinar, Port Gamble representatives will give an overview of the … Read more
Baby Veronica’s birth mother has filed a voluntary dismissal of a federal lawsuit against the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government, which requested that parts of the Indian Child Welfare Act be declared unconstitutional, attorneys in the case announced Tuesday. Read the full article at the Tulsa World website and related articles at Indian Country … Read more
2014-2015 Training Institute Dates ! September 8-10, 2014 – Portland, Oregon -ICWA Basics -Advanced ICWA -Positive Indian Parenting December 1-3, 2014 – San Diego, California -ICWA Basics -Advanced ICWA -Positive Indian Parenting April 23-24, 2015 – Portland, Oregon -ICWA Basics -Positive Indian Parenting ICWA Basics will be taught as a two-day course covering the basics of the … Read more
While the state of North Dakota has long required background checks for foster parents and other adults in foster homes, that’s not necessarily been the case on the state’s American Indian reservations, something Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said he hopes to change. Read the full article at the Jamestown Sun website.
Four judges in Rapid City say a federal judge went too far in requiring them to sign orders to produce transcripts. Their response, filed this weekend in federal court in Rapid City, is the most recent action in an ongoing lawsuit claiming violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the 14th Amendment in Pennington … Read more
The American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, in collaboration with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Office on Violence Against Women, is pleased to present a two-day training, The Fundamentals of Representation of Victims of Domestic & Sexual Violence from Tribal Communities, on May 15-16, 2014 in Minneapolis, MN. This interactive, … Read more
A federal judge wants to know why some South Dakota state judges are refusing to turn over transcripts in Indian Child Welfare Act cases. As part of a lawsuit filed by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the state agreed to provide the transcripts. The transcripts are needed to determine whether Indian … Read more
The Association on American Indian Affairs, with support from Casey Family Programs, recently released their report, A Survey and Analysis of Select Title IV-E Tribal-State Agreements including Template of Promising Practices. From the report: This report provides a detailed analysis of Title IV-E tribal-state agreements, which includes an overall summary of the status of current … Read more
In response to a March 9, 2014 article in the Washington Post, “The hard lives — and high suicide rate — of Native American children on reservations,” the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) provided background information to reporter Sari Horwitz about child mistreatment statistics related to American Indian and Alaska Native children. The statement … Read more
Thursday (March 13), the United States Senate passed the bipartisan Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, legislation that includes Senator Mazie K. Hirono’s measures for Native Hawaiian children. The bill updates and improves the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program created in 1990, which provides states with federal funding to help … Read more
Looking back at the Baby Veronica case, Pata said, “Everyone believed the case was strong, not just on the ICWA side, but this was a military man who had certain protections, but it wasn’t. This child was being removed from a white religious family and was going back to an Indian family, which no one … Read more
[T]he silence that has shrouded suicide in Indian country is being pierced by growing alarm at the sheer number of young Native Americans taking their own lives — more than three times the national average, and up to 10 times on some reservations. Read the full article at the Washington Post website. Read the statement … Read more
Date: 02/26/2014 02:30 PM Type: Oversight Hearing Watch the video of the hearing at the Senate website (coverage begins at 10:15 of the video). Panel 1 Ms. Linda K. Smith Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison-for Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC View Testimony … Read more
Thursday, April 24, 2014 Alabama-Coushatta Reservation, Texas Protecting our Children and Families… Moving Toward a Healthy and Vital Community Through Tribal-State-Federal Collaboration Topics include: ICWA: IN THE WAKE OF BABY VERONICA Facilitator: Cheryl D. Fairbanks, Attorney and Tribal Justice SPEAKER: Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Assistant Attorney General, Cherokee Nation ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL INDIAN CHILD WELFARE … Read more
Kristen Carpenter and Lorie Graham have contributed a chapter in the forthcoming Indigenous Rights In International Law (Kirchner and Policastrin, Eds.). It looks at the international human rights issues raised by the Supreme court’s decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. Abstract: The well-being of indigenous children is a subject of major concern for indigenous … Read more
Social workers have come from all over the state to try to find ways to keep Indian children out of the foster care system. Statistics indicate that they are removed from their homes three times as often as non-Indians. Watch the video clip and read the transcript at the KFYR website.
About 75 people attended the all-day hearing at Talking Stick Resort near Scottsdale. It was the second of four across the country to secure testimony and information so the task force can generate policy recommendations for Attorney General Eric Holder. In December, the committee was in Bismarck, N.D. The final two hearings are scheduled in … Read more
The task force would meet to study child sexual abuse in South Dakota and suggest ways the state could improve its policies for dealing with the problem. … The task force would include a victim, law enforcement, medical and mental health experts, child advocates and a tribal representative with experience on the issue. Read the … Read more
ICWA Facts and Fiction is a new publication of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Visit the NCJFCJ website for a copy of this resource published in December, 2013. See also other related NCJFCJ publications. The Tribal Judicial Leadership Group, coordinated by the NCJFCJ and Casey Family Programs, and comprised of tribal … Read more
Nebraska has the third-highest rate of Native children in foster care, said Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, who introduced the Nebraska bill on behalf of the State-Tribal Relations Committee. . . . His bill would require state agencies to reach out to all tribes from which a Native child may be descended when a child who … Read more
The 2014 FBA Indian Law Conference includes this panel: Thursday, April 10, 2014 – Morning Session PANEL 1. BABY VERONICA – TEXTING PATERNITY AWAY AND BRINGING ICWA INTO 21ST CENTURY Natalie Landreth, Senior Attorney, Native American Rights Fund (Moderator) Anita Fineday, Director, Casey Family Program, Indian Child Welfare Program Heather Kendall-Miller, Senior Attorney, Native American … Read more
There appears to be a lot of interest in a new kind of court in Washtenaw County. More than 80 lawyers, mediators, and probation officers packed Judge Timothy Connors’ courtroom on Friday. They were there for a six-hour education session on the Native American philosophy that guides the new peacemaking court…. Read the full story … Read more
Several prominent Native American groups on Monday called for the Justice Department to investigate the treatment of Indian children in public child-welfare systems and private adoptions. In a letter presented to government officials in… Read more at the New York Times website and see the National Indian Child Welfare Association press release.
A federal court has ruled that a lawsuit charging state and local officials with violating the rights of Indian parents and tribes in state child custody proceedings can go to trial. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in March 2013 along with the ACLU of South Dakota and Dana Hanna of the Hanna … Read more
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A study shows many tribal children do poorly in Oregon public schools, in part because they’re frequently absent and their schools often show up at the bottom of state rankings. The study was paid for by the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Read the … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: “Department of Human Services moved to appoint Indian child’s current foster parent as child’s legal guardian. The Circuit Court, Klamath County, Cameron F. Wogan, J., granted motion. Mother appealed.” View the decision at the National Indian Law Library website.
Excerpt from the opinion: “Yolanda W., formerly known as Yolanda O., appeals from the decision of the separate juvenile court of Lancaster County, which denied her motion to transfer the termination of parental rights proceeding in this juvenile case to tribal court. Because we find that the State failed to establish good cause to deny … Read more
Synopsis provided by Westlaw: “After tribal court awarded custody of Native American child to his Native American maternal grandmother, State brought action against child’s non-Indian father, seeking an adjudication of paternity, an award of future child support, and an order requiring father to reimburse State for public assistance provided to child’s grandmother. The District Court, … Read more
“Without a doubt our people, especially our youth, are the tribe’s most valuable asset,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker. “This new Cherokee Nation law will give our tribal sovereign government and our hard-working ICWA staff an additional tool to protect our people and ensure Cherokee children have the opportunity to live in … Read more
An Allendale County Indian tribe, the Yamassee Nation, scored somewhat of a victory in court Monday afternoon. A family court judge determined a Philadelphia County court order demanding the tribe surrender a 2-year-old child has no legal standing in South Carolina. Read the full article at the Channel 12 WRDW website.
His two girls had been taken by their mother, Heather Shepard, to the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in October in violation of McNutt’s legal custody of the children. Despite a warrant issued for Shepard’s arrest, state law enforcement officers could not intervene since the children were on reservation land. But, sovereignty issues were swept aside by … Read more
[T]wo federal lawsuits [were] filed December 18 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California against two Humboldt County School Districts—Eureka City and Loleta Union—that accuse school officials of perpetuating systemic physical, emotional and sexual abuse of Native American and African-American students. … “This lawsuit was really a last resort,” Nelson said. “It’s been … Read more
Indian Child Welfare Act — Termination of Parental Rights —Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl 127 Harvard Law Review 368 (November 2013) In the decades leading up to 1978, large numbers of Indian families were broken up through forced adoption or foster-care placement of Indian children, usually in non-Indian homes.1 To stem this “wholesale removal of … Read more
I’m really pleased with what [the Center for Native American Youth has] done so far. We’ve created a start-up non-profit from scratch. In 2 ½ years, I think we’ve done some significant things. We’re focusing on the well-being of Native American youth; we’re working on teen suicide prevention; and education opportunities—a series of issues. We’re … Read more
From the press release: The U.S. Department of Justice announced the opening of a comprehensive grant solicitation for funding to support public safety, victim services, and crime prevention by American Indian and Alaska Native governments. The department’s FY 2014 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) is available at www.justice.gov/tribal/open-sol.html . “Over the past four years, more … Read more
For the first time in Alaska’s child welfare history, the state is entering into an agreement with a Tribal organization that supports and recognizes the ability of a Tribe to provide services to its own citizens, increasing the likelihood for Tribal foster children to stay in their communities with relatives, culture, and traditions. Read more … Read more
Earlier this year, the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux Tribes and three Indian mothers filed a lawsuit in federal court in Rapid City on behalf of all parents of minor Indian children in Pennington County. That lawsuit, Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Van Hunnik, charges that the South Dakota Department of Social Services (DSS), the Pennington County … Read more
On December 9, the U.S. attorney general’s task force on violence against American Indian and Alaskan Native children held the first of four public hearings to gather information to be submitted to the attorney general and used in policy making decisions. The meeting was held in Bismark, North Dakota, and was co-chaired by former U.S. … Read more
A Nov. 12 executive order allows Oklahoma Department of Human Services and tribal workers to share information and work together on child welfare and foster care cases. Read the brief article available at the NewsOK website. Read the Executive Order # 2013-37 at the Secretary of State website.
The Cherokee Nation says in court papers filed last week that sovereign immunity protects it from efforts to collect more than $1 million in legal fees by lawyers for the adoptive parents of the child known as Baby Veronica. Read more at the American Bar Association website.
On Friday the Cherokee Nation came out swinging in their response to the motion filed weeks ago in Nowata, Oklahoma county court in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, in which Matt and Melanie Capobianco are seeking approximately $1`million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Read the article at Indian Country Today.
Summary from the Federal Register: This is an announcement of the first hearing of the Advisory Committee of the Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence (hereafter referred to as the AIAN Advisory Committee). The AIAN Advisory Committee is chartered to provide the Attorney General with valuable advice in the … Read more
A special Justice Department task force will hold a series of public meetings around the country to study the scope and impact that exposure to violence has on Native American and Alaska Native children, the Justice Department said. Read more at the New York Times website.
Task Force Advisory Committee to Hold First Public Hearing in Bismarck, North Dakota in December 2013. Advisory Committee Will Be Co-Chaired by Former U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan and Iroquois Composer and Singer Joanne Shenandoah. Read the full article at Indian Country Today.
Leaders of South Dakota’s nine Sioux tribes will spend time in Washington, D.C., this week seeking federal help in a long-running dispute over state government’s handling of foster care for Native American children. Read the full article at the SFGate website.
In ICWA, Congress affirmed tribal authority to protect American Indian children through their own laws, courts, and services. It recognized that tribal courts are of commensurate standing to state courts. ICWA established minimum standards for states to follow in issues of custody and adoptions, giving tribes the right to intervene in state court proceedings as … Read more
A Spirit Lake Indian Reservation woman who was awarded custody of infant twin girls despite a history of child neglect was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison in the death of one of the children, who was thrown down an embankment. Read the full article at the Time website.
Attorneys for the adoptive parents of a 4-year-old girl caught up in a custody dispute have filed paperwork in Oklahoma seeking $1 million in legal fees from the Cherokee Nation and the girl’s biological father, who has dropped all legal claims to his daughter. Attorneys representing Matt and Melanie Capobianco filed paperwork in Nowata County … Read more
Brandi Sweet is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, but that heritage is only partly why she is a perfect fit for the newly created post of American-Indian foster family recruiter at Utah Foster Care. Sweet knows what it is like to be a child in foster care. … Read more
On Wednesday, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., presented Senate Bill No. 1622 to create a national commission to study and address the high rates of poverty, child abuse, domestic violence, crime, substance abuse and high school drop outs that plague Native youth, along with making recommendations to solve those problems. Read more at the Farmington Daily … Read more
From a 10/30/13 press release: HEITKAMP INTRODUCES FIRST BILL AS U.S. SENATOR; AIMS TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN Summary of the Bill and Quotes from North Dakota Tribal Leaders Below WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today introduced her first bill since joining the U.S. Senate, a comprehensive plan to find … Read more
Magdalena Schools was awarded a $1.2 million Demonstration Grant for Indian Children from the U.S. Department of Education in September. The grant funds programs addressing the needs of Native American pre-school and high school students, according to Keri James, federal and state programs coordinator for the district. But all Magdalena students will benefit from the … Read more
If people do not think about child abuse, they will not detect child abuse. That was the primary message of Dr. Karyn Patno, a pediatrician and founder of the ChildSafe Program at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. Dr. Patno’s recent collaboration with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police on a case of suspected … Read more
The BIA assumed control of child protection services and certain foster care placements on Oct. 1, 2012, after complaints of systemic failures when the Spirit Lake tribe was running the programs. A year later, tribal leaders and members credit BIA staff members with working hard to improve child protection, but visible progress has not yet … Read more
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 — The U.S. Department of the Interior published the following notice in the Federal Register from the Indian Affairs Bureau: Request for Nominees to Serve on the Bureau of Indian Education Advisory Board for Exceptional Children Nomination applications must be received on or before November 15, 2013. Read the notice at the … Read more
The United States Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. This document is designed to: Summarize the decision — what the case held about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), what it did not hold, and what it implied. Provide advocates for tribes, birth parents (particularly unwed … Read more
In an emotional statement on Thursday, Baby Veronica’s biological father said he and the Cherokee Nation were dropping the legal fight to regain custody of the 4-year-old girl. Read the full article at the NPR website. Read the related statement from the Cherokee Nation website.
Register now for the 32nd Annual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. The conference will be held April 13-16, 2014, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. See more info and register at the National Indian Child Welfare Association website. Child welfare and legal professionals, advocates for children, tribal leaders, families, youth, … Read more
Social workers at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation have been furloughed because of the federal government shutdown, worrying tribal officials and Sen. John Hoeven. The Bureau of Indian Affairs took over social services from the tribe a year ago after complaints about rampant abuse of children and the death of several children placed by tribal … Read more
Standing Rock’s tribal council urged the United States to take action in a September 17 resolution claiming that South Dakota has been taking its children into care and adopting them out of the tribe illegally, in violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The resolution was passed the day after a child-welfare advocate informed the … Read more
View the latest NICWA News at the NICWA website. Contents NICWA Executive Transition Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl Update NICWA’s New Strategic Plan /Martin and Connor Join NICWA Board In Memoriam: Bill Byler
Baby Veronica returned to adoptive parents (Washington Post, 9/24/2013) ‘Baby Veronica’ Handed Over To Adoptive Parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco (Huffington Post, 9/24/2013) Capobiancos returning to James Island with Veronica (wistv.com, 9/24/2013) “Baby Veronica” handed over to adoptive parents, Cherokee Nation confirms (CBS News, 9/24/2013) Biological father Dusten Brown hands over Cherokee child ‘Baby Veronica’ … Read more
Baby Veronica case: Parents’ negotiations end with no settlement (Tulsa World, 9/23/2013) ‘Baby Veronica’ Custody Battle Returns To Oklahoma Supreme Court (News9.com, 9/23/2013) Brown, Capobiancos in negotiations for Veronica (Cherokee Phoenix, 9/23/2013) Baby Veronica case: Five days of mediation yield no agreement (Tulsa World, 9/20/2013)
In a case that is drawing comparisons to a long-running adoption dispute over a 3-year-old Cherokee girl, an Oklahoma County District Court judge awarded custody this week of a 4-month-old infant to the Absentee Shawnee Tribe following a South Carolina couple’s attempt to adopt her. Read the full story at the Washington Post website. Read … Read more
Oklahoma Supreme Court to hear case involving custody dispute over 3-year-old Cherokee girl (Washington Post, 9/13/2013) Groups Argue Over Effectiveness of Indian Child Welfare Act (News9.com, 9/12/2013) NICWA, NCAI Applaud UN for Calling on U.S. to Protect Veronica (Indian Country Today, 9/11/2013) ‘Baby Veronica’ Custody Battle Continues (NPR, 9/11/2013)
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, today called on the relevant state, federal and tribal authorities in the United States of America to take all necessary measures to ensure the wellbeing and human rights of ‘Veronica,’ an almost four year old Cherokee child at the center of a … Read more
South Carolina governor comments on Baby Veronica (fox23.com, 9/9/2013) Father of Cherokee girl in middle of custody dispute files new appeal to Okla. Supreme Court (Washington Post, 9/6/2013) Baby Veronica case: Dusten Brown files second appeal with state supreme court (Tulsa World, 9/6/2013) In re Adoptive Couple of Baby Girl (“Baby Veronica”): Okla. Supreme Court … Read more
Baby Veronica to stay with biological dad for now, court rules (Today, 9/3/2013) New twist in Native American child custody dispute (CNN, 9/3/2013) Okla. Supreme Court issues stay in custody case (USA Today, 9/3/2013) Father of Cherokee girl in middle of custody dispute appeals to the Oklahoma Supreme Court (Washington Post, 9/2/2013)
Twenty-seven months after the brutal abuse and killing of two young siblings at their home on the Spirit Lake Sioux Indian reservation, Valentino “Tino” James Bagola goes on trial in U.S. District Court in Fargo today facing four felony counts of murder. The violent deaths of two of its youngest and most vulnerable members traumatized … Read more
Even worse, says Mason, is the blatant marketing and selling of Indian children by lawyers who make anywhere from $25,000 to copy00,000 in legal fees for these children. “Anyone can do the math and realize that this is an enormous industry in the trafficking of Indian children,” says Mason. “And they’re preying on poor, uneducated Native … Read more
Earlier this month, when Edward Parks was convicted in Fairbanks of the kidnapping and brutal assault of his girlfriend, the prosecutor told a Fairbanks reporter it was a victory in the “state’s larger war against domestic violence.” But three months earlier, with Parks sitting in jail awaiting trial for beating Bessie Stearman so badly he … Read more
Cherokees rally for Dusten Brown in Baby Veronica case (Tulsa World, 8/27/2013) Veronica case: Motion filed to suspend visits from Capobiancos (Native Times, 8/27/2013) Adoptive parents visit Baby Veronica, but future visits being challenged (Tulsa World, 8/26/2013) ‘Baby Girl’ Veronica Case: Lawyer Asks Judge To Suspend Adoptive Parents’ Visitation Rights (Huffington Post, 8/26/2013) Toddler’s guardian … Read more
On August 12, 2013, the American Bar Association House of Delegates approved a resolution supporting full implementation of, and compliance with, the Indian Child Welfare Act. There was not dissenting report or speaker. You can see the resolution and the accompanying report at the ABA Now website.
Here is text from the opinion: R.N. (mother) and E.T. (father) appeal from the order terminating their parental rights to daughters D.N. and A.T. The parents argue there is a lack of compliance with the notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. section 1901 et seq. (ICWA). We affirm. Substantial evidence supports … Read more
This case affirms the termination of parental rights under Oregon law and the Indian Child Welfare Act. The factual bases for terminating parental rights must be established beyond a reasonable doubt. Read the opinion at the National Indian Law Library website.
Opinion from Indian Country Today: U.S. doesn’t respect or understand native culture. 8/13/13.
Custody battle continues despite ruling by justices (NY Times) 8/13/13 SC Family seeks deal in Cherokee custody case (HeraldOnline.com) 8/14/13 Cherokee father enters courthouse without child (Miami Herald) 8/16/13 Watch: Native American adoption case gets complicated (ABC News) 8/17/13 Rally planned for Cherokee girl in custody dispute (NewsOn6.com) 8/19/13 Tulsa protesters react to Baby Veronica … Read more
The Department of Justice announces a pilot project for tribal jurisdiction over crimes of Domestic Violence, Friday, June 14, 2013, 78 FR 35961-01, (PDF), 2013 WL 2643596 Related News: VAWA Pilot Project Notice in Federal Register, plus supporting materials (Turtletalk) 6/14/13. SUMMARY: This notice proposes procedures for an Indian tribe to request designation as a … Read more
The Alaska Office of Children’s Services (OCS) was successful in terminating parental rights for the parents of four Indian children. Despite attempts by the parents, and active efforts to prevent the breakup of the family by OCS, evidence supported finding that the children would be endangered and would likely suffer emotional and physical harm if … Read more
The adoptive parents and birth father of a girl known as “Baby Veronica” have fought for custody of her since shortly after she was born in 2009. CNN provides a short timeline of events since Veronica’s birth in September 2009. See the timeline at the CNN website.
A year and a half after National Public Radio aired damning charges against South Dakota’s handling of foster care for Native American children, the news agency’s ombudsman said Friday that the three-part investigative series was “deeply flawed.” Read more about the ombudsman’s report at the Argus Leader website. Read the ombudsman’s report and the NPR … Read more
Charleston County sheriff working with agencies to locate Veronica (live5.com, 8/12/2013) Dusten Brown, biological father of ‘Baby Veronica’, posts $10,000 bail, released on bond (kjrh.com, 8/12/2013) Cherokee man cleared to go to Okla. for hearing on disputed adoption of his daughter, 3 (Birmingham Star, 8/12/2013) Brown’s whereabouts unknown; Tribal hearing set for Monday (abcnews4.com, 8/11/2013) … Read more
Baby Veronica’s biological family says their offer of shared custody was rejected (Tulsa World, 8/7/2013) Veronica’s Oklahoma family on edge as South Carolina authorities consider custody action (The Post and Courier, 8/7/2013) Baby Veronica’s family pins hopes on tribal, state courts (Tulsa World, 8/7/2013) SC judge orders Cherokee girl at center of adoption dispute transferred … Read more
Cherokee Nation Assistant Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo stated, “It is disgusting to insinuate criminal misconduct or wrongdoing on Dusten’s behalf. He is in another state for mandatory National Guard training, which all parties and the court have known for at least two weeks. It is physically and legally impossible for Dusten to comply with the … Read more
The Supreme Court, over the dissents of two Justices, cleared the way Friday afternoon for a South Carolina couple to adopt the child known publicly as “Baby Veronica.” In a three-sentence order, the full Court turned aside — without an explanation — the plea by the birth father to delay a state court ruling permitting … Read more
Baby Veronica adoption finalized by S.C. court (Tulsa World, 8/1/2013) Baby Veronica’s father says she won’t go back ‘voluntarily’ (Tulsa World, 8/1/2013) Justice Roberts weighs decision on Baby Veronica custody (Tulsa World, 8/2/2013) Dusten Brown, ‘Baby Girl’ Veronica’s Birth Father, Asks Daughter’s Adoptive Parents To Reconsider (Huffington Post, 8/1/2013) Attorney: Okla. girl will be devastated … Read more
Read the press release. Read the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina. From the press release…The litigation was filed on behalf of Veronica, by Angel Smith, an attorney appointed as counsel for the child by the courts of the Cherokee Nation, in U.S. District Court in South Carolina, and asks the … Read more
A family court in Charleston, S.C., plans to have a hearing Wednesday (7/31) to decide how – not if – to transfer custody of Baby Veronica back to her adoptive parents. Read about this in Tulsa World.
A new lawsuit was filed by Baby Veronica’s mother which claims part of the Indian Child Welfare Act to be unconstitutional.Read the news story from July 26 and complaint filed on July 24. See an additional article on this new case filing at Indian Country Today.
From the complaint: ICWA tells a single unmarried woman who wishes to choose adoptive parents for her unborn child—a choice that would be respected under her State’s laws—that she must either terminate her pregnancy, raise the child herself, or surrender her child to a Tribe that is a total stranger to her and to the … Read more
The Montana Supreme Court ruled that the state Department of Health and Human Services made sufficiently active efforts to reunify children with mother, as prerequisite to termination of mother’s parental rights, under Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Read the opinion on the National Indian Law Library website.
See the resolution, which was passed at the group’s annual meeting on July 13, 2013, at the NCJFCJ website.
Native American Rights Fund, National Congress of American Indians, and National Indian Child Welfare Association announce pursuit of civil rights lawsuit for Baby Veronica. Three of the nation’s leading tribal organizations announced today they are in the early stages of pursuing litigation to protect the civil rights of Veronica Brown, acitizen of the Cherokee Nation … Read more
Gov. Dennis Daugaard has sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying he supports tribal efforts in South Dakota to run their own child welfare and foster care services Read more at the Argus Leader website and the PRWeb website.
On July 17, 2013, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled 3 to 2 that the “Baby Veronica” case be remanded to the family court to finalize the adoption. Find the court’s opinion as well as press statements and news coverage at the Turtle Talk website. Read some of the initial responses to the decision below: … Read more
On July 12, 2013, Christy Maldonado, the birth mother in the Supreme Court case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, told her side of the story in the Washington Post. In the summer of 2009, I made the most difficult decision of my life: to place my baby, Veronica Rose, with adoptive parents. Many know her … Read more
Baby Veronica’s biological father, stepmother and paternal grandparents have filed court papers in Oklahoma to adopt the 3-year-old girl, a move that dissenting U.S. Supreme Court justices warned could happen and will likely complicate the custody dispute. Read more at The Post and Courier website.
July 09, 2013. Following mounting anger over charges that the state has routinely and illegally placed Native American children with non-native foster parents, South Dakota tribes gathered Monday in Rapid City to discuss how they could form their own tribal-run foster care systems. Read more at the Rapid City Journal website.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I once toured a school near an Indian reservation where I encountered a teacher who told me that when she asked a young Indian student what she wanted for Christmas, she said she wanted the electricity turned on in her house so she could study at … Read more
A South Florida custody case pivots on the Uniform Child Custody Juridiction and Enforcement Act, which establishes jurisdiction between states and tribes. Under the child custody enforcement act, foreign countries — and under federal law, the Miccosukee reservation off Tamiami trail is a sovereign nation — are treated the same as other states when it … Read more
On June 25, 2013, the Michigan Court of Appeals that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) does not apply to non-federally recognized Indians or tribes. The ruling was made in a case brought by a member of the Mackinac Bands of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, which is not federally recognized. Learn more and read the … Read more
Supreme Court Thwarts ICWA Intent in Baby Veronica Case (Indian Country Today) 6/25/2013 US Supreme Court Case Reignites Discussion Over Welfare of American Indian Children (Washington Post) 6/26/2013 Happy Ruling for Adoptive Couple, Uncertainty for Baby Girl (NPR) 6/26/2013 The Court Got Baby Veronica Wrong (Slate.com) 6/26/2013 Ruling on Adopted Indian Kids Threatens Tribes, Some … Read more
If you were unable to join this webinar on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, you can access the recorded version here. On June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the South Carolina adoption case involving the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) that has garnered significant … Read more
A split decision on ‘Baby Veronica’ court battle (Tulsa World) 6/26/13. Supreme Court Strikes a Hard Blow to Tribal Sovereignty in Adoption Case (Common Dreams) 6/26/13. Supreme Court says Native American child doesn’t have to be given to biological father (Washington Post) 6/25/13. Justices Rule in Favor of Adoption of Indian Child (NY Times) 6/25/13. … Read more
Find the opinion here. Commentary will be published soon on the blog. The syllabus from the ruling: “The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), which establishes federal standards for state-court child custody proceedings involving Indian children, was enacted to address “the consequences . . . of abusive child welfare practices that [separated] Indian children … Read more
Since 2011, the NCJFCJ has published Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care Technical Assistance Bulletins, which identify the disproportionality rates for all state and select Model Courts across the Country. See: Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care Technical Assistance Bulletin. This Bulletin, released May 2013, utilizes the most current … Read more
The US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention invites tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including non-tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations) and tribal institutions of higher education (including non-tribal institutions of higher education) to submit applications for its Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Support to the Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian/Alaska … Read more
On June 12, 2013, Mr. Kilmer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. HR 2332 — Adoption Tax Credit Tribal Parity Act of 2013: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to recognize Indian tribal governments for purposes of determining under the adoption credit whether a child … Read more
The Baby Veronica Case, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, is one of the most important Indian legal battles of the last generation. It is the story of Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation, who has invoked the Indian Child Welfare Act to prevent Christina Maldonado, the non-Indian mother of his baby … Read more
For the Lakota people this has been a continuation of a 100-year history of child abduction. This began in the 1880s under the U.S. government policy of forced assimilation (genocide); children as young as 5 years old were forcibly removed from their homes and taken to boarding schools hundreds of miles away. Now it is … Read more
This ICWA educational resource video is the culmination of the ongoing collaboration between the Mississippi Courts, Child Welfare Agency, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in consultation with the National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues and the National Resource Center for Tribes. The video was produced by Mad Genius, Inc., Ridgeland, Mississippi. The … Read more
The Superior Court in Sacramento County ruled on termination of parental rights and placement under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the case on the National Indian Law Library website.
This case relates to claims relating to following tribal customary adoption procedures. Read the case at the National Indian Law Library website.
The court ruled that the notice provided to the Indian tribe was insufficient under Indian Child Welfare Act. Read the opinion at the National Indian Law Library website.
The future of the Indian Child Welfare Act depends on the federal government’s ability to work with state governments and ensuring that tribal courts have enough resources, the chief general counsel for the Department of Interior said Thursday. Department of Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins spoke at a panel discussion in Washington D.C. examining the federal … Read more
[O]f 440 Indian children in foster care in South Dakota as of July 1, 2011, 381 – nearly 9 in 10 – resided in non-Indian foster homes. In one recent case, grandparents of a child and their tribe threatened to prosecute the state of South Dakota for kidnapping after the state chose a non-Indian foster … Read more
Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl challenges parts of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, this case puts one little girl at the center of a storm of legal intricacies, Native American tribal culture, and heart-wrenching personal stakes. Listen to the entire podcast (37 minutes) at the Radiolab website.
This case considered whether the earlier termination proceedings complied with statutory requirements for proceedings involving Indian children. On May 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of Montana remanded the case to the Eighth Judicial District for the purpose of curing statutory deficiencies and holding a new termination hearing. Read more about the case at the National … Read more
On April 30, 2013, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the fourth district court to terminate parental rights. Issues considered included: Whether the District Court properly concluded treatment plans were appropriate. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to terminate parental rights under the ICWA. Whether the state made “active efforts” to prevent the … Read more
In a move that may prove to have national implications, a Los Angeles Superior Court subcommittee, Psychotropic Medication Committee, is in the process of mandating permission from American Indian tribes before American Indian children in the foster care system in Los Angeles County can be prescribed a psych medication. Read the full article at the … Read more
Certainly, there are loving, protective and caring foster care providers on South Dakota’s Indian reservations. But are there enough of them to shelter the inordinately high number of children that need such care in those places? We doubt it. In fact, we’ve reported on the trouble one tribe in our area has in getting qualified … Read more
On May 9, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that substantial evidence supported juvenile court’s findings of good cause to deny transfer of jurisdiction to tribal court and supported the juvenile court’s holding that the Department of Health and Human Services met the “active efforts” standard required by the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read more … Read more
In April, a grassroots movement led by Lakota grandmothers toured the country to build support for a formal complaint of genocide against the United States government and its constituent states. Though temporarily overturned, the recent conviction of Efrain Rios Montt for genocide against indigenous Guatemalans should give US officials, particularly members of the Supreme Court, … Read more
The decisions of the South Dakota Supreme Court contain many cases involving the federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act.They are always a sad story… Read more at the Black Hills Pioneer website. Research cases and law relating to ICWA in South Dakota at the Practical Guide to the Indian Child Welfare Act … Read more
The South Dakota Department of Social Services is seeking the dismissal of an Indian Child Welfare Act lawsuit filed by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.The lawsuit accuses the state of violating ICWA by removing Indian children from their homes without due process to their families or to tribes… Read more at … Read more
Bryan Samuels, the Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) wrote a letter to tribal leaders and state child welfare directors in April 2013 regarding the importance on ongoing consultation and coordination around the delivery of child welfare services. Read the letter and attachments at https://icwa.narf.org/documents/20130429_Samuels-letter.pdf.
Federal officials met with South Dakota’s nine Sioux tribes on Wednesday for a historic summit in Rapid City. A year in the making, it was an effort to address long standing concerns over the high number of Native American children the state places in white foster homes. State officials, however, didn’t show up for the … Read more
The Indian Child Welfare Act summit will be held May 15-17 in Rapid City, South Dakota with the hopes to build a working relationship towards a better understanding of the law and its interpretation among tribal, state, federal and organization leaders. Read more at the Indian Country Today website.
RAPID CITY—The alleged abuses of the Indian Child Welfare Act in the Pennington County court system has been called “shocking” by two attorneys. According to Stephen Pevar, attorney for the ACLU, “What happened in the Pennington County Courts is something you would expect in a Third World Country.” Read the full article at Indianz.com.
Center for Native American Youth Dialogue: Indian Child Welfare – Highlighting the Invisible June 6, 2013; 12:00 to 1:30 PM The Aspen Institute One Dupont Circle, Suite 700; Washington, DC 20036 RSVP to cnayrsvp at aspeninst dot org or 202-736-2908.
On May 7, the U.S. Congress introduced a resolution “Recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of children in the foster-care system, and encouraging Congress to implement policy to improve the lives of children in the foster-care system.” See H.Res. 203.
I am outraged by Supreme Court case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. As a lifelong civil rights activist, I remember the struggle to pass the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978 and the reasons it is still so badly needed to protect our families and Native American cultures. Read more at Indian Country Today.
Native American studies chair Bruce Duthu and writing professor Julie Kalish discussed Baby Veronica’s future in a panel on Friday. See more at The Dartmouth.com.
The Great Plains Indian Child Welfare Act Summit will feature tribal leaders, ICWA experts, lawmakers, BIA officials, and a civil rights attorney from the Department of Justice. The conference will articulate structural solutions to a long-standing crisis in Native foster care in South Dakota, where 740 Lakota children are taken into foster care by the … Read more
The constitutionality of ICWA is based on two propositions: First, these special laws for Indians are not race based. And second, Congress has the authority to issue special laws with regard to Indian people and tribes. If the Baby Girl Court rejected either of these positions, not only would ICWA be unconstitutional, most of Indian … Read more
One of Father Jerry’s immediate dreams was to establish a mobile computer lab where students can improve their reading and math skills, prepare and take standardized tests and learn about the world beyond the reservation. During his visit to Immaculate Conception Parish, he was presented with a check for more than $15,000 in donations. This … Read more
Learn more and register at the NICWA website. June 5–6, 2013 | Portland, Oregon Participants may choose one of the two workshops listed below. Introduction to Tribal Child Welfare This two-day workshop is designed for tribal staff, tribal council members, or child welfare committee or commission members who are new to the field of child … Read more
Since Indian children are still over-represented in Michigan’s child welfare system, Greenleaf-Maldonado, a Tribal Court Judge for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and many others worked for years on an even stronger state version of the law. It passed in January with almost unanimous bi-partisan support. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court might throw a wrench into Michigan’s … Read more
Contextualization of the Indian Child Welfare Act on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry: the other piece of logic that was part of the slave trade and part of the adoption story is part of the missionary aspect. this idea that you’re not only saving this child from the subpar culture but saving them through connections to the … Read more
High-Profile Custody Case New York Times 2013/04/26 To the Editor: Re (editorial, April 16): Your editorial about the case now before the United States Supreme Court says the child should be returned by the biological father, Dusten Brown, to her putat… Baby Veronica and the Law of Race Indian Country Today Media Network 2013/04/28 Upon reading my … Read more
According to a press release from the Department of Justice: The Department of Justice honored the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s Tribal Victim Services program for creating a healing arts program for sexual assault victims. Attorney General Eric Holder presented the program with an award during the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week awards ceremony on Wednesday, … Read more
In 1978, Congress responded to the high numbers of Indian children being removed from their homes by passing the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. …. Some non-Indian foster parents who have taken in children from Spirit Lake say they are frustrated and confused by practices that seem not to be in the children’s best … Read more
On April 23, 2013, petition for certiorari was filed with the Supreme Court for Nebraska v. Elise M., a Nebraska case that looks at: (1) Whether ICWA prohibits a state court from considering the ’best interests of the child” when determining whether “good cause” exists to deny the transfer of an ongoing child welfare case. … Read more
In the context of the recent Supreme Court hearing in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, Walter Olson,a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies, critiques the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act in this April 22, 2013, opinion piece at reason.com.
An April 20, 2013, letter to the editor from John Nichols, the lawyer for Dusten Brown in the Supreme Court case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl briefly speaks to trends in Native American adoption cases. See the letter at the Washington Post website. Mr. Nichols’ letter was in response to the April 16, 2013, Washington … Read more
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Baby Veronica case Tuesday, local advocates will submit a petition to change the federal law that removed the girl from her adoptive home. More than 1,000 people in Oklahoma have signed the petition, in addition to more than 22,000 other people nationwide. Read the full article from April 16, … Read more
SCOTUS to rule in Baby Veronica case by midsummer Live 5 WCSC 2013/04/16 WASHINGTON, DC (WCSC)- After listening to an hour and a half of oral arguments, Supreme Court justices officially submitted Baby Veronica custody case hearing at the national level. Now it’s a waiting game … Adoption Case Brings Rare Family Law Dispute To Supreme … Read more
Angry over the way Swain County social services workers handled a child abuse case in which a 15-month old girl died, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is planning to form its own agency to protect children on a North Carolina reservation. Read the full article at Asheville’s Citizen-Times.com.
On The Voice of Russia, American Edition, radio station, the Due Diligence show interviewed three attorneys about the Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case. Interviews included: Phillip J. McCarthy, who represents the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and wrote an amicus brief supporting the adoptive couple, Lori Alvino McGill, a constitutional attorney for Latham & … Read more
A transcript for today’s oral argument in Adoptive Parents v. Baby Girl can be found here. Audio recordings of oral arguments heard by the U.S. Supreme Court are made available to the public at the end of each argument week. If you are interested in learning more about the case or reading briefs that were … Read more
John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund; Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians; and Terry Cross, Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, have published an op-ed in Politico on Adoptive Parents v. Baby Girl, which was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court today. To … Read more
Casey Family Programs releases a press release on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case before the U.S. Supreme Court: SEATTLE – Casey Family Programs with the support of 17 other national child welfare organizations has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The case … Read more
The United States Supreme Court next Tuesday hears argument in a head-spinning case that blends the rank bigotry of the nation’s past with the glib sophistry of the country’s present. The case is about a little girl and a Nation, a family and a People. The question at the center of it has been asked … Read more
Indian Country and friends of Indian Country are invited to gather on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 8 a.m. on the steps of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. for a prayer gathering in advance of the oral arguments of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. Members of the Native American Rights Fund, the … Read more
Q&A With Cherokee Counsel for Baby Veronica Case: Read the article published on 4/11/13 in Indian Country Today.
CATOOSA – Members of the National Indian Child Welfare Association on Monday asked for a federal law to be left intact as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to take up a Nowata family’s case next week. Read the entire article published in Tulsa World on 4/09/13.
U.S. Supreme Court hears “Baby Veronica” case next week. 16 months ago, a South Carolina court ordered the adoptive parents of a child known to many as “Baby Veronica” to give her to her biological father who lives in Bartlesville. Since then, this case has been tied up in the courts.. read more.
It took a powerful, disturbing dream from which she awoke sobbing to convince Robin Charboneau, an Oglala Sioux and member of North Dakota’s Spirit Lake tribe, that “I needed to open my mouth, and I needed to speak.” So she let the documentary filmmaker David Sutherland follow her for more than three years as she … Read more
An op-ed from Terry Cross, the executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association discussing the media and public attention on Dusten Brown, the father in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (12-399): At the heart of the case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl is the story of a father who desperately wants to raise … Read more
RAPID CITY — Rallying supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act carried signs calling for an end of human trafficking of Indian children and waited in the cold for the historic filing of a class action lawsuit against the State of South Dakota. Read the entire article at http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/009108.asp.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Attorney General Janet Mills announced Thursday that she has signed on to a case in the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the full enforcement of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act. The Indian Child Welfare Act spells out federal standards meant to ensure that the rights of Native American children, their parents and … Read more
Daryle Conquering Bear Crow (Oglala Sioux Tribe), Foster Care Alumni and Consultant for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and National Resource Center for Tribes Summary: Judges, lawyers, guardian ad litem attorneys, CASA volunteers and others need to keep in mind the agony, hurt and lack of connection that many native youth … Read more
More than a year after a controversial National Public Radio investigation into violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act in South Dakota, an ombudsman report judging its accuracy has yet to see the light of day. …From the beginning, though, state officials have called the NPR series misleading. While it’s common for targets of news … Read more
Few decisions made by the state of South Dakota carry the emotional weight of removing a child from a home. For Native American children, whose culture is scarred by a troubling history of forced displacement by whites, the decision has emotional and legal implications. Federal law says native children belong in native homes except in … Read more
With the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux tribes filed a federal class action today in Rapid City against at least two Department of Social Services employees, Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo and presiding 7th Circuit Judge Jeff Davis. The tribes and others are challenging what they call … Read more
Three Indian parents and two tribes in South Dakota filed a class-action lawsuit today over repeated violations of their fundamental rights during the separation process of children from their families by state officials. The children were removed from their homes without their parents or tribes getting timely, fair and adequate hearings, as required by law. … Read more
As anticipated, the Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, an Indian Child Welfare Act case that’s before the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief supports Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation whose rights are at issue in the case. Government attorneys urged the Supreme Court to … Read more
In Maine, an unusual and historic process is under way to document child welfare practices that once resulted in Indian children being forcibly removed from their homes. Many of the native children were placed with white foster parents. Chiefs from all five of Maine’s tribes, along with Gov. Paul LePage, have created a Truth and … Read more
The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Indian Law Section is seeking feedback on its plan to file an amicus curiae brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, brought by a couple who attempted to adopt a Native American child. Comments are due by March 20. Read more at http://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/Pages/General-Article.aspx?ArticleID=10627
The National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund are lining up some major support as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, an Indian Child Welfare Act case. At least a dozen briefs will be filed in support of Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation whose rights are at issue in the case. Briefs are … Read more
Susan Fedorko was 40 years old when she found her birth family—or rather, when a long-lost sister found her. Her first book,Cricket: Secret Child of a Sixties Supermodel(Outskirts Press, 2012) chronicles Fedorko’s journey from Native American adoptee-turned “white” mother and wife, to a person reunited with her extended family. Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/26/reclaiming-her-identity-conversation-native-adoptee-and-author-susan-fedorko-147877
A South Dakota grandmother comments on the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act in her state: As I read on the newspaper sites in Indian Country that Indian Child Welfare Act Summit is coming to South Dakota, National Public Radio writes of the demise of South Dakota taking all these children. I have to … Read more
From the Lakota People’s Law Project website: Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Directors in South Dakota voted 6-0 to submit a report to Congress asserting that the South Dakota Department of Social Service has for over a decade “systematically violated the spirit and the letter of the Indian Child Welfare Act.” ICWA directors are federal … Read more
Beginning in October 2011, NPR has created a series of investigative pieces looking at Native American foster care in South Dakota. The pieces raise issues about the ethics of the current system, the historical context of Native American foster, and possible violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act. October, 2011 – Native Foster Care: Lost … Read more
In response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to hear Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the New York Times recently featured this discussion of ICWA in its Room for Debate opinion pages. At http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/24/adoptive-parents-vs-tribal-rights : Should the adoption of American Indian children receive special consideration, or is it too focused on race? Kevin Noble Maillard, … Read more