In recognition of the tireless advocacy of the many child welfare workers, foster parents, volunteers and family members who care for Native children in state custody, tribal nations have been promoting National Foster Care Month to raise awareness about the need for more Native foster homes in the United States.
Synopsis from Westlaw: Cherokee Nation filed petition to transfer guardianship action regarding Indian children to Cherokee Nation District Court, to which children’s guardians objected. The District Court, Okfuskee County, Lawrence W. Parish, J., denied transfer. Cherokee Nation appealed.
Holding from Westlaw: The Court of Civil Appeals, Jane P. Wiseman, P.J., held that guardians failed to comply with notice and reunification requirements, and thus advanced stage of proceeding did not constitute good cause preventing transfer to tribal court.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
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.
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 granted upon completion of the 30-hour training course and six hours of courtroom observation.
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 a more effective and efficient bridge between both institutions that will support and enhance Cherokee Nation tribal child welfare services. This collaboration will include ongoing workforce training as well as a workforce entry and retention plan.
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.
“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 a loving and nurturing home that is culturally appropriate.”
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.
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 seeking the legal fees incurred while fighting the lengthy custody battle over 4-year-old Veronica.
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 highly contentious custody dispute.
James Anaya
“Veronica’s human rights as a child and as member of the Cherokee Nation, an indigenous people, should be fully and adequately considered in the ongoing judicial and administrative proceedings that will determine her future upbringing,” Mr. Anaya stressed. “The individual and collective rights of all indigenous children, their families and indigenous peoples must be protected throughout the United States.”
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 grants stay to keep girl with biological dad (Family Law Prof Blog, 9/6/2013)
The Feminist Defense for Baby Veronica’s Dad and ICWA (Indian Country Today, 9/6/2013)
‘Baby Veronica’ birth father freed after surrendering (Reuters, 9/5/2013)
Dad of Cherokee girl at center of custody fight challenging extradition to face charges in SC (Washington Post, 9/5/2013)
Okla. Governor Signs Extradition Order; Dusten Brown Turns Himself In (Indian Country Today, 9/5/2013)
Okla. Court Puts Hold On Return Of ‘Baby Veronica’ To S.C. (NPR, 9/4/2013)
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 affirm a South Carolina decision that prevented Brown’s biological daughter from being adopted by a non-Indian couple.
opportunity to live in a loving and nurturing home that is culturally appropriate.”
