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.
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 the full article at The Imprint.
Find a compilation of state ICWA laws, including benchbooks and proposed laws, at Turtle Talk.
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 a future legislative session.
Read the full article at Native News Online.
