ICWA

How much do you know about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)? It was an act passed in 1978 to control the child welfare cases of Native American children. It gives tribal governments jurisdiction over states when the child in question is living on a reservation. For children not living on a reservation, the tribal government has equal power to the state and can request that the case be transfered from the state court to the tribal court.

If parental rights are to be terminated, there is a heirarcy for where the child should be placed. First, extended family, then other members of the tribe, then other Native Americans who are not memebers of the tribe and lastly non-Native Americans. The purpose of this is to preserve the child's culture as much as possible.

For more details please see A Practical Guide to the Indian Child Welfare Act from the Native American Rights Fund.