Distorting the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) - Katie Jay's guest blogger, Johnston Moore

Source: http://childrendeservefamilies.com

The boys with a picture of their ancestor, Chief White Cloud.

This is a guest blog post from Johnston Moore. Johnston Moore and his wife Terri have been married 26 years and have adopted seven children from the Los Angeles County foster care system. After a career in Hollywood, John co-founded and now serves as Executive Director of Home Forever. John writes extensively and speaks at numerous churches and conferences about foster care and adoption, and he strongly believes that children, traumatized or not, need stability and permanence far more than some manufactured phantom connection to a culture that was never theirs.

Last December, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new DOJ initiative aimed at promoting compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 1978 federal law passed in response to the “wholesale removal” of Native American children from their families. Tribes were rightly concerned at the time that many Indian children were removed from their families by non-Indian social workers unfamiliar with tribal child-rearing practices and placed in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes away from Indian Country, where many were forced to assimilate into the majority culture, losing connection to the tribal life and customs in which they had been raised. Tribes and Indian families suffered greatly too, as they saw many of their younger members taken away.

In his announcement, Holder pledged to “ensure that the next generation of great tribal leaders can grow up in homes that are not only safe and loving, but also suffused with the proud traditions of Indian cultures.” In that statement, Holder demonstrates an alarming level of naiveté regarding ICWA, and the ways it is impacting children today.

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Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl Opinion: A Victory for Children and Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Lauren Koch
(703) 216‐4756
lkoch@adoptioncouncil.org

June 25, 2013 – Alexandria, VA – On June 25, 2013, The Supreme Court of the United States released their opinion on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, argued before the Court April 16, 2013. National Council For Adoption participated by submitting an amicus brief asking the Court to act in a way that would allow children’s complete best interests to be reviewed when their case was impacted by the Indian Child Welfare Act. We believe the Court has done just that by interpreting the provisions in question in a way that allow the Indian Child Welfare Act to continue to protect the culture and heritage within a family without harming the larger best interests of children.

The Court reversed the South Carolina Supreme Court in a 5‐4 decision. The opinion of the Court delivered by Justice Alito (joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Breyer) addresses 3 key pieces of the Indian Child Welfare Act and decides the following:

1. “25 U.S.C. §1912(f) which bars involuntary termination of a parent’s rights in the
absence of a heightened showing that serious harm to the Indian Child is likely to result
from the parent’s ‘continued custody’ of the child – does not apply when, as here, the
relevant parent never had custody of the child.”

2. “25 U.S.C. §1912(d) which conditions involuntary termination of parental rights with
respect to an Indian child on a showing that remedial efforts have been made to prevent
the ‘breakup of the Indian family’ – is inapplicable when, as here, the parent abandoned
the Indian child before birth and never had custody of the child.”

3. “25 U.S.C. §1915(a), which provides placement preferences for the adoption of Indian
children, does not bar a non‐Indian family like Adoptive Couple from adopting an Indian
child when no other eligible candidates have sought to adopt the child.”

“This is a wonderful victory for children and adoption” said Megan Lindsey, Director of Public Policy and Education. “The Court chose to prioritize and protect the best interests of children, preserving culture as a priority, but promising a balanced interpretation that allows a child’s broader best interests to be considered. We at National Council For Adoption are so grateful to the Court for hearing and deciding this important case in a way that shows their commitment to children and families.”

# # #
Passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves to thrive in a nurturing,
permanent family, NCFA’s mission is to meet the diverse needs of children, birthparents,
adopted individuals, adoptive families, and all those touched by adoption through global
advocacy, education, research, legislative action, and collaboration.

More information is available on our website, www.adoptioncouncil.org.

NCFA Interns Venture to the Supreme Court for Oral Arguments on ICWA

NCFA submitted amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs for the Supreme Court case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. The case involves adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, who made an adoption plan with the birthmother of a little baby girl named Veronica. The biological father, Dusten Brown, is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Dusten Brown renounced his parental rights via a text message prior to Veronica’s birth, and based on state law he had no parental rights. However, after receiving notice of the pending adoption, he invoked the Indian Child Welfare Act to gain custody of baby Veronica. The Indian Child Welfare Act was created in 1978 in an effort to keep Native American children with their biological families.

Sourced: By Jaclyn Newton

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