Diverse Native Turnout Demonstrates Widespread Support for Proposed Regulations
PORTLAND, Ore., April 29, 2015
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Citing strong participation at each hearing
hosted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Portland, Oregon, last
week and overwhelming feedback from constituents, the executive director
of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, today offered
continued support for proposed regulations that will strengthen Indian
Child Welfare Act (ICWA) protections for children.
"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 relatives,
and staff from state agencies all stood up to express their support for
the proposed regulations. Their message is clear. Our children need
these protections."
Kastelic pointed to some key provisions of the
regulations that could prove most impactful. For example, the proposed
regulations provide clarity in how parents, custodians, and tribes must
be notified in cases—including voluntary cases like private
adoptions—involving Native children. They require that active efforts be
made immediately to prevent the breakup of a Native family, and specify
that certain key witnesses in placement hearings must be qualified to
speak on the child's specific cultural considerations.
The proposed regulations also definitively reject
what is commonly known as the "Existing Indian Family Exception," a
clarification that Kastelic says is long overdue.
"In the past, some courts created exceptions that
allowed state judges the discretion to decide who is an Indian and who
is not based on what was often very limited knowledge and expertise.
Even though an overwhelming number of states and the U.S. Supreme Court
have rejected this exception, we applaud the BIA for leaving no question
about its intention to close this destructive loophole once and for
all."
Additional hearings are scheduled in New Mexico,
Minnesota, and Oklahoma. The deadline for submitting comments to the BIA
is May 19, 2015.
The National Indian Child Welfare Association is
dedicated to the well-being of American Indian and Alaska Native
children and families and works to support the safety, health, and
spiritual strength of Native children along the broad continuum of their
lives.
Contact: Nicole Adams
E:nicole@nicwa.org
P: (503) 222-4044
W:www.nicwa.org
