The first comprehensive update issued since ICWA's implementation in
1978, it requires state courts to ask all participants in child custody
proceedings whether a child is an “Indian child," legally defined as
being a member of, or eligible for membership in, a federally recognized
tribe.
A new federal rule issued this month under the Indian Children
Welfare Act could keep more Native children in tribal communities,
advocates say.
The new regulation requires
state child custody proceedings to more consistently apply the federal
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) by imposing several new standards. The first comprehensive update issued since ICWA’s implementation in 1978, it requires state courts to ask all participants in child custody proceedings whether a child is an “Indian child,” legally defined as being a member of, or eligible for membership in, a federally recognized tribe.
The regulation, issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and set to go
into effect in December, also clarifies when child custody cases can be
transferred to tribal courts, and requires parents and the tribe to be
notified when a family is involuntarily relinquishing a child, among other key provisions.
Prior to ICWA’s enactment, an estimated 25 to 35 percent of
Native children had been separated from their families in
what congressional testimony at the time described as an “Indian child
welfare crisis of massive proportions.”
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