Thursday, June 15, 2023

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) upheld

The Supreme Court ruled today, upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act.

"The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a federal law, intended to rectify past government abuses, that gives preference to the foster care and adoption of Native American children by their relatives and tribes.

In a 7-2 decision, the court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which was passed to remedy what Congress said was a disgraceful history in which hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their homes by adoption agencies and placed with White families or in group settings."

The ICWA doesn't address custody disputes between parents, and today's ruling doesn't address that topic.

"The court’s ruling Thursday did not resolve the broader question of whether the child-welfare law violates equal protection guarantees by placing non-Indian families on unequal footing with Indian families in custody disputes."

— "Native adoptions can give priority to tribal families, Supreme Court rules," (subscriber gift link), Ann E. Marimow and Robert Barnes, Washington Post, June 15, 2023.

Regarding divorce with children, or child custody between unmarried parents: For more information on child custody law in your U.S. state, see Custody X Change.

Parent and child walking in the woods
Image by Lorraine Cormier from Pixabay

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