Indianz.Com > Lawsuit challenges constitutionality of Indian Child Welfare Act

[Panich52]

Two adoption groups have opened a new war against the Indian Child Welfare Act amid the Obama administration's efforts to strengthen the decades-old law.

The National Council for Adoption and Building Arizona Families filed the lawsuit in federal court in Virginia today. It claims ICWA violates the constitutional rights of birth parents by denying them the ability to place Indian children in the homes of their choosing.

"It violates birth parents’ rights to due process under the Fifth Amendment by interfering with their ability to direct the upbringing of their ‘Indian’ children," the complaint states.

The lawsuit also questions new ICWA guidelines that were issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in February. It claims that state agencies and adoption agencies are being forced to take extra steps before finding homes for Indian children.
"The 2015 Guidelines impose significant burdens (financial and otherwise) on NCFA's member agencies," the complaint states, referring to the National Council for Adoption.

The guidelines do not carry the force of law. However, the BIA has proposed a new ICWA rule that seeks to compliance by state courts and child welfare agencies.

A husband and wife team of attorneys is handling the lawsuit free of charge, The National Law Journal reported. Lori Alvino McGill represented the non-Indian biological mother in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, an ICWA case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court did not question the constitutionality of ICWA although some non-Indian groups were hoping that would happen.
Matthew D. McGill, the other lawyer, works at a law firm that submitted briefs in the Baby Girl case.

The defendants are Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn, the head of the BIA.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2015/017626.asp

[leftofcool]

1. Another day, another case of NDN's getting the shaft again.

[Shrike47]

2. If the court throws out ICWA, a lot of Native Americans will lose their parental rights.

I used to represent the state in termination cases. ICWA cases are much more difficult to prove, and some tribes will never agree to adoption Without ICWA, terminations would have been a lot easier for Children's Services. I'm not saying more terminations and adoptions would be a better outcome, but no ICWA would certainly yield a different outcome.

[hopemountain]

3. "what better way to assimilate you, little American Indian Children,

than to deny you the right to a home with your people, to look into the eyes of your people, and to connect to your indigenous roots, language, culture, traditions, and language."

there are white religious groups/cults that prey on young mothers for their babies. the seduction begins a the "pregnancy centers" where the women can receive a free pregnancy test and "counseling".