CJP Training Series - ICWA: Understanding the New Guidelines

ICWA: Understanding the New Guidelines  

Sheldon Spotted Elk, J.D., Director of the Indian Child Welfare Unit at Casey Family Programs will provide an overview of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), including the new guidelines. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1963, was enacted in 1978 in response to a crisis affecting Indian children, families and Tribes. Studies revealed that large numbers of Indian children were being separated from their parents, extended families, and communities and placed in non-Indian homes.  Through ICWA, Congress established minimum federal standards to be applied in state child custody proceedings. The Act requires state courts to utilize these federal standards to determine almost all of key issues that must be decided in child custody proceedings–when a child can be removed or parental rights terminated, what constitutes consent to adoption, and placement of the child in both adoption and foster care proceedings.  Compliance with these requirements has been uneven across the country and certain provisions have been interpreted differently from one state to another.  For that reason, the Department of Interior has issued new guidelines clarifying how the Act should be applied, and it is anticipated that binding regulations will be issued shortly.