The History & Future of The Indian Child Welfare Act: Implications for tribal sovereignty and native family preservation

Across the country, there are 574 federally recognized Native American tribes that have a government-to-government relationship with the United States. As sovereign nations, they have legal jurisdiction over their lands and citizens. However, until the passing of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), the authority of Tribes to exercise their exclusive jurisdiction over their Native children in child custody proceedings was not recognized. ICWA established procedural guidelines for placement and removal protocols that mandate notice to Native families and Tribes in all pending child custody proceedings to prioritize family integrity and adhere to tribal sovereignty. In recent years, ICWA has been a legal battleground between non-native families seeking to adopt native children and native families trying to keep children connected to their culture and communities. The current legal challenge to ICWA is headed to the Supreme Court, which could either reaffirm the constitutionality of the law acknowledging the special relationship between tribes and the federal government or strike it down as an unconstitutional “race-based” law in violation of equal protection and states’ rights.

The Field Center and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School presents a virtual webinar series exploring the history and future of ICWA and the potential implications of the Supreme Court case for native children, families, and tribal sovereignty.

Session 1: Background and Implementation of the Law
The panel of academic, practitioner and legal experts will present insights from their work and discuss the role of ICWA alongside innovative child welfare system practice.

PANELISTS:
Kimberly Cluff, Legal Director at the California Tribal Families Coalition
Sheldon Spotted-Elk, Senior Director for Judicial and National Engagement at Casey Family Programs
Nikki Farago, Deputy Commissioner for Agency Culture and Relations at the Minnesota Department of Human Services
Moderated by Kara Finck, Director of the Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

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