Alaska tribes should be able to initiate child custody proceedings under the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

A group of tribes sued when the state attorney general in 2004 issued an opinion that said the state courts "have exclusive jurisdiction over child custody proceedings involving Alaska Native children" except in limited circumstances. Several state agencies changed their tribal policies in response to the opinion, leading the Alaska Supreme Court to determine that it was time to review the issue.

"We agree with Judge Suddock: families and children are being affected; State and tribal relations are being affected; the State and Alaska Native tribes, as well as State and tribal courts, are being affected," the court said, citing the judge who originally handled the case.

The Alaska Supreme Court, however, said it didn't have enough facts to lay out the full extent of the tribes' sovereign authority to initiate child custody proceedings. And it wasn't able to say for certain whether tribal court decisions should be afforded full faith and credit in state courts.

But Heather Kendall-Miller of the Native American Rights Fund said the decision was a victory for tribal sovereignty. "This is huge affirmation of tribal power to initiate cases, and beyond, the state under federal law has to place full faith in tribal court decrees," she told The Seward Phoenix Log.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Alaska v. Native Village of Tanana.

In August 2009, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an adoption proceeding in an Alaska tribal court should be recognized by the state. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Get the Story:
State high court empowers tribes' child custody decisions (The Seward Phoenix Log 3/4)

Alaska Supreme Court Decision:
Alaska v. Native Village of Tanana (March 4, 2011)

9th Circuit Decision:
Kaltag Tribal Council v. Jackson (August 28, 2009)

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