The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an Indian Child Welfare Act case this year and a negative ruling could have a nationwide impact.

Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl involves a Cherokee Nation girl who was placed in a non-Indian home. The case has drawn media attention, mostly based on the emotional aspect, but observers say the legal issues don't appear to be warrant Supreme Court intervention.

“You don’t change a whole law because of one case. It’s worked fairly well most of the time," former U.S. Sen. Jim Abourezk, who helped write ICWA, told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

A date for the hearing hasn't been set.

Get the Story:
Case may shape Native American adoptions (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 1/14)
American Indian children's welfare in question with adoptions (The Farmington Daily Times 1/14)

South Carolina Supreme Court Decision:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (July 26, 2012)

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