The chambers of the Nebraska Supreme Court. Photo from Nebraska Supreme Court
The state must make "active efforts" to keep Indian children in Indian homes, the Nebraska Supreme Court rules today. In 2013, a juvenile court awarded legal custody of three Indian children to the state Department of Health and Human Services but left them in the physical custody of their father, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. By allowing them to remain in the home, the judge said the state made "reasonable efforts" to keep the family together. The father appealed and said the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act imposed a heightened standard even in cases where the state isn't seeking to place the children in foster care. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court agreed. "We hold that at any point in an involuntary juvenile proceeding involving Indian children at which a party is required to demonstrate its efforts to reunify or prevent the breakup of the family, the active efforts standard of ICWA/ NICWA applies in place of the reasonable efforts standard applicable in cases involving non-Indian children," the decision stated. The dispute over the children and whether they should stay with their father has been long-running. In 2009, an appeals court prevented the state from placing them in foster care in a ruling that relied on ICWA. The children have since been physically removed from the father's home, Kevin Abourezk of The Lincoln Journal Star reported. There were allegations of abuse. Get the Story:
Supreme Court: Judge erred in Native American case (The Lincoln Journal Star 11/14) Nebraska Supreme Court Decision:
In re Interest of Shayla H. et al. (November 14, 2014)
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