{"id":21624,"date":"2022-03-01T14:42:42","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T19:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=21624"},"modified":"2022-03-01T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T19:46:03","slug":"cronkite-news-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-indian-child-welfare-act-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/03\/01\/cronkite-news-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-indian-child-welfare-act-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Supreme Court agrees to hear Indian Child Welfare Act case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meet the Brackeens<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R): Meet the Brackeen Family<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Supreme Court to hear Indian Child Welfare Act case involving Navajo child<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, March 1, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Reagan Priest<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON \u2013 The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act filed by a white Texas couple that was almost denied the chance to adopt a Native American boy who was set to be placed with a Navajo family.

<\/P>\r\nJennifer and Chad Brackeen argue that the act, which requires child welfare agencies to give preference to Indigenous families when placing Indigenous children, unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of race and is not always in the best interest of the child.

<\/P>\r\nBut supporters – including 26 states that filed petitions to uphold the law – commonly call the ICWA<\/a> the “gold standard” of child welfare policy, that allows Native children to stay as close to their families and culture as possible when they have to be removed from their parents\u2019 custody.<\/span>

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIt’s helped countless numbers of Native children be able to stay in connection with their families and with their culture and have the ability as they grow older to have those relationships that they otherwise might not have,\u201d said David Simmons, director of government affairs and advocacy for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.

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“US Supreme Court will Hear Challenge to ICWA”: Statement from the Protect ICWA Campaign on the U.S. Supreme’s decision to hear a case that will determine the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act. @NativeChildren @NCAI1944 @IndianAffairs @NDNrights #ProtectICWA #SupremeCourt<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nThe Brackeens are among seven individuals and three states – Texas, Indiana and Louisiana – that sued to change the 1978 law that they claim<\/a> is not only discriminatory but exceeds Congress\u2019 authority and unlawfully requires states to enforce it.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThis is something that hurts Native American children and Native American parents and takes their rights away,\u201d said Timothy Sandefur, the vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institute, which has filed a brief in support of the opponents.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cTribal governments like ICWA because it gives tribal governments a lot of power, but it takes that freedom away from the kids themselves and from their parents,\u201d Sandefur said.

<\/P>\r\nIn Arizona, Native American children accounted for 1,113 of the 13,581 children in the foster care system in fiscal 2021, or 8.2%,<\/a> according to data from the Arizona Department of Child Safety. Nationally,<\/a> Native children made up 2% of children in the foster care system in fiscal 2020, according to the Children\u2019s Bureau in the Department of Health and Human Services.

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In an order on February 28, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted four petitions centered on the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The four cases will be heard together at a future date. Source: U.S. Supreme Court Order List 595 U.S.<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Brackeen case began when the Texas couple tried to adopt A.L.M., a child who was removed from his Navajo mother and Cherokee father when he was 10 months old and placed in foster care with the Brackeens. But when the Brackeens filed to adopt the boy, the Navajo Nation stepped in, saying it had found a Navajo family in New Mexico.

<\/P>\r\nA family court ordered the boy placed with the Navajo family. But when the Brackeens appealed, the Navajo family withdrew, saying it \u201ccould not face the uncertainty of whether they would get custody,\u201d according to the Navajo Nation’s court filing.<\/a>

<\/P>\r\nThe Brackeens were eventually able to adopt the boy, but not before filing suit in federal court challenging the ICWA. They claimed in their October 2017 suit that the law is unconstitutional because its placement preferences \u201cimpermissibly discriminate on the basis of race, exceed Congress\u2019s power over Indian affairs, and impermissibly commandeer state judges.\u201d

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We must #ProtectICWA. #ICWA #ProtectNativeChildren #SCOTUS<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nA district court ruled for the Brackeens. But a sharply divided<\/a> 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the law, while ruling that some questions about whether it \u201ccommandeered\u201d state officials are unconstitutional.

<\/P>\r\nBoth sides appealed. The Brackeens’ case is just one of four<\/a> dealing with the ICWA that the Supreme Court combined Monday<\/a> when it said it will consider the question of whether the law is discriminatory and whether it is congressional overreach into state affairs.

<\/P>\r\nBesides the Navajo Nation, the suit has been joined by the Cherokee Nation, the Oneida Nation, the Quinault Indian Nation and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. The Interior Department has also been joined by 26 states – which the 5th Circuit noted \u201care home to a large majority of federally recognized tribes\u201d – and the District of Columbia in efforts to preserve the law.

<\/P>\r\nSimmons disputed opponents\u2019 claim that the law forces states to act, saying the cooperation between states, tribes and the federal government required by ICWA is actually a benefit.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cChild welfare is a service that needs more people,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cIt needs more agreement, more collaboration. You can’t do that by cutting people out, you’re only going to make it worse. And that’s what ICWA does, it encourages those collaborations, public, private, and otherwise.\u201d

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