9/6/22

Wyoming latest state to consider ICWA provisions

In November the Supreme Court of the United States will hear Brackeen v. Haaland to determine whether the Indian Child Welfare Act or ICWA violates the constitution by considering placement of Indigenous children solely based on race. Tribal nations are recognized by the federal government as political sovereigns, not a racial group.
New Mexico has joined nine other states in enacting their own version of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a national policy that aims to keep Native American children with their families and communities. New Mexico’s new law even gives Indigenous nations the opportunity to take jurisdiction over cases and investigate through the tribal court system. “We’ve seen states slowly chip away at tribal sovereignty, through gaming compacts, land rights issues,” said Micha Bitsinnie, policy fellow for Bold Futures, who advocated for the act. [The platinum standard of the Indian Child Welfare Act]
According to attorney Kate Fort ICWA is constitutional so it's not impossible Justice Neil Gorsuch will side with the sane members of the Court like he did in McGirt v. Oklahoma.
During the Select Committee on Tribal Relations interim committee meeting on Aug. 29 Clare Johnson, lawyer for the Northern Arapaho, explained the importance of the federal law to tribes in Wyoming, noting she was dealing with 62 child welfare cases at the time of the hearing. [With Indian Child Welfare Act at risk, Wyoming lawmakers mull action]
Republican former South Dakota Governors Daugaard and Rounds and Attorney General Marty Jackley covered up their state's abuses. In 2011 NPR took on the Daugaard Duck Dynasty in a three part exposé. Pennington County's behavior has been called shocking and Democratic former US Senator James Abourezk even urged the federal government to sue the State of South Dakota after the Guardian published a long piece on the plight of thousands of American Indian children seized by the South Dakota Department of Social Services.

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