This week, in continued observance of National Adoption Month and National Native American Heritage Month, the Harris County Hainsworth Law Library is highlighting a key resource from our LexisNexis Digital eBook Collection designed to support legal professionals working with Native American children and their families: The Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook: A Legal Guide to the Custody and Adoption of Native American Children (Third Edition). Now fully revised (2018) and updated, this one-of-a-kind guide remains an essential reference for attorneys, judges, social workers, counselors, and others whose work intersects with child welfare and adoption law.
Read moreBrackeen v. Haaland: What Does the Future Hold for the Indian Child Welfare Act?
November is both National Native American Heritage Month and National Adoption Month. Tomorrow, November 9, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case that has implications related to both, Brackeen v. Haaland, which concerns the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1963. The ICWA governs the removal, placement, and return of Native American children in child welfare proceedings for both foster care and adoption. At issue on appeal is the constitutionality of the act’s child placement preferences, as set forth in 25 U.S.C. § 1915. This blog sets forth the ICWA’s child placement preferences and a brief procedural history of the case.
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