The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a federal law, intended to rectify past government abuses, that gives preference the foster care and adoption of Native American children by their relatives and tribes.
In a 7-2 decision, the court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act , which was passed to remedy what Congress said was a disgraceful history in which hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their homes by adoption agencies and placed with White families or in group settings.The law was challenged by seven individuals and three states, led by Texas.
Traditionally, family courts base custody and decisions on the best interest of the child. But ICWA sets up a hierarchy of placement for Indian children, preferring first the child’s extended family, then members of the child’s tribe, then another Indian family — even if from a different tribe.
The case arrived at the Supreme Court from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where part of the law was upheld and part was held unconstitutional. The complicated rulingIn a high-profile 2013 case involving a child who became known as “Baby Veronica,” the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the child welfare act did not require the girl, who had been adopted by a non-Native couple, to be placed in the custody of her birth father, a member of a tribe who had never had custody of the child.
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