In a case steeped in American history the court will decide whether the Indian Child Welfare Act — aimed at preventing Native American children from being separated from their tribes — is tribal protection or racial classification.
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing Wednesday a challenge from Texas and several families who have adopted Native American children who are challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act.
homes, sometimes by force. These agencies then placed the children in institutions or with families that had no tribal connections. ICWA established minimum federal standards for removing native children from their families and required state courts to notify tribes when an Indian child is removed from his or her home outside of a reservation. It also implemented a framework for foster and adoption placements that is at issue in this case.
"It's heartbreaking to us that there are laws out here that say it's better for her to live in a tribal home, any tribal home ... before she is allowed to stay in our home with her brother," adds Chad Brackeen, a civil engineer who stays home with the children. The Biden administration, like past administrations of both political parties, is defending the law. Citing a string of precedents dating back to the early days of the republic, the government says that ICWA draws classifications based not on race but on connections to tribal groups. And under the Constitution, those tribal groups are separate sovereign nations, essentially a political group.
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