Brackeen v. Zinke

The Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law outlining adoption and foster care regulations for American Indian/Alaska Native children in the United States, turns 41 on Nov. 8, 2019. ICWA, as the law is commonly known, has faced dozens of legal challenges over its lifetime and finds supporters and opponents both within and outside Native communities.

The legal challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 40-year-old law passed to protect Native American families from child welfare system intrusion, has its next court date set. Oral arguments in the appeal of a federal district court decision to strike down most of ICWA is scheduled for the week of March 11 at the Fifth Circuit Court Appeals in New Orleans, according to counsel for one of the tribes involved in the case.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals has issued a stay in the case involving an October federal district court decision that struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The decision means that states must follow ICWA at least until the court has decided on the case.

A federal judge in Texas this week denied a stay of his previous ruling on the Indian Child Welfare Act in the Brackeen vs. Zinke lawsuit, saying the defendants failed to demonstrate that harm or injury may come to children, families and tribes as a result of the ruling.

As a child, I was at the heart of two Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases in two separate states, and I am the why behind the law. Every Indian child of all generations before, and every generation to come, is the why behind ICWA.

Earlier this year, policy changes leading to migrant family separations rocked the country, leading to surprise and outrage. How could the United States, founded as a pillar of freedom, even consider a policy that rips children from their families?

Arizona attorneys attempted to leverage a recent Texas ruling on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to persuade a federal court to re-examine its decision not to hear a related case, but that court declined to do so this week.

Two weeks ago, a U.S. District Court in Texas struck down large portions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as unconstitutional. People who believe ICWA treats children unfairly cheered the ruling, while others, who want to preserve the law, criticized it and vowed to fight back.

A recent decision regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) sets the stage for the next battle to defend this critical law that protects the rights of American Indian and Alaska Native people.