A 23-year-old member of the Choctaw Nation is trying to gain custody of his newborn twins, a situation tribal lawyers and child welfare advocates say is all too common in Oklahoma.

The tribe is using the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to help the man gain custody of the infants, who were given up for adoption by the mother.. An agency placed them in a Choctaw family's home but the tribe is objecting because the father wasn't involved.

ICWA was passed to keep Indian children in Indian families. A 1974 study showed that 25 percent to 35 percent of Indian children had been removed from their families at some point in their lives, according to The Daily Oklahoman.

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Law working to preserve kids' Indian heritage (The Daily Oklahoman 7/6)
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