Minnesota Supreme Court blocks tribe from adoption case

Thursday, October 27, 2011  

Adoption cases involving Indian children who aren't "domiciled" on the reservation cannot be transferred to tribes, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

The White Earth Band of Ojibwe Indians asserted jurisdiction over an adoption case involving a child who is a tribal member. However, neither the child, nor the child's parents, ever lived on the reservation, according to the decision.

As a result, the court said the Indian Child Welfare Act doesn't apply in this case. The law recognizes tribal rights in only two of four types of proceedings, the decision stated.

ICWA "gives the child’s tribe the right to intervene 'at any point' in two of the four defined types of child custody proceedings -- foster care placement and termination of parental rights -- but does not give the child’s tribe the right to intervene in state court proceedings for preadoptive or adoptive placement," the court wrote,

"We are persuaded that Congress did not intend to permit the transfer of adoptive and preadoptive placement proceedings to tribal courts," the court added.

Justice Paul H. Anderson dissented. He said it was clear that Congress intended to keep Indian children in tribal families when it passed ICWA in 1978.

"Congress was addressing a national problem, specifically, a failure by states to ''recognize the essential tribal relations of Indian people and the cultural and social standards prevailing in Indian communities and families,'" Anderson wrote, quoting from ICWA.

Against this backdrop, Anderson said tribes should be involved in adoption cases. "ICWA establishes in tribal courts concurrent jurisdiction with state courts for all child custody proceedings involving Indian children not domiciled or residing on their tribe’s reservation," he wrote.

In 2007, 11 tribes signed an ICWA agreement with the state. However, the court said the agreement is void to the extent that it allows the transfer of preadoptive or adoptive placement proceedings to tribes.

The court also said Rule 48 of the Minnesota Rules of Juvenile Protection Procedure, which provides for a "juvenile protection matter” to tribes, does not apply in preadoptive or adoptive placement proceedings.

Turtle Talk posted documents from the case, In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of: R.S. and L.S., Parents.

Get the Story:
High court: State, not tribe, must preside over adoption (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 10/27)

Minnesota Supreme Court Decision:
In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of: R.S. and L.S., Parents (October 27, 2011)