Brackeen v. Haaland

The Imprint's Q+A with Shannon Smith of the ICWA Law Center on the implications of the Supreme Court's important ruling.

Last week, in a surprising 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court fully upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act in Brackeen v. Haaland. We break down the full opinion of the court and their various reasons for siding in support of the 1978 law that was passed at a time when nearly a third of indigenous children were separated from their family. 

The federal law designed to maintain bonds between Native children and their families and tribes has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abena Hutchful writes that for Indigenous children, access to their own culture's stories may hinge on the Supreme Court's ICWA decision.

Demonstrators gathered at the Supreme Court today to voice support for the Indian Child Welfare Act as the 44-year-old law is challenged.

What you need to know to follow the arguments in next week's Supreme Court case over the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act

The number of youth in foster care is below 400,000 for the first time in nearly a decade. On this week’s podcast, we break down the new data released by the Department of Health and Human Services, Florida’s ban on trans medicine for minors, and the worsening news out of Louisiana’s juvenile justice system.

On this week’s podcast we discuss a landmark case out of New York over the rights of biological parents, connecting homeless children to early childhood programs, a federal end-around on monitoring unaccompanied minors, an AI Bill of Rights, and the placement preferences required by ICWA.

On this week’s podcast we discuss Maine’s legislature suing its child welfare agency over fatality records, the Angola transfer begins in Louisiana, and what low-income families used the enhanced child tax credit for.

On this week’s podcast we discuss a scandal that sparked new mandated reporting laws, the Biden administration’s kinship care ideas, and a new adoption information system in Ireland.

An untold story behind the Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The Supreme Court should uphold the federal law that protects the well-being of Native children by keeping them connected to their families, their tribes and their culture, the authors write.

Tribal leaders emphasize the importance of the Indian Child Welfare Act ahead of oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

A new state law that took effect August 5 in Alaska aims to “address and improve deep structural inequities” in the state’s child welfare system — protecting residents should broader federal protections be overturned by a pending Supreme Court case.

The Supreme Court will begin to hear oral arguments in a case that challenges the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in November.

Marshal Galvan reflects on the continued importance of the Indian Child Welfare Act, decades after its passage.

With the Indian Child Welfare Act facing a Supreme Court challenge, states have enacted their own versions to protect Indigenous families from separation.

While the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on the constitutionality of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, New Mexico has a similar bill on the governor's desk.

We discuss the latest developments in the fight in Texas over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to treat medical services for transgender youth as abuse, a major lawsuit over sexual abuse in L.A.’s

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

As the Canadian government pays out billions of dollars in reparations to Indigenous families torn apart by foster care, a case up for consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court threatens to strip legal protections from U.S.-born Native American children, families and tribal communities. 

On this week’s podcast we discuss what was on Senators’ minds during the confirmation hearing for Biden’s top child welfare officials; more federal scrutiny on for-profit colleges; and the human consequences of family court shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide by the end of the week whether to take up a case involving the rights of Indigenous tribes and families in child welfare cases — an area of law that was thrown into confusion when a federal appeals court invalidated several provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA.

Last month, 25 states urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was signed into law 43 years ago this week.

Parties on both sides of a case over the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act have asked the Supreme Court to step in and decide.

On this week’s podcast we discuss a portal to federal aid for former foster youth; a big juvenile probation reform proposal in California; and new leadership at a pioneer group for elevating parent voice in child welfare. 

Child welfare is a complicated and varied system. Most people, who have not worked in the field of child protection, foster care and adoption — the child welfare system — are not familiar with the many services and practices involved.

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.

Today a federal circuit court reversed a lower court’s ruling by affirming the validity of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a law passed in 1978 to protect Native American families and children when nearly a third of Indian children were being removed from their parents and placed mostly with white families.

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.

On this week’s podcast we discuss new developments in the 2020 death of a teenager killed by staff at a Michigan residential center, state spending on post-permanency and the latest in The Imprint’s “Hidden Foster Care” series. 

As we reported last week, several tribes have appealed the recent ruling striking down the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and are asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a stay on the lower court’s ruling until the appeal is decided on.

Several tribes have formally appealed last month’s decision in a federal district court that the 40-year-old Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is in part unconstitutional. In Brackeen v. Zinke, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in favor of three states – Texas, Indiana and Louisiana – and several foster and adoptive couples, declaring that ICWA was a race-based law lacking a present-day articulation of its need.

While a court battle over a law meant to keep Native American families from being separated seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, a new documentary clearly depicts the horrific circumstances that often arise when states decide to remove Native children from their families.

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.

Late last week, a federal judge ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was unconstitutional, leaving in jeopardy a 40-year-old law meant to protect a tribe’s ability to prevent the removal of children from Indian reservations or families.

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a 40-year-old law that was passed to protect against the separation of American Indian children from their families and tribes by state-run child welfare systems.

Raising my granddaughter was a gift only made possible by the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that's at risk of being overturned by the Supreme Court this year.