ICWA Overturned

The ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) was enacted in 1978 in response to a crisis affecting Native children, families, and tribes. The act protects Natives within the United States child welfare and adoption systems by a set of federal requirements issued by ICWA that are applicable within state child custody proceedings where a Native child is either a member and/or eligible for membership of a federally recognized tribal community. The purpose of this act is to ensure preventative steps to protecting Native children, families, and tribes from the traumatic separation and loss of a young tribal member within their community. Extensive research has shown that children raised by extended family or within their communities thrive more. Native children are placed in foster care at disproportionate rates in comparison to their overall population across several states. This contributes to indigenous erasure by extracting indigenous children from their communities, cultural practices, customs, and ultimately prevents them from inheriting and upholding their tribe’s knowledge and traditions. In October of 2018, a Texas judge ruled ICWA as a “race-based statute” in violation of the constitution (regarding the Brackeen case) which was then appealed by three tribal nations reversing the former ruling. The Brackeen’s are an evangelical couple from Fort Worth, Texas who formerly stated in comments to the NY Times that fostering a child would “rectify their blessings” (their material successes) and that they’ve “done nothing to sign up to do good”. This adoption is fueled by the family's unaddressed deep-rooted shame, religious redemption, and white guilt surrounding their wealth and thus they’ve taken on a white saviorist role to “do good” by taking a Native child from their Navajo mother and their rightful tribal sovereignty. The supporting end of the Brackeen case argues against unjust racial preference utilizing reverse-racism tactics to defend their harmful basis. Earlier this month a Fifth Circuit Court federal judge ruled components of the ICWA unconstitutional. This case is a heartbreaking example of why BIPOC children need protection.