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Preserving Native-American Heritage over Other Best-Interest Considerations
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 398 S.C. 625, (S.C. 2012), a case in which the Supreme Court of South Carolina confirmed a lower court's return of a Native-American child to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee Nation, over the objections of her would-be adoptive parents, who are not American Indians. The state high court based its decision on the dictates of the Federal Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C.S. ' 1901 et. seq. (ICWA), a law enacted in 1978 to promote the rights of Native Americans and their tribes to maintain their heritage in the face of encroachment by the greater U.S. culture. Congress had deemed the legislation necessary because, prior to its enactment, Indian children were being removed from their homes at an alarming rate on the basis of neglect findings precipitated in large part by the tendency of “many social workers, ignorant of Indian cultural values and social norms … [to] discover neglect or abandonment where none exists.” H.R. Rep. No. 1386, at 22 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 7530, 7533.'
The questions raised by Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl concern both the trial court's findings of fact and just how the ICWA should sway the balance of competing interests: the child's, the biological parents', the adoptive parents', and the tribe's. The case is being closely watched by family practitioners and others interested in child welfare law, as its outcome will affect the adoption prospects of Native-American children nationwide.
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