Court Reform and American Indian and Alaskan Native Children: Increasing Protections and Improving Conditions. Technical Assistance Brief

摘要

Tribal children have a unique political status in the United States. They are U.S. citizens as well as citizens of the sovereign tribal nation of which they are a member. The federal government has a special trust relationship with tribal people that requires it to establish policy and programs to protect the well-being of all American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) people. In the area of child welfare, this unique status and patterns of inappropriate practice historically by many state and private child welfare agencies and state courts have resulted in the federal government establishing federal policies to further protect AI/AN children and families and ensure that tribal governments were actively involved in state child welfare matters involving their members (Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978). Laws have also been created that clarify jurisdictional boundaries of tribal, state and federal courts with respect to child welfare proceedings involving AI/AN children. While the federal protections for tribal children and families have helped to elevate practice and outcomes, there are still ongoing challenges related to the role courts can take in effectively handling child welfare matters for tribal children and families.