indian child welfare act
Indian Child Welfare Act. A federal act that governs child-custody proceedings — including foster-care placement, preadoptive placement, adoptive placement, and termination of parental rights — in cases involving a child of American Indian descent.25 USCA §§ 1911 et seq. • Congress enacted the Act to help protect the best interests of Indian children, to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families, and to counteract the disproportionate foster-care placement and adoption of Indian children by non-Indians. The Act provides minimum federal standards for removing Indian children from their families and for placing them in foster or adoptive homes that will provide an environment reflecting the values of the Indian culture. The Act has an important jurisdictional feature: in a custody dispute involving an Indian child who resides in or is domiciled within an Indian reservation, the tribe and its tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. And in a custody dispute involving an Indian child who lives off a reservation, upon petition, any state court should usu. defer and transfer the case to the tribal court unless a party demonstrates good cause to the contrary. — Abbr. ICWA.
