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Indian Child Welfare Act is Leading the Way on Child Welfare Practice [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

 

By Christine James-Brown, The Chronicle of Social Change, January 22, 2020.

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. But anyone can understand that, fundamentally, child welfare practice should be governed by the question: “What is in the best interest of this child?”

Right now, that question is being put to the test in one of the most controversial federal court cases this year. Last August, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear oral arguments in Brackeen v. Barnhardt, a case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. In 2018, a federal judge in Texas ruled ICWA unconstitutional, in contrast to decades of precedent and deep, bipartisan support for the law.

My own organization, the Child Welfare League of America, is among the hundreds of child welfare groups that heartily supports ICWA for a simple, obvious reason: because it enables state child welfare agencies and courts to act in the best interest of Native American children.



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