We don’t post all of the unpublished ICWA notice cases, but they are obviously still out there. An appellate court cannot determine if ICWA notice has happened if there is nothing in the record at the trial court level:
Nor can we find that the error was harmless. While father filed an ICWA–020 form indicating that he was not aware of any Indian ancestry, no such form appears in the record with respect to appellant. Similarly, the record contains no copies of either the certified notices sent to the Cherokee tribes in 2009 or 2010 or any responses from those tribes. Finally, it does not appear that any proof of the juvenile court’s ICWA finding from the prior matter was submitted to the juvenile court in this matter. Consequently, it was not possible for the juvenile court in the present case to assess the propriety of the notice given, whether all three federally recognized Cherokee tribes received notice, whether either of the two Cherokee tribes besides the Cherokee Nation responded, or precisely what the juvenile court’s finding that ICWA did not apply was based on. (Cf. In re Jennifer A. (2002) 103 Cal.App.4th 692, 703 [finding prejudicial error where Agency stated in a report that it had sent notices to tribes in compliance with ICWA, but no evidence was presented to juvenile court concerning Agency’s communications with tribes].)
Case here.
Turtle Talk 