Turtle Talk

Kathryn E. Fort has published “The Challenge of Indian Child Welfare Act Enforcement in the Modern Age of Child Dependency” in the Yale Law Journal Forum.

Here is the abstract:

Nearly fifty years after its passage, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) remains a vital part of the child welfare system to protect Native children and families. Since then, both federal and state law have incorporated provisions of ICWA for the benefit of all families in that system. However, ICWA itself is regularly disregarded and misunderstood by practitioners and judicial officers. This Essay describes the application of ICWA in the current child welfare system, as well as identifies programs designed to improve implementation of the law, all from the perspective of an appellate practitioner with twenty years of ICWA experience. While there is no magic wand to wave that can fix the persistent barriers to ICWA enforcement and implementation, the continued work of those committed to changing the current system creates solutions that can benefit Native families and, if history is any guide, ultimately all families.