Indian Child Welfare Act Annual Case Law Update and Commentary 2018

Abstract

There are, on average, 200 appellate cases dealing with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) annually — including published and unpublished opinions.2 There are usually around thirty reported state appellate court cases involving ICWA issues every year. Before last year, no legal scholar had published a systematic overview of the cases on appeal that analyzed the parties involved, the issues on appeal, and the trends present in these cases. For the second year in a row, this article seeks to fill that void.

This article provides a comprehensive catalogue of 2018 ICWA jurisprudence from across all fifty states. Designed as a quick reference for the ICWA practitioner, this article also summarizes key case decisions that have interpreted the law in meaningful, significant, or surprising ways and tracks current attempts by ICWA’s opponents to overturn the law piece-by-piece and in its entirety. By providing an overview of last year’s ICWA cases, this article is meant to keep practitioners up-to-date so that they can be effective in the juvenile courtroom without having to sort through and read dozens of cases published across all fifty jurisdictions.

Keywords: Indian Child Welfare Act, Child Welfare, Family Law, Indian Law, Tribal Law