Many times over the years, when I represented parents in New York charged for child abuse and neglect, I read petitions hastily concocted by county departments of social services, where the petitions invariably stated that the Department, before filing the petition, verified whether the Indian Child Welfare Act applies, and that it doesn't.
I then talked to parents and, in many times, verified that the parents' family tree did include Native Americans, often in very close relationship to the child.
Here is a link to the text of the actual Indian Child Welfare Act, and its history, and here are the "Frequently asked questions" about that statute.
Parents have a real way to protect themselves and their children from the grubby (and often dirty) hands of social services by keeping their Native American heritage alive.
As the recent precedent shows, where a girl was taken from a foster family (meaning, the child was placed with that family by social services) because she had 1.5% Native American blood, and was removed from the reach of state social services, gives a good illustration of protections the Indian Child Welfare Act provides.
Social services are sloppy.
When social services rubber-stamp that they did inquiries under the Indian Child Welfare Act, that is usually not true, but if the child qualifies under ICWA, the state social services have no authority to touch the child - ICWA is a jurisdictional statute.
Kudoz for the court to follow the ICWA law and setting this precedent that, I am sure, will help many other children and parents.
