Iowa Commission to Introduce Bill Providing Process to Restore Parental Rights

The Iowa Commission on Native American Affairs will be introducing a bill during next year’s state legislative session that would provide a process to restore parental rights to Native American parents who have lost children through Iowa's child welfare system, as reported today by DesMoinesRegister.com.

The proposed bill comes about a month after a two-day hearing during which the commission heard testimony from Native American families and advocates who are dissatisfied with the state's high rate of removal of Indian children.

The bill, which will be like one that passed in Illinois, would allow parents to appeal to have their rights restored if their children have not already been adopted and if the parents have “cleaned up their act.” 

California Faulty in ICWA Notifications to Tribes

California courts hear more Indian Child Welfare Act cases than any other state in the country, because the state social workers are not complying with the ICWA notification provision, according to a study presented last October at the American Indian Identity Conference held at Michigan State University. The study was the topic of a recent blog post on Turtle Talk. The author of the study, Kathryn Fort, found that California is doing a poor job of notifying Indian tribes that Indian children have entered the court system. Among other things, the study suggests that social workers do not have a sufficient understanding of ICWA or tribal membership requirements.  Also noted in the post was another paper by Matthew Fletcher on the legislative history of the Indian Child Welfare Act.