Attorney: Natalie Landreth
Case Update
This is an action to enforce the full faith and credit clause of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Kaltag Tribe had completed an adoption in tribal court and had applied for a new birth certificate, but the State refused to issue one on the grounds that the Tribe had not petitioned for reassumption of jurisdiction under ICWA.This argument assumes that a Tribe does not have inherent jurisdiction to adjudicate adoptions of its own tribal members. The Tribe and the parents (two individual Kaltag tribal members) brought suit against the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics for denying full faith and credit to a tribal adoption decree in violation of section 1911(d) of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The parents also have raised a section 1983 claim. Cross motions for summary judgment were filed in May 2007 and we are waiting for the court to schedule oral argument.
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