Defend ICWA for Native American Heritage Month: #MacroSW 11-15-18 at 9pm EST

On October 4th, a federal judge declared the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) unconstitutional, claiming that it illegally gives Native American families preferential treatment in adoption proceedings for Native American children based on race, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee.

ICWA was created to protect against the separation of American Indian children from their families and tribes by state-run child welfare systems. ICWA serves to lessen the trauma of removal by promoting placement with family and community and has been called a gold-standard in child welfare practice.

In Brackeen v. Zinke, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in favor of Texas, Indiana and Louisiana – and several foster and adoptive couples, declaring that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was a race-based law. Brackeen v. Zinke originated in the adoption of a two-year old Cherokee and Navajo boy by a white couple, the Brackeens, in Northern…