al
rate for all children. Prior to the implementation of the Indian
Child Welfare Act of 1978, a majority of the cases involving the
removal of Indian children from parental custody, resulted in the
children being placed with non-Indian families.2
The Indian Child Welfare Act was enacted into law in 1978
in response to complaints that state agencies were removing
Indian children from uneducated and poor parents who (1) were not
aware of their rights, and (2) could not afford to pursue them
when they were aware of them.3 Their were also complaints that
state agencies ignored the requests, desires, and rights of
Indian tribes in matters involving the welfare of Indian children
The Act provided safeguards for Indian children, Indian
families, and Indian tribes in cases involving child welfare
services. These safeguards provided specific guidelines to be
applied in the removal of Indian children from parental custody,
and in the placement of these children in alternative situations.
2Rita S. James, and Howard, A. James, Transracial Adoption,
rev ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987), 24.
3D. Sink, "Making the Indian Child Welfare Act Work: Missing
Social and Governmental Linkages," Phylon, 43 (1982): 360-367.
06 à4 ŠAdditionally, the Act also dealt specifically with the matter of
As a disproportionate number of Indian children removed from
parental custody were placed with non-Indian parents prior to the
implementation of the Act, the Act provided specific guidelines
for the placement of Indian children removed from parental
custody. With respect to adoptive placement, Section 105 of the
. . . preference shall be given, in the absence of good
cause to the contrary, to a placement with (1) a member of
the c...