|
Home > Adoption > Types of Adoption > Domestic Adoption > Customary (Native American) Adoption
Customary (Native American) Adoption
Adoptions in Native American communities do not always require the termination of the birth parents' parental rights. Customary adoptions may include a ceremony or process, considered by the tribe to be binding, that gives the child a new legally recognized permanent parent while still retaining the birth parents, relatives, and other significant people in the child's kinship network. Below are resources and information on adoptions and customary adoptions within Native American communities, including State and local examples.
Adoption and Safe Families Act
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Addresses issues raised by the Adoption and Safe Families Act for tribes and States serving Native American children.
Cherokee Nation
Assists attorneys, private and State agencies, and tribal agencies maintain compliance with the Federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
Collaboration With Native American Tribes: ICWA and ASFA: Trainer's Guide (PDF - 90 KB)
Institute for Child and Family Policy, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine (2003)
Focuses on successful approaches to collaboration between child welfare agencies and tribes, requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and practice considerations when working with Native American children and families.
Customary Adoption as a Resource for American Indian and Alaska Native Children
Cross & Fox (2005)
In Child Welfare for the Twenty-First Century: A Handbook of Practices, Policies, and Programs
View Abstract
Information on the placement of Indian children in foster care homes prior to passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the decrease in Indian child adoption after ICWA, and the legal basis for tribal adoption laws.
Indian Child Welfare Act: Existing Information on Implementation Issues Could Be Used to Target Guidance and Assistance to States (PDF - 2814 KB)
Government Accountability Office (2005)
Describes the factors that influence placement decisions for children subject to ICWA, the extent to which placements for these children have been delayed, and Federal oversight of States' implementation of ICWA.
Indian Child Welfare Act; Receipt of Designated Tribal Agents for Service of Notice (PDF - 365 KB)
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior (2006)
This notice in the Federal Register lists the Designated Tribal Agents for service of notice under the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 CFR 23.12.
Indian Child Welfare Act Information
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Information on the law and how it affects adoption professionals.
Indian Child Welfare Glossary and Flowchart (PDF - 1750 KB)
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Compiled to accompany the ICWA/Child Protective Services (CPS) Flow Chart. Glossary represents words that are commonly used in Indian child welfare and in situations where the Indian Child Welfare Act is applied.
Information Packet: Indian Child Welfare Act (PDF - 70 KB)
National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning (2002)
Statistics, law and policy information, case management models, and more.
Instructions for Notifying Tribes: BIA Area Offices
Contact information for Bureau of Indian Affairs regional offices.
National Indian Child Welfare Association
A comprehensive source of information on American Indian child welfare. Provides public policy, research, and advocacy; information and training on Indian child welfare; and community development services.
Promising practice for maintaining identities in First Nation Adoption (PDF - 327 KB)
Carriere
First Peoples Child & Family Review 3(1) 2007
Presents findings from a study exploring the importance of identity in First Nation adoption and provides suggestions on how identity can be preserved in these adoptions through programs, policies and practice.
Title IV-B and Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Compilation of Title IV-B and IV-E as amended by the Adoption and Safe Families Act.
Tribes/Indian Organizations: Responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Children's Bureau
This section of the Child Welfare Policy Manual explains the responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the State or tribe for providing foster care and child welfare services to Indian children residing on or near Indian reservations.
(Back to Top)
State and local examples
Indian Child Welfare Act Compliance Desk Aid for New York State Child Welfare Workers (PDF - 285 KB)
Explains how to remain in compliance with the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act when a child of American Indian heritage enters the child welfare system.
(Back to Top)
|
RSS
