WASHINGTON, D.C. – On June 15, 2023, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 1978 law aimed at keeping Native American adoptees with their Tribes and traditions:
On June 15, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld a 45-year-old law that helps keep adopted Native American children with their Tribes and traditions. That’s a big deal for folks across the nation, including members of the 12 Tribal nations located in the district I represent.
I strongly support efforts to protect the rights and safety of Native American children, and I will continue to support the standards established under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Not only do we need to stand up against any future efforts to undermine these protections, the federal government needs to do far more to fulfill its treaty and trust obligations. The systematic failure to meet these obligations, coupled with decades of underfunding, has limited tribal sovereignty and access to essential services like education, health care, public safety, housing, and economic opportunity in Native American communities across this country. Today’s decision was important – and we’ve got more to do.
The ICWA was specifically designed to address the troubling issue of Native children being removed from their families without valid reasons. During that time, a shocking one-third of all Native children in the United States were being placed in foster care or adoptive homes by child welfare systems that lacked understanding of tribal child rearing practices. As a result, generations of Native children were displaced from their communities. Over the course of more than four decades, the ICWA has earned widespread recognition as the “gold standard” in child welfare policy, playing a crucial role in ensuring that Native children maintain strong connections to their communities and cultures.
Rep. Kilmer has staunchly defended the ICWA, signing an August 2022 amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to reject legal challenges to its provisions.
Original source can be found here.
