UPDATED: An ‘unimaginable’ conversation stirs in the U.S. Supreme Court

June 1, 2023

Native American tribes in Michigan are joining hundreds of others across the country, waiting on a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The Indian Child Welfare Act has been in place for 43 years to protect the well-being of Indigenous families and children, according to The Native American Rights Fund. It is meant to keep children connected to their tribes and prevent them from being taken away by the federal government to be put in foster homes.

Elizabeth Cook, General Counsel Member of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians in Shelbyville, south of Grand Rapids, said the act was enacted because of the history tribes have with the federal government.

The act is “fundamental to tribes” in keeping their communities intact, she said.

According to the Texas Tribune, the Brackeen v. Haaland case began in 2017 when the Brackeen family wanted to adopt an Indigenous child they had been fostering. The family had initially been rejected due to the ICWA. This was because the court ruled the child should first be with his own family or another within the tribe before being adopted by a non-Native family.

Read the entire story from The Alpena News here.