
Texas family fights at Supreme Court to keep adopted Native American child due to law that favors tribes
Fox News
A 1970s law to protect Native American children in adoption comes before the Supreme Court next month, as one family alleges it is racially discriminatory.
The law was a reaction to high rates of Native children being adopted by non-tribal members – often with little process and unjustly. It prioritizes placing Native children with extended family members, members of their tribe, and if that's not possible, with another Native family. Exceptions for "good cause" are allowed but not specifically defined. Tyler Olson is a reporter covering the Senate for Fox News Digital.
"Congress’s racial discrimination is ‘most evident’ in ICWA’s third placement preference … which bluntly favors any ‘Indian famil[y]’ from any of 574 tribes over any non-Indian family," a brief from the Brackeens' lawyers says.
"The placement preferences ‘operate individually and jointly’ to disadvantage non-Indian parents seeking to adopt an Indian child," reads the court filing.