Comments on: Indian Child Welfare Act – ICWA – Is A Disaster For Many Families

By: Quintella

Quintella — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:56:08 +0000

I have a part native american and part african american 2 yr old. Mother doesn’t want him, siblings seperated. I’ve had him for 10 months hes happy and now trust me. how do you tell a two yr old he has to go to the resorvation and the home he knows is now going away? I am sick, just sick. I want to keep him they say no. Courts decided to take him. the mom still have rights that should have been taken, never were. she doesn’t live on the reservation. What i saw up there broke my heart and has left me in tears knowing any day now they will take him from me and i will fight, but who’s going to comfort him at night? The law need to be changed, omg, i dont know what to do…I;m physically sick…just waiting for them to come take him away. no one is looking out for the best interest of the child…what happened to that?

By: John

John — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:29:53 +0000

Yesterday we lost a long court battle to keep our daughter. We have had her over 3 years and we are all she has ever known. She is only 1/2 Navajo and never resided on a reservation. The sad thing is she was part of a sibling group split up at their convenience. Her full blooded teenage sibling was not wanted by the nation. Such an abuse of the intent of the ICWA law.

By: Indian Grandmother

Indian Grandmother — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:09:07 +0000

Icwa is one of the worst laws that was ever passed, i have sat and worked closely with icwa, once you really see it up close, not good at at all, icwa and tribes have no consideration for the child, its always about reunification with the parents, Please pray for my grandson, he was given back to his mother, he has had black eyes, broken fingers, and the last one was a hit on his head from his mother who is a meth addict, icwa is in total denial….

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:17:20 +0000

I have a 1 year old foster baby who is Native American. She came into my home when she was 6 wks. old. She is freed for adoption and I want to adopt her but the Nation is saying no. She was not born on a reservation, bio father is unknown, and mom relinquished rights. I want to fight for her and I don’t know where to begin. Unfortunately, I do not have the money to hire a lawyer nor do I know if that would work. She is part of our family and so very loved. Can anyone give me advice?

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:22:24 +0000

I am a white father fighting for custody of my half native child. I need advice on what to do and how to fight the grandparents who have contacted their tribe. My son was not born in a village, he was born in a city. Please help.

By: Barb

Barb — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:03:33 +0000

I am a mother who is currently going through the pain of missing her children and feel that ICWA was and still is not done anything from preventing my daughters to be placed in a non Native American home where they are being abused and no one can do nothing because they gave custody to these people and I wish I could find a way to reverse what they did in court but I am still searching as long as it takes me I will fight for my girls!

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:09:22 +0000

Get a great attorney! If the child was not on the reservation at the time of birth the tribe can not retain jurisdiction. The only way to know this is to hire an attorney that has knowledge of icwa. I am going through the same thing right now. I hired an icwa attorney in flagstaff named Jay. I live on the east coast.
The judges and attorneys don’t know the law, so they get confused and think that they have to comply with the tribe. Also, the birth parent can give you guardianship without the tribes approval.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:06:51 +0000

There are times where it is to heartrendering to comment!!

Lately it has been this way for me. I just wish I had the right sling shot to do away with the giant.