Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Arturo G.

Opinion

BOREN, P. J.

Introduction

The trial court, feeling compelled by the Indian Child Welfare Act, ordered the minor in this dependency case removed from the home of the only parents the minor knows, and transferred to a home on a Chippewa Indian reservation in Minnesota. We apply the “existing Indian family doctrine” to reverse the trial court’s placement order.

*1279Summary

In a hearing under Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26,1 the trial court terminated parental rights and, under authority of the Indian Child Welfare Act (the ICWA or the Act) (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.), ordered Santos…