In re Morris

These combined cases require us to examine the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), 25 USC 1901 through 1963. In particular, we must decide several issues relating to ICWA’s notice provision, 25 USC 1912(a), which mandates that notice of certain involuntary child custody proceedings be sent to the appropriate Indian tribe or to the Secretary of the Interior “where the court knows or has reason to know that an Indian child is involved. . ..” Because the question whether notice violations occurred in the instant cases begins with determining whether the tribal-notice requirement of 25 USC 1912(a)…