Foster care placement case puts Minnesota Native twins at center of ICWA controversy

The Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a case concerning the foster care placement of two Native children who were removed from their mother. They were initially placed with foster parents before lower courts ruled that the children should be placed with their aunt. The twins now reside with their grandmother.

The former foster parents are now appealing the lower court’s decision.

The decision in this state Supreme Court case could have implications for the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act (MIFPA).

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“What we’re seeing here is across the country foster parents who are not relatives, and sometimes non-Native, challenging the constitutionality of Indian Child Welfare Act and the companion state legislation,” said Angelique EagleWoman, director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law and an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate.

“They don’t see the Indian Child Welfare Act as Congress intended, [which] was to protect the best interest of tribal children by having a connection to their relatives and their tribal community.”

A decision could come in a few months.

To hear more about the case and what it could mean, click play on the audio player above.

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