CHILD WELFARE TRAINING
Within the training area, resources are focused on:
- Partnering with CDSS and other state-wide training organizations to develop and deliver comprehensive ICWA and ICWA related training to professionals who work within child welfare systems to increase ICWA compliance and better serve Tribal children and families;
- Partnering with counties to develop and deliver ICWA and ICWA related training to child welfare professionals;
- In partnership with tribes, develop and deliver tribally-specific training requests to build capacity for the Tribes to advocate on behalf of the best interests of their children and families who are impacted by state child welfare systems; and
- In partnership with tribes, develop and deliver tribally-specific training requests to build capacity for the Tribes to administer their own child welfare systems.
Current Training Projects
PROTECTING AND DEFENDING THE INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT (ICWA)
U.S. Supreme Court Rules on the Haaland v. Brackeen Case June 15, 2023
On June 15, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Haaland v. Brackeen regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). We are actively analyzing the opinion, but the initial analysis is that the Court, in a 7-2 opinion, has upheld ICWA and affirmed its constitutionality.
Read more about next steps HERE.
What is this Case About?
Haaland v. Brackeen was a constitutional attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The State of Texas challenged ICWA for years, claiming it is unconstitutional based on several arguments. In February 2022, the case was accepted for review by the United States Supreme Court and arguments were heard on November 9, 2022.
Why is this Case so Important?
The Haaland v. Brackeen case is very important for several reasons:
- The decision of the Court impacted ICWA across the country;
- Unlike some prior high-profile cases, the challenge to ICWA was not about a certain provision of the law, it was about whether the law should exist at all;
- The goal of the parties that brought this case was not to just an attack on ICWA and it was not just a case about Indian children, it was a challenge to tribal sovereignty and whether the laws of tribal nationhood and tribal citizenship are legitimate.
How has CTFC United Tribes in this Effort?
The Coalition has worked for the last several years to unite tribal voices in California in the Brackeen case. The Coalition partnered with other tribal organizations to secure tribal signatures on “friend of the Court” briefs (also called Amicus Briefs) to be certain ALL tribes in California have a voice in this pivotal case. Further, the Coalition conducts webinars and trainings addressing Brackeen issues on request. CTFC works with the intervening tribes, specifically, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, on litigation, public inquiries and legislative strategy.
In 2022, the Coalition formalized an initiative known as the California ICWA Institute. The Institute supports the mission of CTFC as a place thought leaders and experts in tribal child welfare can create, iterate, and operationalize a proactive California playbook to neutralize and defeat legal, political, policy and communications attacks on tribal power in child welfare. The Institute recognizes the pivotal role that California tribal child welfare policy and jurisprudence has on national tribal child welfare issues and thus advances the mission of the Institute with a lens on the national impacts and scalability of the Institute’s work.
Read more about the CA ICWA Institute in the news:
– Native News Online:
California Tribal Families Coalition Establishes “The California ICWA Institute” Think Tank
– The Imprint:
Indian Child Welfare Act Think Tank to Strategize Legal Protections for Tribal Sovereignty
How Does this Case Impact ICWA in California?
ICWA was upheld in its entirety! CTFC and tribes will continue advocating for policies and to protect tribal children, families and tribal sovereignty to the greatest extent possible.
Additional Resources About the Case
ENGAGING IN IMPACT LITIGATION
What is the Goal of the Coalition’s Impact Litigation?
In meeting the mission of the Coalition, to promote and protect the health, safety and welfare of tribal children and families, CTFC brings, or is a plaintiff in, state and federal lawsuits where tribal child welfare system reform and system disruption is needed. The Coalition is currently a plaintiff in two federal lawsuits and will be co-counsel in a newly initiated lawsuit against both county and state child welfare systems. The goal of these cases is to use the collective voice of CTFC to impact systems connected to ICWA, systems that are not impacted through direct state court ICWA case representation but are crucial to the families we seek to protect. For example, we have brought a federal challenge of data collection and maintaining federal regulations. Additional areas for that could be subjects of impact litigation are child placement regulations and foster care benefits. A collateral benefit of impact litigation, beyond changing child welfare policy on a broad scale, is state and federal systems seeing California Tribes through CTFC as a powerful adversary.
What Impact Litigation is the Coalition Currently Engaged In?
One of the two federal cases in which CTFC is a plaintiff (represented by Democracy Forward) is close to a full settlement on terms very favorable to the plaintiffs. This case, challenging a Trump Era policy, called the Sunset Rule, will be completed in the next few months, with the full repeal of the Sunset Rule as CTFC had advocated. The other lawsuit, also challenging a Trump Era policy, on foster youth data collection. This case has not moved toward settlement and so CTFC along with other plaintiffs continues to advocate and prepare for trial. A third impact litigation case has not yet been filed, but as it develops, we will provide background and updates so Member Tribes are fully briefed and can support the advocacy.
OUR LEGAL COUNSEL FOR TRIBES PROJECT (LC4T) – EVERY TRIBE, EVERY CHILD, EVERY CASE
What is LC4T?
LC4T is a project of the California Tribal Families Coalition. In 2017, at the request of former California Attorney General Kamala Harris, tribes completed the ICWA Compliance Task Force Report, which includes 20 recommendations to increase Indian Child Welfare Act compliance across the state. The number one recommendation of the Task Force Report is to fix the glaring inequity that in Indian Child Welfare cases all parties have publicly funded legal representation, except Tribes. LC4T is the solution to that inequity. LC4T will, through accessing federal and state funds available to others, provide an attorney, at no cost to the Tribe, for state court ICWA cases. As the LC4T project scales up across California, a highly trained attorney will be there, side-by-side with tribes in court, for Every Tribe, Every Child, Every Case.
How Will LC4T Help Tribes?
Every time a tribe walks into a courtroom to defends its rights under ICWA, without highly trained legal representation, that tribes’ rights and citizens are at risk. LC4T will work with tribes to be certain that tribal rights are protected, that tribes’ interests are elevated in court proceedings, and that judges and counties are held accountable for ICWA compliance. Further, LC4T attorneys will, whenever legally possible, transfer cases to Tribal Courts, which often have the services and supports that are most successful in protecting and reunifying tribal families. LC4T will be ready, when a tribe determines they need legal counsel on a state court ICWA case, to help tribes, regardless of resources, navigate the complexities of ICWA.
TRIBAL CAPACITY BUILDING
Read more about our tribal capacity building efforts.
RESOURCES
CTFC conducts research and prepares reports, toolkits, FAQs and webinars on important issues in Indian child welfare, including:
Current Research
CTFC was founded on establishing qualitative research. In 2024, we launched a new research project to truly understand ICWA implementation and outcomes in California. We began building a menu of shared measures of tribal youth and family outcomes most meaningful to subgroup of member tribes who opted into the pilot of the research project. A secondary outcome from this research is to build a model electronic case management system that can be used by tribes in California to collect tribally defined data. Many tribes continue to utilize hard copy or basic software-based tracking systems for the collection of data, making analysis and comparisons of multiple tribes’ data challenging.
Reports
Current State and Federal Child Welfare Advocacy Tools
See our membership portal (CTFC member tribes only)
