Session 1 (Online): Monday, August 7, 2023, 11am-1pm AKT/ 12pm-2pm PT/ 1pm-3pm MT/ 2pm-4pm CT/ 3pm-5pm ET
Session 2 (In-person and online): Southcentral Foundation, Anchorage, AK. Fri, Aug 11, 2023, 3pm-5pm AKT/ 4pm-6pm PT/ 5pm-7pm MT/ 6pm-8pm CT/ 7pm-9pm ET
The National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC), like many of you, followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brackeen v. Haaland very closely and breathed an enormous, collective sigh of relief when a majority of the justices ruled to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act’s (ICWA) key provisions in the face of wholesale challenges. But as we all know, the continued existence of ICWA is only one part of the solution to addressing unnecessary child removals and the fracturing of familial and Tribal bonds that occurs routinely in state child welfare systems. What matters just as much as the survival of the law itself is how ICWA is implemented in innumerable individual agencies, offices, and cases across the country.
With that in mind, we would like to encourage participation in an upcoming two-part Tribal consultation being held by the Department of the Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Justice on how they can promote the consistent application of ICWA and protect Indian children, families, and Tribes.