Marcia Zug

Second preference would be someone else in the tribe.

And the third is any other American Indian.

And then after that, then the child could be placed with, you know, another family.

But by and large, most of us think that ICWA was probably the best federal Indian law ever passed.

It did the most to help Indian tribes respect tribal sovereignty and really fulfill the United States' trust relationship with American Indian people.

I mean, having given birth twice myself, the idea that anyone other than my husband would be in the room is kind of scary.

But it gives you some idea of how she felt about the Capobiancos.

Rather than pay a dime in child support.

And because of that fact, not only can this sort of man object, but he gets an automatic transfer of custody to him.

Because it would be detrimental to the adoption.

Every single federal Indian law is premised on giving some sort of special treatment to Indians.

Yeah.

Hi, babies.

Nope, nope, nope.

What we have now is the court upholding the termination of his parental rights.

So if you recall, according to ICWA... When an Indian child is placed for adoption, her extended family members would be given first preference, right?

Other members of the Cherokee tribe would be next in line.

Other Indian families.

This means an Indian family from any of the 562 federally recognized tribes.

they are at the very top of the mandatory placement preferences, and the Capobiancos are at the very bottom.