CHILDREN AND THE LAW
...Dependency Petitions
......Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
.........Heritage Inquiry
............Insufficient Inquiry Made
7 Cards On This Topic:

Mother not asked to complete form JV-130, and juvenile court failed to make required inquiry as to possible Indian heritage on record; error harmless where mother never asserted C may have American Indian.

Even if F does not provide more info regarding his possible Indian ancestry, the applicability of ICWA must be revisited on remand where DCFS and court made no effort to find info to support F's belief in his ancestry.

Remand required for HHSA to consult with BIA re C's Apache heritage, provide proper notice to any prospective tribes and BIA, and file papers with court; new W&IC 366.26 required whether or not ICWA applicable.

Failure to inquire as to mother's Indian heritage harmless error where HHSA allowed to augment record with document mother filed in unrelated dependency case in which she denied any Indian heritage.

Remand required to inquire of mother as to whether C might be Indian child per ICWA.

Failure to comply with ICWA renders juvenile court dependency proceeding void; tribe’s determination of ICWA applicability, and not trial court’s, is conclusive.

Even if juvenile court and SSA failed in inquiry responsibilities, F failed to demonstrate prejudice where there was absolutely no suggestion by him that he in fact had any Indian heritage.