In 1978, Congress worked closely with American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) elected officials, child welfare experts, and families whose children had been unnecessarily removed from their homes, to pass the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA). ICWA was carefully designed to protect AI/AN children and families from unscrupulous and biased child welfare practices and well-documented disregard for AI/AN families and culture held by some courts and attorneys.
Date: September 2015