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Attorney: Mark Tilden
Case Update
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) recently received a grant from
the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) to produce, publish and
distribute an Indian Child Welfare Act Resource Guide. NARF is working with
David Simmons of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and
other consultants to produce a practical guide that will help a variety of
stakeholders to implement the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
The overall goal of the guide is: 1) To foster compliance with the
letter and spirit of the Indian Child Welfare Act by developing a resource
guide designed to educate tribal courts, tribal attorneys, and tribal ICWA
program staff or tribal social services staff involved in state court child
custody proceedings about the ICWA, 2) To improve the delivery of tribal
child protection services, 3) To improve the ability of tribal judicial
court systems to exercise their federal rights under the ICWA, and 4) To
improve the ability of tribes to secure cross-recognition of judgments,
final orders, and laws as between tribal, state, and federal justice
systems.
The guide will feature an expanded frequently asked questions and answer
section, a list of helpful contacts and appendices with a wide variety of
legal resources relating to the Act. The guide is scheduled to be published
in September 2007. One thousand copies will be distributed free of charge to
tribal entities and an expanded Internet version will be published and
freely available on the Native American Rights Fund web site.
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