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Neb.
Admin. Code 5-030
Nebraska
Administrative Code
Health
and Human Services System
Title
474: Social Services for Families, Children, and Youth
Chapter
5-000: Defined Services
030 Indian Child Welfare
5-030.01 Introduction:
This section contains material governing proper service delivery and service
authorization to Indian children and to their families. It is to be used
in conjunction with 474 NAC 5-016, 5-021, and 5-022. Department staff
shall use this section whenever the Department of Social Services is involved
with an Indian child through child protective services action, voluntary
relinquishment, or court-ordered custody proceedings and out-of-home placement
is being considered. Because this material is based on a federal law,
it takes precedence over all other Department regulations relating to
child custody proceedings.
5-030.01A Legal Basis: The regulations in this section are based upon
the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, Title 25, Section
1901.
5-030.02 Service Goals:
The goals of Department intervention regarding Indian children and their
families are -
1. To promote the stability
of Indian families and to avoid unnecessary removal of Indian children
from their culture, tribe, and community;
2. To take active efforts
to provide culturally relevant remedial services and rehabilitative programs
to prevent the breakup of the Indian family;
3. To secure permanent
placement for children in the least restrictive environment, which most
approximates a family and is within reasonable proximity to his/her home;
and
4. To prevent or remedy
neglect, abuse, or exploitation.
5-030.03 Definitions:
Adoptive Placement: Permanent placement of an Indian child for adoption,
including any judicial action resulting in a final decree of adoption.
Domicile: The customary
or permanent dwelling of a person.
Extended Family Members:
Defined by the law or custom of an Indian child's tribe, or in the absence
of such law or custom, a person who is age 18 or older and who is the
child's grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,
niece, nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent.
Foster Care Placement:
Any intervention which results in the removal of an Indian child from
his/her parent/Indian custodian for temporary placement in a foster home,
group home, institution, or the home of a guardian or conservator where
the parent/Indian custodian cannot have the child returned upon demand,
though parental rights have not been terminated.
Indian: Any person who
is a member of an Indian tribe, or who is an Alaska Native and a member
of a regional corporation as defined in section 7 of the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act, or is a member of Nebraska Indian tribe whose legal
status as a tribe has been terminated by the United States government
with whom the Department has a signed agreement.
Indian Child: Any unmarried
person age 17 or younger who is either -
1. A member of an Indian
tribe; or
2. Eligible for membership
in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian
tribe.
Indian Child Custody
Proceeding: Each distinct and legally binding action, resulting in a foster
care, preadoptive or adoptive placement of an Indian child where the parent
cannot get the child back upon demand. It includes judicial termination
of parental rights. The term also includes placement resulting from an
adjudication of a status offense or arising from a divorce where custody
is not awarded to one of the parents.
Indian Child's Tribe:
1. The Indian tribe in
which an Indian child is a member or eligible for membership; or
2. In the case where an Indian child is a member of or eligible for membership
in more than one tribe, the tribe with which the child has the most significant
contacts as decided by the tribes involved.
Indian Custodian: Any
Indian person who has lawful custody of an Indian child under tribal law
or custom; or under state law; or to whom temporary physical care, custody,
and control has been transferred by the child's parent.
Indian Organization:
A group, association, partnership, corporation or legal entity owned or
controlled by Indians or a majority of whose members are Indian people.
Indian Tribe: Any Indian
tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians
recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by the Secretary
of the Interior because of their status as Indians, including any Alaska
Native village as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,
or Nebraska tribe whose legal status as a tribe has been terminated by
the U.S. government with whom the Department has a written agreement.
Parent: Any biological parent of an Indian child or any Indian person
who has lawfully adopted an Indian child, including adoptions under tribal
law or custom. It does not include the unwed father where paternity has
not been acknowledged or established under state or tribal law.
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