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Okla.
Admin. Code § 340:75-19-14
OKLAHOMA
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
TITLE
340. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
CHAPTER
75. CHILD WELFARE
SUBCHAPTER
19. WORKING WITH INDIAN CHILDREN
340:75-19-14. Placement preferences for Indian children
(a) The Federal and State
Indian Child Welfare Acts (ICWA) establish an order of placement preferences
for foster care, pre-adoptive, and adoptive placements for Indian children.
These placement preferences are in order of most preferable to least preferable.
The order of placement preferences for foster and pre-adoptive placements
differs from the order of placement preferences for adoptive placements.
The State ICWA establishes placement preferences prior to adjudication.
(b) Indian children in
foster care or pre-adoptive placements are placed in the least restrictive,
most family-like setting. The child is placed in reasonable
proximity to the child's home, taking into account any special needs of
the child. Indian children in foster care or pre-adoptive placements are
placed in the following order of preference, absent good cause to the
contrary:
(1) a member of the Indian
child's extended family;
(2) a foster resource
home licensed, approved, or specified by the Indian child's tribe;
(3) an Indian foster
resource home licensed or approved by an authorized non-Indian licensing
authority; or
(4) an institution for
children approved by an Indian tribe or operated by an Indian organization
which has a program suitable to meet the Indian child's needs.
(c) Indian children in
adoptive placements are placed in the following order of preference, absent
good cause to the contrary:
(1) a member of the child's
extended family;
(2) other members of
the Indian child's tribe; or
(3) other Indian families.
(d) Tribes may establish
their own order of preference by tribal resolution, which
may differ from those set out in the Federal ICWA. Tribes who have Tribal/State
Agreements for Foster Care set out their order of preference in the Agreement.
(e) Pursuant to Section
40.6 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes DHS utilizes to the maximum
extent possible the services of the Indian child's tribe in securing placement
consistent with the State and Federal ICWA.
(f) The court may find
good cause to modify the placement preferences when:
(1) requested by the
biological parents or the child when the child is of sufficient age;
(2) the child has extraordinary
physical or emotional needs as established by the testimony of a qualified
expert witness; or
(3) after a diligent
search has been conducted for families meeting the preference criteria,
suitable families for placement are not available.
[Source:
Added at 19 Ok Reg 2209, eff 6-27-02]
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