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Rules and Forms | Juvenile Law: Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Inquiry and Family Finding (Action Required)
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Summary
Summary
To implement new legislation and recent case law regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and foster-care placement in juvenile cases, the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee and the Tribal Court-State Court Forum recommend amending four rules of court and revising 22 forms. This proposal responds to Assembly Bill 81 (Ramos; Stats. 2024, ch. 656), which addressed the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. ?? 1901 et seq.), including ICWA inquiry, and Assembly Bill 2929 (Carrillo; Stats. 2024, ch. 845), which addressed family finding in juvenile dependency cases. The proposal also responds to two recent decisions from the Supreme Court of California concerning ICWA inquiry: In re Kenneth D. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1087 and In re Dezi C. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1112. The proposal also corrects several technical issues in the rules and forms.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
The Tribal Court-State Court Forum and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommend that the Judicial Council, effective January 1, 2026:
1. Amend California Rules of Court, rule 5.481(a)(2) regarding who must be asked if they have information that the child is or may be an Indian child to better align with the language in recent revisions to section 224.2(c) of the Welfare and Institutions Code (all further code references are to the California Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise stated) and for consistency with the language used in other rules, to add the words "on the record" to the end of that paragraph, and to change the term "participant" in subdivision (a)(2)(A) to "party or other interested person" and the words "or may be" between "knows or has reason to know the child is" and "an Indian child." In addition, the proposal would add to subdivision (a)(4)(B) language clarifying that contacting the Bu...
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