The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute has filed a class-action lawsuit challenging parts of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, Native American lawmakers are split on whether to support the move.
State Senator Carlyle Begay and Representative Jennifer Benally say keeping abused or neglected children within their own tribes isn’t always in a child’s best interests. The Arizona Capitol Times reports the Goldwater Institute’s suit seeks to take a child’s race out of the equation when placing them with foster or adoptive families.
But many tribal officials say the Indian Child Welfare Act is an important tool used to retain tribal culture by focusing on keeping children in their own communities. State Representative Albert Hale and several Navajo lawmakers say the suit would undermine the federal law.
The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978. It came in response to increasing numbers of Native American children being adopted or removed from their families and tribes.
