Supreme Court upholds law on tribal adoptions.
The US Supreme Court has upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, which prioritizes the placement of Native American children with Native families or tribes in child custody proceedings. The law was passed in 1978 to protect tribal sovereignty after Congress documented the high number of children with Native American ancestry being placed with non-Native families or institutions in state child welfare and private adoption proceedings. The 7-2 decision backs the law passed in the wake of decades of hostility on the part of the federal government when it comes to child custody issues and traditional values of Indian tribes.