California Court of Appeal

The juvenile court's order requiring the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to take active efforts to enroll the minors in the tribe of their paternal great-aunt and great-grandmother is reversed and remanded, where: 1) rule 5.482(c) and rule 5.484(c)(2) of the California Rules of Court include the duty to enroll minors in the appropriate tribe among the active efforts an agency must make on behalf of minors who are eligible for tribal membership but who are not "Indian children" as defined in the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and state law; 2) these two rules are inconsistent with the legislative definition of the class of protected Indian children, and therefore the Judicial Council lacked authority to expand the definition; and therefore, 3) a new judgment is required that does not provide the minors with any of the protections for an Indian child under ICWA or state law, until such time that the presumed father or the minors have in fact become enrolled members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/16/2014
• Published 06/16/2014

Judges

• BUTZ

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel