On April 16, 2013, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. The case involves the Indian Child Welfare Act (IWCA) of 1978, and considers the following: 1) whether a biological father who initially renounced custodial rights over his daughter can invoke the ICWA to block her adoption by a non-Indian couple; and 2) whether the ICWA’s definition of “parent” includes an unwed biological father who has not followed state rules for obtaining legal status as a parent.
To discuss the case we have Tom Gede, a commissioner on the Indian Law and Order Commission and Of Counsel with Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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