In re Y.W.

INTRODUCTION

Deshawn W. and Clairessa M. appeal from the juvenile court’s orders terminating their parental rights under Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26.1 They argue the juvenile court and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services failed to comply with the inquiry and notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) (ICWA). Disagreeing with the court’s narrow view of the duty of inquiry under ICWA in In re Austin J. (2020) 47 Cal.App.5th 870 and the court’s broad view of harmless error in In re A.C. (2021) 65 Cal.App.5th 1060, we conclude that Deshawn’s and Clairessa’s contentions have merit and that the juvenile court erred in ruling ICWA did not apply. Therefore, we conditionally affirm the juvenile court’s orders terminating Deshawn’s and Clairessa’s parental rights, with directions to ensure the Department complies with the inquiry and notice provisions of ICWA and related California law.

Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Dependency Proceedings On June 24, 2019 the Department filed a petition under section 300,…