Orange County Social Services Agency v. E. K.

In this case, a mother appeals from the dispositional order removing her daughter from her custody and awarding custody to the child’s *697 father. The mother claims the juvenile court violated the Indian Child Welfare Act ( 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) (ICWA). She'argues it erred in going forward with the dependency proceedings when no evidence of service of notice on the appropriate tribes, receipt of notice by the tribes, or any response from the tribes had been filed with the court. The social services agency and the father, on the other hand, contend the ICWA notice provisions are inapplicable because the child ultimately was placed in her father’s custody, not in the custody of a foster parent, and the ICWA does not apply to intrafamily disputes.

However, the child was initially removed from her mother and temporarily placed in emergency shelter care and then in foster home care. The fact that the court later ordered the child placed in the custody of her father did not nullify the ICWA notice provisions applicable in involuntary proceedings. Moreover, the marital dissolution exception to the application of the ICWA is itself inapplicable. The mother and father are…