G.R.
Marin County Department of Health & Human Services v. G.R.
Opinion
lead Opinion
Margulies, J.
*777 Opinion
This appeal presents the issue of whether the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 ( 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) 1 (ICWA), applies when the minors’ presumed father in a juvenile dependency proceeding alleges that his adoptive father has one-quarter ancestry in a federally recognized Indian tribe. We hold that the ICWA notice provisions do apply in these circumstances, and conditionally reverse the juvenile court’s order terminating parental rights so that notice of the proceedings may be given to the tribe in question.
I. BACKGROUND
On June 7, 2007, the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services (Department) received a “general neglect” referral. In response, a Department social worker and deputies from the county sheriff’s office conducted a welfare check of G.R.’s (Mother) apartment. The deputies placed Mother under arrest when she became combative, and the social worker took the children into temporary protective custody. Several days later the Department filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b).
At the jurisdiction/disposition hearing on July 19, 2007, the juvenile court sustained allegations that Mother had failed…