D.B.

*1499 Opinion

D.B., father, and C.B., mother, appeal from a judgment terminating their parental rights to M.B. M.B.’s four older half siblings were previously freed from parental custody and control after D.B. molested his 14-year-old stepdaughter and the parents failed to reunify. Mother was required to keep her children away from D.B., a registered sex offender, but continued her relationship with him, resulting in the birth of M.B. M.B. was made a dependent due to his siblings’ neglect and sexual abuse, and services were denied, with the concurrence of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (the Tribe), of which father was an enrolled member.

Subsequently, the court conducted a hearing to select and implement a permanent plan of adoption. (Welf. & Inst. Code, 1 § 366.26.) At the hearing, the juvenile court applied the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA; 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.), which requires the expert opinion of an Indian expert that continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian would result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child. Both parents appeal the judgment. Father argues the judgment must be reversed because the Indian expert did not…