J.E.

This case involves the placement preferences set forth in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) ( 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.). 1 At issue is whether the dependency court properly applied the ICWA in finding that the foster parents of an Indian child failed to prove good cause to deviate from the ICWA’s adoptive placement preferences.

A 17-month-old Indian child was removed from the custody of her mother, who has a lengthy substance abuse problem and has lost custody of at least six other children, and her father, who has an extensive criminal history and has lost custody of one other child. The girl’s father is an enrolled member of an Indian tribe, and the girl is considered an Indian child under the ICWA. The tribe consented to the girl’s placement with a non-Indian foster family to facilitate efforts to reunify the girl with her father. The girl lived in two foster homes before she was placed with de facto parents at the age of two. She bonded with the family and has thrived for the past two and a half years.

After reunification efforts failed, the father, the tribe, and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (Department) recommended…