In re S.R.B. CA2/6

FACTS

Petitioners are the maternal grandparents of S.R.B. In May 2017, they were appointed guardians of Father’s minor child S.R.B. in Ventura County Superior Court (case No. 56-2017- 00492820-PR-GP-OXN). On February 14, 2017, M.S., the maternal grandfather, filed an ICWA-020 form and stated, “I may have Indian ancestry” from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. An ICWA-030 form “Notice of Child Custody Proceeding for Indian Child” was mailed to the Cherokee Indian tribes. Petitioners declared under oath that they had “given all information [they] have about the relatives” on the form. On February 21, 2017, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians determined that S.R.B. was “neither registered nor eligible to register as a member of this tribe.” It said the tribe was “not empowered to intervene in this matter.” On March 9, 2017, the Cherokee Nation determined the child was not an Indian child and her name could not be “found as [a] current- enrolled” member of the tribe. The tribe informed Petitioners’ counsel that it “does not have legal standing to intervene.” The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma also determined that S.R.B. “does not meet the definition of an…