Boozer

Robert D. Boozer (“Boozer”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of his complaint challenging the Colville Tribe’s (“Tribe”) jurisdiction to decide a custody dispute over his daughter, K.W.B. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to exhaust tribal court remedies. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

K.W.B. was born in February 1994 to Boozer and Mawe We-Ta-Lo Wilder-Boozer (“Wilder-Boozer”). K.W.B. is a member of the Colville Tribe, as was her mother until her death; Boozer is non-Indian. Boozer and Wilder-Boozer separated in 1999, and the Colville Tribal Court awarded full custody of K.W.B. to Wilder-Boozer and visitation to Boozer. In July 2002, Wilder-Boozer filed a divorce petition in tribal court. During the divorce proceedings, Boozer was restrained from having any contact with K.W.B. and ordered to take anger-management courses. Boozer moved to Georgia, and K.W.B. remained on the Colville Reservation with her mother. Apparently, during that time, Wilder-Boozer’s parents, Darlene and Ian Wilder (collectively, “the grandparents”), who are also members of the Colville Tribe and residents of the reservation, provided…