In order to appreciate the need to adapt CASA for tribal courts, it is necessary to provide a brief overview of tribal courts, the historical backdrop of Native American child welfare policy, and the Congressionally recognized need to have Native American child dependency cases heard in tribal courts. Of the more than 500 federally recognized Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages, more than 250 have operational tribal court systems. These courts exercise jurisdiction over nearly 70 million acres throughout the country - some in remote locations and others in or near urban areas. The tribes themselves vary widely from the Navajo Nation with more than 200,000 members to bands with fewer than 100 members. Some tribal courts tend to look and act much like non-Indian courts.
Many tribal courts have court annexed traditional or peacemaking court forums.
It is also necessary to understand the historical backdrop of Native American child welfare policy. Beginning in the 1800s, the United States implemented an oppressive assimilationist policy towards Native Americans and Native American children in particular - forcibly taking Native American children from their homes and sending them to boarding schools where they were severely punished for speaking their Native languages and practicing Native customs and religious practices. In more recent years, the removal of Native American children from their homes continued, but more often the children were placed in non-Indian foster care and adoptive homes at an increasingly alarming rate rather than boarding schools. In order to protect the best interests of Native American children and to promote the stability and security of Native American tribes and families, Congress set forth two basic jurisdictional and procedural requirements. First, ICWA provides that whenever possible Native American child dependency cases should be heard in tribal courts where it is presumed that the essential tribal relations and the prevailing cultural and social standards will be respected.