A BILL 
To amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence 
Prevention Act to require background checks before fos-
ter care placements are ordered in tribal court pro-
ceedings, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Chil-
dren’s Safety Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECKS. 
Section 408 of the Indian Child Protection and Fam-
ily Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3207) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) BY TRIBAL SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY FOR FOS-
TER
CARE
PLACEMENTS
IN
TRIBAL
COURT
PRO-
CEEDINGS.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov-
ered individual’ includes— 
‘‘(i) any individual 18 years of age or 
older; and 
‘‘(ii) any individual who an Indian 
tribe described in paragraph (2)(A) deter-
mines is subject to a criminal records checks 
under that paragraph. 
‘‘(B) FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT.—The term 
‘foster care placement’ means any action remov-
ing an Indian child from a parent or Indian 
custodian for temporary placement in a foster 
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home or institution or the home of a guardian 
or conservator if— 
‘‘(i) the parent or Indian custodian 
cannot have the child returned on demand; 
and 
‘‘(ii) parental rights have not been ter-
minated. 
‘‘(C) INDIAN
CUSTODIAN.—The term ‘In-
dian custodian’ means any Indian— 
‘‘(i) who has legal custody of an In-
dian child under tribal law or custom or 
under State law; or 
‘‘(ii) to whom temporary physical care, 
custody, and control has been transferred by 
the parent of the child. 
‘‘(D) PARENT.—The term ‘parent’ means— 
‘‘(i) any biological parent of an Indian 
child; or 
‘‘(ii) any Indian who has lawfully 
adopted an Indian child, including adop-
tions under tribal law or custom. 
‘‘(E) TRIBAL
COURT.—The term ‘tribal 
court’ means a court— 
‘‘(i) with jurisdiction over foster care 
placements; and 
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‘‘(ii) that is— 
‘‘(I) a Court of Indian Offenses; 
‘‘(II) a court established and oper-
ated under the code or custom of an 
Indian tribe; or 
‘‘(III) any other administrative 
body of a tribe that is vested with au-
thority over foster care placements. 
‘‘(F) TRIBAL SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY.— 
The term ‘tribal social services agency’ means the 
agency of the Federal Government or of an In-
dian tribe described in paragraph (2)(A) that 
has the primary responsibility for carrying out 
foster care services or approval (as of the date on 
which the proceeding described in paragraph 
(2)(A) commences) of the Indian tribe. 
‘‘(2) 
CRIMINAL
RECORDS
CHECKS
BEFORE 
PLACEMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (3), no foster care placement shall be 
finally approved until the tribal social services 
agency— 
‘‘(i) completes a criminal records check 
of each covered individual who resides in 
the household or is employed at the institu-
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tion in which the foster care placement will 
be made; and 
‘‘(ii) concludes that each covered indi-
vidual described in clause (i) meets such 
standards as the Indian tribe shall establish 
in accordance with subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) STANDARDS
OF
PLACEMENT.—The 
standards described in subparagraph (A)(ii) 
shall include— 
‘‘(i) requirements that each tribal so-
cial services agency described in subpara-
graph (A)— 
‘‘(I) perform criminal records 
checks, 
including 
fingerprint-based 
checks of national crime information 
databases 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
534(f)(3) of title 28, United States 
Code); and 
‘‘(II) check any child abuse and 
neglect registry maintained by the 
State, and tribal abuse registries if 
they exist, in which the covered indi-
vidual resides for information on the 
covered individual, and request any 
other State in which the covered indi-
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vidual resided in the preceding 5 
years, to enable the tribal social serv-
ices agency to check any child abuse 
and neglect registry maintained by 
that State for such information; and 
‘‘(ii) any other additional requirement 
that the Indian tribe determines is nec-
essary. 
‘‘(C) RESULTS.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (3), no foster care placement shall be 
ordered in any proceeding described in subpara-
graph (A) if an investigation described in clause 
(i) of that subparagraph reveals that a covered 
individual described in that clause has been 
found by a Federal, State, or tribal court to have 
committed any crime listed in clause (i) or (ii) 
of section 471(a)(20)(A) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(20)(A)). 
‘‘(D) DEADLINE.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (3), the tribal social services agency 
shall satisfy the requirements of clauses (i) and 
(ii) of subparagraph (A) before issuing a final 
foster care license. 
‘‘(3) EMERGENCY PLACEMENT.—Paragraph (2) 
shall not apply to an emergency foster care place-
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