Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Indian survival are significantly reduced if our children, the
only real means for the transmission of the tribal heritage,
are to be raised in non-Indian homes and denied exposure 
to the ways of their People.”  Hearings on S. 1214 before the 
Subcommittee  on  Indian  Affairs  and  Public  Lands  of  the 
House  Committee  on  Interior  and  Insular  Affairs,  95th 
Cong., 2d Sess., 193 (1978). 

The Act thus aims to keep Indian children connected to
Indian families.  “Indian child” is defined broadly to include 
not only a child who is “a member of an Indian tribe,” but 
also one who is “eligible for membership in an Indian tribe 
and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe.” 
§1903(4).  If the Indian child lives on a reservation, ICWA 
grants the tribal court exclusive jurisdiction over all child
custody  proceedings,  including  adoptions  and  foster  care
proceedings.  §1911(a).  For other Indian children, state and 
tribal courts exercise concurrent jurisdiction, although the 
state  court  is  sometimes  required  to  transfer  the  case  to 
tribal court.  §1911(b).  When a state court adjudicates the
proceeding, ICWA governs from start to finish.  That is true 
regardless of whether the proceeding is “involuntary” (one 
to which the parents do not consent) or “voluntary” (one to
which they do). 

Involuntary  proceedings  are  subject  to  especially  strin-
gent safeguards.  See 25 CFR §23.104 (2022); 81 Fed. Reg.
38832–38836 (2016).  Any party who initiates an “involun-
tary proceeding” in state court to place an Indian child in 
foster  care  or  terminate  parental  rights  must  “notify  the
parent  or  Indian  custodian  and  the  Indian  child’s  tribe.” 
§1912(a).  The parent or custodian and tribe have the right 
to intervene in the proceedings; the right to request extra
time to prepare for the proceedings; the right to “examine
all reports or other documents filed with the court”; and, for 
indigent parents or custodians, the right to court-appointed 
counsel.  §§1912(a), (b), (c).  The party attempting to termi-