Case Name: In re James Ronald HAMPTON and Jan Harris Milz Hampton, Applying for Adoption, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J.A.L. (Natural Parent of the Child), Defendant-Appellant
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1995-07-06
Citations: 658 So. 2d 331
Docket Number: No. 27869-JA
Parties: In re James Ronald HAMPTON and Jan Harris Milz Hampton, Applying for Adoption, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J.A.L. (Natural Parent of the Child), Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before SEXTON, NORRIS, LINDSAY, WILLIAMS and STEWART, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 658
Pages: 331–345

Head Matter:
In re James Ronald HAMPTON and Jan Harris Milz Hampton, Applying for Adoption, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J.A.L. (Natural Parent of the Child), Defendant-Appellant.
No. 27869-JA.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
July 6, 1995.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 17, 1995.
Northwest Louisiana, Legal Services, Inc. by E. Paul Young, Steven A. Campbell, Mary Ellen Halterman, Shreveport, for appellant.
Love, Rigby, Dehan & McDaniel by Kenneth Rigby, Shreveport, for appellee.
Before SEXTON, NORRIS, LINDSAY, WILLIAMS and STEWART, JJ.

Opinion:
| iNORRIS, Judge.
J.L., the Indian mother of A.S.L., appeals a trial court judgment allowing her to withdraw her consent to adoption under the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), but denying her writ of habeas corpus and awarding sole care, custody and control of the child to the Hamptons, a non-Indian couple, subject to reasonable visitation. J.L. has assigned three errors under the ICWA. The Hamptons have answered the appeal, urging the inapplicability of the ICWA. For the following reasons, we reverse in part, affirm in part and remand.
Procedural history
On July 26, 1994, J.L., then 17 years of age, gave birth to a baby girl, A.S.L., in Shreveport. In August 1994, just after her eighteenth birthday, J.L. executed a Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption under state law (Title XI of the Louisiana Children's Code) irrevocably terminating her parental rights to A.S.L. Also in August, J.L. sent a letter, prepared by Mr. Hampton and signed by her, to Janet Collins, the coordinator of the Indian Child Welfare Program of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, advising them she did not want the tribe involved in the matter. Consequently, the tribe explicitly declined jurisdiction over the matter. In December, the Hamptons filed a motion for a rule to terminate the alleged natural father's parental rights. Because his whereabouts were unknown, a curator ad hoc was appointed, and his parental rights to A.S.L. were subsequently terminated. In January 1995, J.L. filed a pro se affidavit demanding the return of her daughter. On January 25, 1995, Mary Halterman 12of Northwest Louisiana Legal Services, Inc. enrolled as counsel for J.L. On January 30, J.L. filed a notarized "Revocation of Voluntary Consent," revoking her consent to the adoption and requesting that her child be returned to her under the ICWA. In March, she filed a Motion to Dismiss Adoption Proceedings and Writ of Habeas Corpus. The Hamptons answered, maintaining that the ICWA does not apply in the instant case and that J.L. is not entitled to the return of her child under state law.
Factual evidence adduced at the hearing
J.L. is % Indian blood and is a member of her father's tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux. She was born on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota (her mother's tribe), and lived there for nine years. After her father died, she moved with her mother and siblings off the reservation. Except for a short two-week stay with her aunt at Standing Rock in November 1994, she has not lived on a reservation since.
J.L. had a tumultuous childhood marked by alcoholism and violence. When J.L. was not in juvenile detention centers or rehabilitation centers for drug and alcohol abuse, she lived with her mother and stepfather. Her mother, also an alcoholic, was often verbally abusive; she has been in jail in the past. Her stepfather has a record of criminal convictions and has been in and out of jail periodically. Her maternal grandfather is also an alcoholic, has lived with them in the past, and was convicted as recently as May of 1994 for drunk and disorderly conduct. The majority of J.L.'s brothers and half brothers, some of whom lived with her and her mom and stepfather, have engaged in criminal activity; most have been convicted and either have served or are presently serving time in jail or state detention centers. J.L.'s criminal history began at age 15 when she stabbed her stepbrother with a knife. She admits to using crack Rcocaine in November 1998 and abusing alcohol and drugs (marijuana) as late as December 1994. She is currently on welfare and living with her mother in Minneapolis; she has never been able to maintain employment. Recently, she was also diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, which causes severe respiratory difficulty and occasionally unconsciousness necessitating hospitalization, and renders work difficult if not impossible.
After learning she was pregnant, J.L. decided to put the baby up for adoption. Her friend and sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous, Susan Schloss, found a family, the Hamptons, to adopt the baby. The Hamptons live in Bossier City, Louisiana. J.L. met with the Hamptons and agreed to the adoption. The day after A.S.L. was bom, she allowed the Hamptons to take custody; the child has remained with the Hamptons ever since. AS.L.'s paternity has never been conclusively established. J.L. testified at the hearing that the father is Indian, despite her sworn affidavit that the father was "unknown," and statements to her legal counsel and the Sehlosses in the past that she believed a non-Indian man was the father. J.L. admitted that either man could be the father. The alleged father has had no contact with the child; neither his Indian descent nor any tribal membership has ever been established. However, A.S.L. is eligible to enroll in the tribe based on her mother's membership.
Reasons for judgment
After a two-day hearing in late March, the trial court rendered its decision and explained its reasons in open court. A formal written judgment was subsequently filed. The court determined that the ICWA applied based on the Act's definition of an "Indian child." The Act, specifically 25 U.S.C. § 1913(c), allows J.L. to withdraw her consent to the adoption for any reason until a final decree of adoption is rendered. As no final decree had been rendered, the Ucourt found that J.L. was entitled to withdraw her Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption.
Nevertheless, the court found another provision, § 1916, necessitated a best interest determination before returning custody to J.L., and noted its inherent authority to consider the child's best interest. The court apparently considered state law as well in weighing the best interest issue. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the court concluded that A.S.L.'s best interest would be served by remaining in the custody of the Hamptons. In addition, the court determined it had been shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the continued custody by J.L. would result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child. Consequently, the court rejected and dismissed J.L.'s petition for writ of habeas corpus and awarded the Hamptons sole care, custody and control of AS.L., subject to reasonable visitation by J.L. at the Hamptons' residence by agreement of the parties. The judgment also reflected J.L.'s request at trial to dismiss her motion to dismiss the adoption proceedings, and the court's ruling dismissing the motion with prejudice.
J.L. appeals that portion of the judgment denying the return of AS.L. to her and granting sole custody to the Hamptons. Specifically she urges the trial court erred in failing to comply with the clear mandate of § 1913(c), improperly relying on § 1916 to deny the return of custody, and finally, failing to apply the child placement preferences in § 1915(a). The Hamptons answered the appeal, seeking reversal of the judgment insofar as the trial court found the ICWA applied and it allowed J.L. to withdraw her Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption. They contend the ICWA is inapplicable because this adoption proceeding does not involve the "breakup of an Indian family," the concern Congress sought to eliminate by the Act.
IsDiscussion
Before we can address J.L.'s arguments under the ICWA we must first determine whether the Act applies in the instant case. The issue is one of first impression in Louisiana.
The enactment of the ICWA in 1978 stemmed from the rising concern in the mid-1970's over "abusive child welfare practices that resulted in the separation of large numbers of Indian children from their families and tribes through adoption or foster care placement, usually in non-Indian homes." Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 32, 109 S.Ct. 1597, 1600, 104 L.Ed.2d 29 (1989). Hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs focused not only on the harm to Indian parents and their children involuntarily separated from their families, but also on the impact that massive removal of Indian children had upon the Indian tribes themselves. Holy-field, supra.
Culturally, the chances of 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. Furthermore, these practices seriously undercut the tribes' ability to continue as self-governing communities.
Holyfield, supra, (quoting 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., at 193 (1978)).
In enacting the ICWA, Congress expressly declared its policy "to protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families by the establishment of minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children irom their families." 25 U.S.C. § 1902. This policy is obviously based on Congress' findings:
[t]hat an alarmingly high percentage of Indian families are broken up by the removal, often unwarranted, of their children from them|6by nontribal public and private agencies and that an alarmingly high percentage of such children are placed in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes and institutions; and that the States, exercising their recognized jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings through administrative and judicial bodies, have often failed to recognize the essential tribal relations of Indian people and the cultural and social standards prevailing in Indian communities and families. 25 U.S.C. § 1901(4), (5).
The ICWA provides for exclusive tribal court jurisdiction for children domiciled or residing on a reservation, and concurrent but presumptively tribal jurisdiction in other cases. 25 U.S.C. § 1911(a), (b). For custody proceedings in state courts, the Act sets forth certain procedural and substantive safeguards to follow. See 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.
The ICWA thus, in the words of the House Report accompanying it, seeks to protect the rights of the Indian child as an Indian and the rights of the Indian community and tribe in retaining its children in its society. It does so by establishing a Federal policy that, where possible, an Indian child should remain in the Indian community, and by making sure that Indian child welfare determinations are not based on a white, middle-class standard which, in many eases, forecloses placement with [an] Indian family.
Holyfield, supra, (quoting H.R.Rep. No. 95-1386, at 23-24,1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 7545-7547) (citations omitted).
In an early interpretation of the ICWA, the Kansas Supreme Court noted that the underlying thread running through the entire Act is the concern over removing Indian children from "an existing Indian family unit and the resultant breakup of the Indian family." In re Adoption of Baby Boy L., 231 Kan. 199, 206, 643 P.2d 168 (1982). Based on a review of the Act and its legislative history, the Court concluded that this was Congress' clear intent in enacting ICWA; the act was never intended to apply where the preservation of an "Indian family or environment" was not at stake. This analysis has been favorably cited and relied upon by the Supreme Courts of other states. Matter of Adoption of Crews, 118 Wash.2d 561, 825 P.2d 305 (1992); Matter of S.C., 833 P.2d 1249 (Okl.1992); Matter of Adoption of T.R.M., 525 N.E.2d 298 (Ind.1988).
J.L. urges we decline to follow this view, which has been termed by some as a "judicially created exception" to the ICWA. See Matter of Baby Boy Doe, 123 Idaho 464, 849 P.2d 925 (1993). However, upon exhaustive review of jurisprudence on this issue, the Act, and its stated purpose and legislative history, we are convinced that Congress intended the Act apply only in situations in volving the removal of children from an existing Indian family and Indian environment. See Matter of S.C., supra at 1255. Bolstering our conclusion is the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' rejection in 1987 of proposed amendments to mandate application of the ICWA regardless of whether the child had previously lived in Indian country, in an Indian cultural environment or with an Indian parent. See S.1976, 100th Cong., 1st Sess., 133 Cong.Rec. S18532, S18533 (daily ed. Dec. 19, 1987) (proposed amendment to Section 1903(1)). Contrary to J.L.'s assertion that this view undermines the remedial effect and purpose of the Act, requiring an existing Indian family and environment to exist for application of the Act promotes the specific goal Congress sought to achieve. The ICWA protects and promotes Indian tribal heritage and retains the cultural ties between children and their Indian parents and the tribe, when such ties exist.
J.L. urges we adopt the Idaho Supreme Court's reasoning in Matter of Baby Boy Doe, supra. There the non-Indian mother consented to voluntary termination of her parental rights and to the adoption of her illegitimate son. The natural Indian father contested the adoption. The trial court found that the ICWA did not apply because either the child was not an "Indian child" under the Act or was not being removed from an existing Indian family, terminated the Indian father's parental rights and granted the adoption. The appellate court |8affirmed on different grounds. The Supreme Court reversed, finding the Act applied because the baby was an "Indian child" under the ICWA. It rejected the application of the Indian family requirement because
it would allow the non-Indian mother to circumvent application of ICWA and the tribe's interest in the child by making sure that the child is kept away from the reservation and out of contact with the father and his family. This would undermine the tribe's interest in its Indian children, which the Supreme Court recognized in Mississippi Choctaw.
Matter of Baby Boy Doe, supra 849 P.2d at 931-932.
In the instant case, however, the Indian mother is not seeking to circumvent the ICWA or to undermine the tribe's interest by keeping the child away from the reservation. It is therefore also distinguished from Holy-field, supra, which J.L. argues implicitly rejected the existing family requirement. There the Court dealt with illegitimate twins born to parents who lived on a reservation, but purposely left the reservation to give birth and then voluntarily surrendered the children for adoption to a non-Indian couple. The Court held that the children were domiciled on the reservation because both parents lived on the reservation, despite their attempt to defeat the exclusive tribal jurisdiction under the ICWA by removing the children from the reservation. The Court, citing the negative impact on the long-term survival of the tribe and the effect on the children removed from their cultural setting, found that "Congress determined to subject such placements to the ICWA's jurisdictional and other provisions, even in cases where the parents consented to an adoption, because of concerns going beyond the wishes of individual parents." Holyfield, supra 490 U.S. at 50, 109 S.Ct. at 1609. We note that Holy-field dealt with only the issue of jurisdiction under the ICWA and therefore may be construed narrowly; however, even assuming the holding extends to the instant case, we find it supports the existing family 19requirement. See Matter of Adoption of Crews, supra 825 P.2d at 310.
We find persuasive the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Washington and Indiana, which involved factually similar situations to the instant case. Matter of Adoption of Crews, supra; Matter of Adoption of T.R.M., supra. In Crews, decided after Holyfield, the Washington Supreme Court found that the ICWA did not apply to invalidate the termination of an Indian mother's parental rights to her illegitimate child under state law. The Indian mother consented to terminate her parental rights and to the adoption. A few days after the child's birth she relinquished custody to the adoptive non-Indian couple. Shortly thereafter she contacted the couple and requested return of her child. She subsequently learned of her Indian ancestry and her child's eligibility to enroll in the Choctaw Nation Tribe, sought to revoke her consent under the ICWA, and filed a petition to vacate the order terminating her parental rights and to regain custody of her child. The trial court rejected her petition finding the Act did not apply because the baby was not an "Indian child" at the time the termination order was entered. The tribe intervened on appeal. The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court. The Supreme Court found that the ICWA did not apply in this case even if the baby was an "Indian child" because the baby was not removed from an existing Indian environment. The court noted:
Neither Crews nor her family has ever lived on the Choctaw reservation in Oklahoma and there are no plans to relocate the family from Seattle to Oklahoma. Ber-tiaux, B.'s father, has no ties to any Indian tribe or community and opposes B.'s removal from his adoptive parents. Moreover, there is no allegation by Crews or the Choctaw Nation that, if custody was returned to Crews, B. would grow up in an Indian environment. To the contrary, Crews has shown no substantive interest in her Indian heritage in the past and has given no indication this will change in the future.
Crews, supra 825 P.2d at 310. The Court also noted "there may be instances where the application of ICWA would result in the placement of an Indian child back into Loan Indian environment." Crews, supra 825 P.2d at 311. However, under these particular circumstances, it held the Act did not apply.
In the Matter of Adoption of T.R.M., supra, the Indiana Supreme Court also found the ICWA did not apply to invalidate an adoption. The Indian mother, J.Q., a member of the Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe gave birth to T.R.M., whose paternity was never established, and six days later asked the non-Indian adoptive couple to take the child. J.Q. signed a consent form to the adoption and except for a few phone calls and letters had no further contact with the child , or the adoptive parents until she filed a habeas corpus proceeding for return of her child. The tribal court also filed an action claiming jurisdiction in the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court. The court denied her petition, granted temporary custody to the adoptive parents, and dismissed the tribe's petition for failure to appear. The adoptive parents filed a petition for adoption and the tribe filed a motion to transfer jurisdiction to the tribal court. The court granted the adoption. The appellate court reversed on jurisdictional grounds. The Supreme Court reinstated the trial court's judgment, finding the ICWA inapplicable. In holding that the Act should not be applied in a case where the purpose and intent of Congress cannot be achieved, it stated:
[T]he child's biological ancestry is Indian. However, except for the first five days after birth, her entire life of seven years to date has been spent with her non-Indian adoptive parents in a non-Indian culture. While the purpose of the ICWA is to protect Indian children from improper removal from their existing Indian family units, such purpose cannot be served in the present case before this Court. From the unique facts of this case, where the child was abandoned to the adoptive mother essentially at the earliest practical moment after childbirth and initial hospital care, we cannot discern how the subsequent adoption constituted a "breakup of the Indian family."
Matter of Adoption of T.R.M., supra at 303.
In the instant case, J.L. asked the adoptive couple to take custody of | hA.S.L. the day after she was born. J.L. had the baby in Shreveport, not on a reservation, and remained in Shreveport only until the end of August 1994. A.S.L.'s paternity has not been conclusively established; it is questionable whether the father is Indian. A.S.L. has lived with the Hamptons in Bossier virtually since birth. J.L. has not lived on a reservation since age nine, although she has, .in the past year, attended two pow wows. She has maintained no ties to the Indian tribe. Since revoking her consent to the adoption, she claims she wants to "get back into [her] cultural heritage," move back to the reservation and rear her child in the Indian way. Her actions however, in the past and even since the birth of A.S.L., sug gest quite the opposite. Similar to Crews, J.L. has shown little substantive interest in her Indian heritage in the past, and given no indication, other than a bare assertion, that this will change in the future. Crews, supra at 310. Furthermore, we note that the tribe to date has not filed a formal intervention and appears to have declined involvement in the case. In sum, we find that the adoption of A.S.L. will not cause the breakup of an existing Indian family or removal of a child from an Indian environment. The child has never participated in Indian culture or heritage and more importantly based on the evidence presented, would not be exposed to such culture in the future even if returned to her biological mother or her family.
We therefore conclude that the ICWA was not intended to apply to this particular set of circumstances, and that the trial court committed an error of law. Accordingly, we are constrained to reverse that portion of the trial court | ^judgment decreeing that the Act applies, and allowing J.L. to revoke her Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption under federal law.
Because we find the ICWA does not apply, we need not address J.L.'s arguments under federal law. J.L. does not contest the validity of the surrender under state law, which renders her consent to the adoption and the termination of her parental rights final and irrevocable. La.Ch.C. arts. 1122B(4), (5), (6), 1123, 1130. The law is clear that J.L. may not revoke her consent. J.L.'s Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption executed on August 18, 1994 is therefore valid.
Conclusion
We reverse that portion of the judgment decreeing the ICWA applies and allowing J.L. to revoke her Voluntary Act of Surrender For Adoption. The judgment in all other respects is affirmed. We note the grant of visitation to J.L. was made pursuant to the parties' agreement; therefore, though unusual and not provided for by law in adoption cases, we will not disturb the judgment on the issue. The case is remanded to the trial court to proceed with the adoption. Costs are assessed to J.L. in accordance with La. C.C.P. art. 5181 et seq.
REVERSED IN PART; AFFIRMED IN PART; CASE REMANDED.
. According to counsel for J.L., the Tribe now seeks to intervene in the matter and transfer the proceedings to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. We find no record evidence of this intent; any request for intervention or transfer of jurisdiction, if filed, was never made a part of the record on appeal.
. In so holding we are naturally sensitive to the dissent's critique that we are utilizing a judicial exception to circumvent the "plain meaning" of 25 U.S.C. § 1903. We do not feel, however, that the exception drives "another nail in the coffin" of the Indian Nation; in the instant record there is no evidence whatsoever that J.L.'s tribe sought to intervene in the proceedings or affect the outcome in any way. We also differ with the dissent's view that our holding violates ICWA in the pursuit of a "result" any the less than the dissent's approach. After nine pages urging us to follow the letter of ICWA and find that it must apply, the dissent then circumvents the plain meaning of § 1913(c), under which the child must be returned to the parent who revokes her consent. The dissent's effort to interlard the Louisiana Children's Code into the framework of ICWA is but tenuously supported and represents an unprecedented, uncharted path in ICWA jurisprudence; as such it is hardly less offensive to the Federal Statute than the well-recognized "Indian family exception."