Opinion ID: 836443
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the adoption and safe families act and mcl 712a.19b(3)(i)

Text: The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), P.L. 105-89, 111 Stat. 2115, requires that states undertake reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families as a condition of federal funding. 42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)(B). The ASFA excuses proof of reasonable efforts to reunify when the parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily[.] 42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15)(D)(iii). MCL 712A.19a(2)(c) codifies both the reasonable efforts requirement and the exception to that requirement when a prior termination has taken place. Additionally, MCL 712A.19b(3)(i), which was the state law basis for the termination of respondent's parental rights here, makes involuntary termination of parental rights to a child's sibling a ground for termination. Because the ICWA establishes minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children from their families, 25 U.S.C. 1902, and nothing in the ASFA indicates a congressional intent to supersede the ICWA, neither the ASFA nor its state law analogues relieve the DHS from the ICWA's active efforts requirement, 25 U.S.C. 1912(d), or from the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian is likely to result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child, 25 U.S.C. 1912(f).