Opinion ID: 1172030
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The statutory requirements and their, due process implications

Text: The terms of § 40.5(A) of the state ICWA provide that when a court authorizes the emergency removal of an Indian child from its parent or Indian custodian in accordance with § 1922 of the federal ICWA, the order shall be accompanied by an affidavit containing information about the parents' offending conduct that has resulted in the child's removal. [6] The Juvenile Code, § 1104.1(C), provides in part that whenever a child is taken into custody as a deprived child, its parents or guardians are entitled to a show-cause hearing within 48 hours to determine why the child had been taken into custody or why it should not be returned to its parent. [7] These statutory requirements have a constitutional dimension. The § 40.5.(A) affidavit is an indispensable component of due process because it is to impart notice of the parent's alleged offending conduct the State relies upon as its basis for the child's removal. The trial court's failure to conduct a § 1104.1(C) hearing denied the mother an opportunity to refute the petition's allegations and hence to prevent the child's removal. Cognizance to decide custody placement in a preadjudicative phase of a deprived-status proceeding cannot be validly exercised unless it was acquired and assumed in strict conformity to the minimum standards of due process. [8] Due process inexorably commands notice which reasonably informs a person that his legally protected interest may be adversely affected. [9] parents are unable to oppose an emergency removal of children unless the nature of the complaint against them is known. The information to be contained in the affidavit  which must include a specific and detailed account of the circumstances leading to removal of the child  is the first notice parents will ordinarily receive of the grounds for the impending juvenile proceeding. The affidavit's importance is made clear when, as in the present case, the emergency orders and their extensions are obtained in ex parte proceedings.