Opinion ID: 2638013
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Native ancestry

Text: The other significant basis for the court's custody determination was the court's finding on factor five that, in this case, the stable environment was the children's school and social surroundings in Ketchikan, not the home Eric provided, and that Eric was the one disrupting that stability. The superior court concluded that social needs include cultural needs, and that living in Washington and having access to northwest coast tribes, but not the boys' Tsimshian culture in Metlakatla, was insufficient to meet this social need of the children. Eric argues that there was no evidence that Katherine had tried to bring the boys into their native culture. But Katherine testified that the boys had seen their Tsimshian relatives on at least two occasions, that she would expose them to that culture more if she had custody, and that she believed it to be an important part of their upbringing that they would not get in Washington. The superior court's finding that proximity to the Tsimshian culture was an important part of the boys' social needs is not clearly erroneous. It is uncontroverted that in Washington they would be exposed only to various northwest coast tribes, not their Tsimshian culture. And both parents agreed the boys' native heritage was an important element in their upbringing.