Opinion ID: 6348794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: The superior court terminated a mother’s parental rights to her two children. Because the children are Indian children as defined by the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) was required to make active efforts to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the family before the mother’s rights could be terminated. The superior court found clear and convincing evidence that OCS satisfied this requirement, although OCS’s efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. The mother appeals, challenging only the active efforts finding. She asks us to overturn precedent allowing courts to consider a parent’s noncooperation and the resulting futility of OCS’s actions when determining whether OCS satisfied the active efforts standard. She argues in the alternative that even under existing law the superior court’s active efforts finding was erroneous. We agree with the mother that the court erred by stating that active efforts “are dependent on [the mother’s] willingness to engage”; the active efforts inquiry depends primarily on OCS’s efforts, not the parent’s reaction to those efforts. We take this opportunity to clarify the extent to which a parent’s noncooperation is relevant to the active efforts analysis. And although we disagree in part with the superior court’s approach in this case, we independently conclude that OCS’s efforts satisfy the active efforts standard, and we therefore affirm the termination order.