Court Opinion

ID: 8027789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-09 02:50:22.046728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:36:52.437365
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SHEEHY,
dissenting:
It is improper and somewhat patronizing to assume that since the child is now placed with an Indian mother, though of a different tribe and territory, that the purpose of the Indian Child Welfare Act is fulfilled, and good cause shown for not assenting to the jurisdiction of the Eskimo tribe.
The very purpose of the Indian Child Welfare Act was to enable the several tribes to maintain their individuality and their cultures in a mobile and fast-changing national society. I daresay without investigation that the culture, mores, religious beliefs and mode of life is substantially different between the Eskimo tribe of the King Island Native Community and the Plains Indian Tribe to which the foster mother presumably belongs. The majority has determined “best interest” of the child lacking even a smidgeon of information of what the King Island Native Community has to offer. I would hold that the Eskimo tribe has a right to reach out and touch us where eligible members of the Eskimo tribe are concerned. One thing is certain: the culture of the Eskimos will not be preserved or prolonged in Montana. I believe you have to start with whale and seal meat, and the derivatives of these creatures, that made Eskimo life uniquely possible.
I would transfer jurisdiction to the Tribal Court of the Eskimo tribe.