Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative

Filed on July 12, 2011
Not designated for permanent publication, A-10-1038, A-10-1039
SUMMARY: Termination of parental rights was proper because the father continually failed to deal with his ongoing issues with alcohol abuse and the mother failed to understand and seek proper treatment for her mental health disorder, and neither made acceptable progress in improving their parenting [...]

Filed on October 5, 2010
18 Neb. App. 574, 789 N.W.2d 272
SUMMARY: Refusal to invalidate an adjudication order that was not ICWA compliant was proper because ICWA provisions apply prospectively from the formal identification of the child as Indian, because there was no basis for collateral attack and because Neb. Rev. Stat. 43-1507 does not apply [...]

Filed on September 1, 2009
17 Neb. App. 867, 774 N.W.2d 416
SUMMARY: In an ICWA case, active efforts should include direct guidance rather than passive referrals. The active efforts need only be culturally relevant if the conditions that led to out-of-home placement have some cultural basis. Evidence that termination is in the children’s best [...]

Filed on August 4, 2009
770 N.W.2d 678, 17 Neb. App. 828
SUMMARY: The juvenile court did not err in denying transfer of the case to tribal court because the case was in its advanced stages (i.e., termination of parental rights), the father did not file the motion to transfer until 2 years into the case, and [...]

Filed on March 10, 2009
764 N.W.2d 119, 17 Neb. App. 436
SUMMARY: In a case involving the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the State must amend its pleadings to reflect the standards required under ICWA regardless of whether the court nevertheless makes the required findings. A DHHS caseworker with 11 years of experience and history [...]

Filed on November 25, 2008
Not designated for permanent publication
A-08-651, A-08-652
SUMMARY: The motions to transfer to tribal court were properly denied for good cause because the child were not Indian Children under ICWA at the time of the hearing and because the tribal social service agencies did not have appropriate and necessary services available for the [...]

Filed Tuesday, 11 December 2007
16 Neb. App. 246, 743 N.W.2d 91
A-07-592

SUMMARY: When a motion to transfer to juvenile court is filed, subsequent hearings cannot be held absent a finding of good cause. 

A 3(a) petition was filed alleging that the child was a member of an Indian tribe and that parental rights should be terminated [...]

Filed Jan 5 2007
Nebraska Supreme Court
272 Neb. 846; 725 N.W.2d 548
SUMMARY: “An adoption cannot be vacated under NICWA where the tribe’s entry into the proceedings is untimely.”
 
The biological mother of Kenten H, relinquished her parental rights to Kenten H to the Department of Health and Human Services. She later petitioned the county court to vacate [...]

Filed on July 11, 2006
14 Neb. App. 891, 719 N.W.2d 304
SUMMARY: “The stated purposes of the ICWA are best served by allowing parents to raise, in their direct appeal from a termination of parental rights, the issue of the State’s failure to notify the child’s Indian tribe of the termination of parental rights proceedings as [...]

Filed on June 13, 2006
Not designated for permanent publication
Nebraska Court of Appeals, A-05-1409
SUMMARY: A pending motion to transfer in the juvenile court cannot be appealed since there is no final order by which the parents can appeal. 
Faren H. was born on June 2, 2005.  On June 7, 2005, the state filed a petition to adjudicate [...]