BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed legislation giving Native American families preference in fostering and adopting Native children involved with child protective services, a proactive move to protect such rights as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could undercut them nationally.
Gianforte signed the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act on Monday after it passed the Legislature by a wide margin.
Governors in Wyoming and North Dakota signed similar laws this spring, while a proposal in Utah stalled in the state Legislature.
The measures are modeled after the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which Congress passed in 1978 in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaskan Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies and subjected to physical and emotional abuse.
A pending Supreme Court challenge has put the federal law in jeopardy. During a hearing last year, justices seemed likely to leave in place most of the law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native children. The law also requires child welfare agencies to provide services to help Native families move toward reunification.
The Montana bill was amended by lawmakers to sunset after two years. Its Democratic sponsor, Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, said he initially introduced the measure a decade ago after some state district court judges were not following the federal law in Native children custody cases.
The new law includes “specific language that strengthens the protections of the child,” Windy Boy said.
Gianforte was scheduled to be in Texas Tuesday for a Republican Governors Association meeting. His spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
Ten other states already had similar laws in place, including New Mexico, whose law took effect this year. They too could be affected depending on how the justices rule. Most federally recognized tribes want the…
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