A mother who was 16 years old when she gave birth and who has a history of homelessness regained custody of her child after the Court of Appeal found the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services failed to investigate the child’s Native American claims as required by a federal law.
The department’s failure to interview the child’s grandparents violated the Indian Child Welfare Act, and invalidated Riverside Superior Court’s order to terminate the mother’s custody rights and give the child up for adoption, the Court of Appeal ruled June 7.
The department agreed that the ICWA was not properly followed.
ICWA, enacted more than
