A new US federal rule, to be enacted this December, will require judges presiding over foster and adoption proceedings in every state in the country to ask about the child’s status as a tribal member, according the article. Native American children are represented in the US child welfare system at disproportionately high rates and the aim of this rule, and the Indian Child Welfare Act under which it falls, is to prevent the separation of Native American children from their families, communities, and culture by placing them with family members or other members of their tribe when foster care intervention is deemed necessary. "One of the challenges has been the courts not knowing to ask that very simple question just at the outset," said Larry Roberts, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. This new rule aims to address this issue.
