Rule 3.002. Indian Children

For purposes of applying the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 USC 1901 et seq., and the

Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act, MCL 712B.1 et seq., to proceedings under the Juvenile

Code, the Adoption Code, and the Estates and Protected Individuals Code, the following

definitions taken from MCL 712B.3 and MCL 712B.7 shall apply.

(1) “Active efforts” means actions to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs

designed to prevent the breakup of the Indian family and to reunify the child with the

Indian family. Active efforts require more than a referral to a service without actively

engaging the Indian child and family. Active efforts include reasonable efforts as

required by title IV-E of the social security act, 42 USC 670 to 679c, and also include

doing or addressing all of the following:

(a) Engaging the Indian child, child’s parents, tribe, extended family members, and

individual Indian caregivers through the utilization of culturally appropriate services

and in collaboration with the parent or child’s Indian tribes and Indian social

services agencies.

(b) Identifying appropriate services and helping the parents to overcome barriers to

compliance with those services.

(c) Conducting or causing to be conducted a diligent search for extended family

members for placement.

(d) Requesting representatives designated by the Indian child’s tribe with substantial

knowledge of the prevailing social and cultural standards and child rearing practice

within the tribal community to evaluate the circumstances of the Indian child’s

family and to assist in developing a case plan that uses the resources of the Indian

tribe and Indian community, including traditional and customary support, actions,

and services, to address those circumstances.

(e) Completing a comprehensive assessment of the situation of the Indian child’s

family, including a determination of the likelihood of protecting the Indian child’s

health, safety, and welfare effectively in the Indian child’s home.

uses the resources of the Indian

tribe and Indian community, including traditional and customary support, actions,

and services, to address those circumstances.

(e) Completing a comprehensive assessment of the situation of the Indian child’s

family, including a determination of the likelihood of protecting the Indian child’s

health, safety, and welfare effectively in the Indian child’s home.

(f)

Identifying, notifying, and inviting representatives of the Indian child’s tribe to

participate in all aspects of the Indian child custody proceeding at the earliest

possible point in the proceeding and actively soliciting the tribe’s advice throughout

the proceeding.

(g) Notifying and consulting with extended family members of the Indian child,

including extended family members who were identified by the Indian child’s tribe

or parents, to identify and to provide family structure and support for the Indian

child, to assure cultural connections, and to serve as placement resources for the

Indian child.

(h) Making arrangements to provide natural and family interaction in the most natural

setting that can ensure the Indian child’s safety, as appropriate to the goals of the

Indian child’s permanency plan, including, when requested by the tribe,

arrangements for transportation and other assistance to enable family members to

participate in that interaction.

(i)

Offering and employing all available family preservation strategies and requesting

the involvement of the Indian child’s tribe to identify those strategies and to ensure

that those strategies are culturally appropriate to the Indian child’s tribe.

, when requested by the tribe,

arrangements for transportation and other assistance to enable family members to

participate in that interaction.

(i)

Offering and employing all available family preservation strategies and requesting

the involvement of the Indian child’s tribe to identify those strategies and to ensure

that those strategies are culturally appropriate to the Indian child’s tribe.

(j)

Identifying community resources offering housing, financial, and transportation

assistance and in-home support services, in-home intensive treatment services,

community support services, and specialized services for members of the Indian

child’s family with special needs, and providing information about those resources

to the Indian child’s family, and actively assisting the Indian child’s family or

offering active assistance in accessing those resources.

(k) Monitoring client progress and client participation in services.

(l)

Providing a consideration of alternative ways of addressing the needs of the Indian

child’s family, if services do not exist or if existing services are not available to the

family.

(2) “Child custody proceeding” shall mean and include

(a) “foster-care placement,” which shall mean any action removing an Indian child

from his or her parent or Indian custodian for temporary placement in a foster home

or institution or the home of a guardian or conservator where the parent or Indian

custodian cannot have the child returned upon demand, but where parental rights

have not been terminated,

(b) “termination of parental rights,” which shall mean any action resulting in the

termination of the parent-child relationship,

(c) “preadoptive placement,” which shall mean the temporary placement of an Indian

child in a foster home or institution after the termination of parental rights, but

before or in lieu of adoptive placement, and

but where parental rights

have not been terminated,

(b) “termination of parental rights,” which shall mean any action resulting in the

termination of the parent-child relationship,

(c) “preadoptive placement,” which shall mean the temporary placement of an Indian

child in a foster home or institution after the termination of parental rights, but

before or in lieu of adoptive placement, and

(d) “adoptive placement,” which shall mean the permanent placement of an Indian child

for adoption, including any action resulting in a final decree of adoption.

Such term or terms shall not include a placement based upon an act that, if committed by

an adult, would be deemed a crime or upon an award, in a divorce proceeding, of custody

to one of the parents.

(3) “Court” means the family division of circuit court or the probate court.

(4) “Culturally appropriate services” means services that enhance an Indian child’s and

family’s relationship to, identification, and connection with the Indian child’s tribe.

Culturally appropriate services should provide the opportunity to practice the teachings,

beliefs, customs, and ceremonies of the Indian child’s tribe so those may be incorporated

into the Indian child’s daily life, as well as services that address the issues that have

brought the child and family to the attention of the department that are consistent with

the tribe’s beliefs about child rearing, child development, and family wellness.

Culturally appropriate services may involve tribal representatives, extended family

members, tribal elders, spiritual and cultural advisors, tribal social services, individual

Indian caregivers, medicine men or women, and natural healers. If the Indian child’s

tribe establishes a different definition of culturally appropriate services, the court shall

follow the tribe’s definition.

(5) “Department” means the department of health and human services or any successor

department or agency.

ribal elders, spiritual and cultural advisors, tribal social services, individual

Indian caregivers, medicine men or women, and natural healers. If the Indian child’s

tribe establishes a different definition of culturally appropriate services, the court shall

follow the tribe’s definition.

(5) “Department” means the department of health and human services or any successor

department or agency.

(6) “Exclusive jurisdiction” shall mean that an Indian tribe has jurisdiction exclusive as to

any state over any child custody proceeding as defined above involving an Indian child

who resides or is domiciled within the reservation of such tribe, except where such

jurisdiction is otherwise vested in the state by existing federal law. Where an Indian

child is a ward of a tribal court, the Indian tribe retains exclusive jurisdiction, regardless

of the residence or domicile or subsequent change in his or her residence or domicile.

(7) “Extended family member” shall be as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child’s

tribe or, in the absence of such law or custom, shall be a person who has reached the age

of 18 years and who is the Indian child’s grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister,

brother-in-law or sister-in-law, niece or nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent and

includes the term “relative” as that term is defined in MCL 712A.13a(1)(j).

(8) “Foster home or institution” means a child caring institution as that term is defined in

section 1 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722.111.

(9) “Guardian” means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor under a parental

or spousal nomination or a court order issued under section 19a or 19c of chapter XIIA,

section 5204 or 5205 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA 386, MCL

700.5204 and 700.5205, or sections 600 to 644 of the mental health code, 1974 PA 258,

MCL 330.1600 to 330.1644. Guardian may also include a person appointed by a tribal

court under tribal code or custom. Guardian does not include a guardian ad litem.

court order issued under section 19a or 19c of chapter XIIA,

section 5204 or 5205 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA 386, MCL

700.5204 and 700.5205, or sections 600 to 644 of the mental health code, 1974 PA 258,

MCL 330.1600 to 330.1644. Guardian may also include a person appointed by a tribal

court under tribal code or custom. Guardian does not include a guardian ad litem.

(10)“Guardian ad litem” means an individual whom the court appoints to assist the court in

determining the child’s best interests. A guardian ad litem does not need to be an

attorney.

(11)“Indian” means any member of any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group

or community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by

the secretary because of their status as Indians, including any Alaska native village as

defined in section 1602(c) of the Alaska native claims settlement act, 43 USC 1602.

(12)“Indian child” means any unmarried person who is under age 18 and is either

(a) a member of an Indian tribe, or

(b) is eligible for membership in an Indian tribe as determined by that Indian tribe.

(13)“Indian child’s tribe” means

(a) the Indian tribe in which an Indian child is a member or eligible for membership, or

(b) in the case of an Indian child who is a member of or eligible for membership in more

than one tribe, the Indian tribe with which the Indian child has the most significant

contacts.

(14)“Indian child welfare act” means the Indian child welfare act of 1978, 25 USC 1901 to

1963.

(15)“Indian custodian” means any Indian person who has custody of an Indian child under

tribal law or custom or under state law, or to whom temporary physical care, custody,

and control have been transferred by the child’s parent.

(16)“Indian organization” means any group, association, partnership, corporation, or other

legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians.

ustodian” means any Indian person who has custody of an Indian child under

tribal law or custom or under state law, or to whom temporary physical care, custody,

and control have been transferred by the child’s parent.

(16)“Indian organization” means any group, association, partnership, corporation, or other

legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians.

(17)“Indian tribe” means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or

community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by the

Secretary because of their status as Indians, including any Alaska Native village as

defined in section 43 USC 1602(c).

(18)“Lawyer-guardian ad litem” means an attorney appointed under MCL 712B.21 to

represent the child with the powers and duties as set forth in MCL 712A.17d. The

provisions of MCL 712A.17d also apply to a lawyer-guardian ad litem appointed for the

purposes of MIFPA under each of the following:

(a) MCL 700.5213 and 700.5219,

(b) MCL 722.24, and

(c) MCL 722.630.

(19)“Official tribal representative” means an individual who is designated by the Indian

child’s tribe to represent the tribe in a court overseeing a child custody proceeding. An

official tribal representative does not need to be an attorney.

(20)“Parent” means any biological parent or parents of an Indian child or any Indian person

who has lawfully adopted an Indian child, including adoptions under tribal law or

custom. It does not include the putative father if paternity has not been acknowledged or

established.

(21)“Reservation” means Indian country as defined in section 18 USC 1151 and any lands

not covered under such section, for which title is either held by the United States in trust

for the benefit of any Indian tribe or individual or held by any Indian tribe or individual

subject to a restriction by the United States against alienation.

(22)“Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior.

ished.

(21)“Reservation” means Indian country as defined in section 18 USC 1151 and any lands

not covered under such section, for which title is either held by the United States in trust

for the benefit of any Indian tribe or individual or held by any Indian tribe or individual

subject to a restriction by the United States against alienation.

(22)“Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior.

(23)“Tribal court” means a court with jurisdiction over child custody proceedings and that is

either a Court of Indian Offenses, a court established and operated under the code or

custom of an Indian tribe, or any other administrative body of a tribe that is vested with

authority over child custody proceedings.

(24)“Ward of tribal court” means a child over whom an Indian tribe exercises authority by

official action in tribal court or by the governing body of the tribe.

Subchapter 3.100 Debtor-Creditor