OJD and ODHS outline ICWA implementation, ICWA courts and federal grant support

Officials from the Oregon Judicial Department and the Oregon Department of Human Services briefed the House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services on April 22 about how state agencies and tribes are implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the Oregon Indian Child Welfare Act (ORICWA).

Adria Cortez, ICWA analyst for the Oregon Judicial Department, said ICWA is a federal statute that applies to involuntary child-custody proceedings involving an Indian child and that ORICWA, enacted in 2020, embeds and expands those protections in state law. “ICWA is mostly applied in dependency cases,” Cortez told the committee, and ORICWA grants tribes automatic party status and adds state-level enhancements, she said.

Cortez described a five-year discretionary grant awarded to the Oregon Judicial Department by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families in October 2023. The grant, she said, funds four main areas: improving ICWA data collection and access (including a dashboard for courts), expanding and supporting ICWA courts, producing an on-demand research-driven training for court partners, and making a subaward to the Klamath tribes for a family advocate and housing specialist focused on prevention and reunification. Cortez said the grant runs through Sept. 30, 2028, conditional on annual federal appropriation.

Judge Manuel Perez, who presides over Marion County’s ICWA court, described courtroom and procedural changes the Marion docket has adopted to make proceedings more culturally welcoming and to improve tribal engagement. Perez said the court offers a welcoming ceremony, provides smudging and gift bags, shortens adversarial posture by the judge sitting with families and prioritizes direct conversation with parents and children. “We are running a totally different courtroom now for cases than we were a year ago,” Perez said, and described anecdotal reunifications he attributed in part to the court’s approach.

Cheryl [interim tribal affairs director], interim Tribal Affairs director at ODHS, and Molly Miller, deputy director for ODHS child welfare, described agency changes. ODHS has adopted a tribal consultation policy effective Jan. 1, 2024; created Tribal Affairs staff roles including a Senior ICWA Manager and regional ICWA specialists; and convened implementation and training collaboratives. ODHS said it is developing a roadmap and implementation workgroups based on an outside assessment that included interviews with the nine federally recognized Oregon tribes and other partners.

Officials cited sustained disproportionality in foster-care placements: in 2021 American Indian and Alaska Native children made up approximately 1.5% of Oregon’s child population but about 5% of foster-care placements. Cortez and ODHS staff said that work to improve placement preferences, qualified expert witness (QEW) training and active-efforts documentation is underway statewide. ODHS noted it will work to coordinate QEWs across states where necessary and that placement preference may differ by tribal specification.

Committee members asked whether outcomes tracking is planned; Cortez said the Judicial Department intends to partner with the National Center for State Courts to create a research plan and track outcomes for Oregon’s ICWA dockets. Representative Hoelster asked whether the consultant who led interviews had spoken with families directly; ODHS said it would follow up with that information.

Ending: The agencies presented ongoing implementation work but no committee action was taken; members said they expect follow-up on research planning, outcome measures and staffing updates.