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Rev. Stat. § 19-1-126
Colorado
Revised Statutes
Title
19. Children's Code
Article
1. General Provisions
Part
1. General Provisions
§ 19-1-126. Compliance
with the federal "Indian Child Welfare Act"
(1) Commencing thirty days after May 30, 2002, in each case filed pursuant
to this title to which the terms of the federal "Indian Child Welfare
Act", 25 U.S.C. sec. 1901, et seq., apply, including but not limited
to certain juvenile delinquency proceedings, dependency or neglect proceedings,
termination of parental rights proceedings, and pre-adoptive and adoption
proceedings, the petitioning or filing party shall:
(a)
Make continuing inquiries to determine whether the child who is the subject
of the proceeding is an Indian child and, if so, shall determine the identity
of the Indian child's tribe;
(b)
If the petitioning or filing party knows or has reason to believe that
the child who is the subject of the proceeding is an Indian child, send
notice by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the parent or
Indian custodian of such child, to the tribal agent of the Indian child's
tribe as designated in title 25 of the code of federal regulations, part
23, or, if such agent has not been designated, to the highest-elected
or highest-appointed official of the Indian child's tribe, to the highest-elected
or highest-appointed tribal judge of the Indian child's tribe, and to
the social service department of the Indian child's tribe; and
(c)
Disclose in the complaint, petition, or other commencing pleading filed
with the court that the child who is the subject of the proceeding is
an Indian child and the identity of the Indian child's tribe or what efforts
the petitioning or filing party has made in determining whether the child
is an Indian child. If the child who is the subject of the proceeding
is determined to be an Indian child, the petitioning or filing party shall
further identify what reasonable efforts have been made to send notice
to the persons identified in paragraph (b) of this subsection (1). The
postal receipts indicating that notice
was properly sent by such petitioning or filing party to the parent or
Indian custodian of the Indian child and to the Indian child's tribe shall
be attached to the complaint, petition, or other commencing pleading filed
with the court; except that, if notification has not been perfected at
the time the initial complaint, petition, or other commencing pleading
is filed with the court or if the postal receipts have not been received
back from the post office, the petitioning or filing party shall identify
such circumstances to the court and shall thereafter file the postal receipts
with the court within ten days after the filing of the complaint, petition,
or other commencing pleading.
(2)
In any of the cases identified in subsection (1) of this section in which
the initial complaint, petition, or other commencing pleading does not
disclose whether the child who is the subject of the proceeding is an
Indian child, the court shall inquire of the parties at the first hearing
whether the child is an Indian child and, if so, whether the parties have
complied with the procedural requirements set forth in the federal "Indian
Child Welfare Act", 25 U.S.C. sec. 1901, et seq.
(3)
The state department of human services and the county departments of social
services are encouraged to work cooperatively in the sharing of information
that any of such agencies obtains or receives concerning any federally
recognized tribal entities existing outside the state of Colorado, including
but not limited to information about the appropriate person from any such
tribal entity to contact with the notice prescribed by this section.
(4)(a)
In any of the cases identified in subsection (1) of this section involving
an Indian child, in determining whether to transfer such a case to a tribal
court, the court is encouraged to consider the following guidelines:
(I)
The court may find that good cause exists to deny a transfer of the proceeding
to the tribal court if the Indian child's tribe does not have a tribal
court; or
(II)
The court may find that good cause exists to deny a transfer of the proceeding
to the tribal court if:
(A)
Either of the Indian child's parents objects to such a transfer; or
(B)
The proceeding was at an advanced stage when the petition to transfer
the proceeding to the tribal court was received from the Indian child's
tribe and the petitioning party did not file the petition to transfer
to the tribal court promptly after receiving the notice of hearing.
(b)
The burden of proof under this subsection (4) shall be on the party opposing
a transfer of the case.
CREDIT(S)
Added by Laws 2002, Ch.
217, § 3, eff. May 30, 2002
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