## Facts

- Cass County Social Services filed a Minnesota juvenile dependency proceeding concerning three children eligible for ICWA treatment.
- The mother was an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.
- The father of the two older children (R.I. and M.I. Jr.) and those children were enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.
- The youngest child (K.H.) and her father (H.H.) were enrolled members of the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota.
- The Warm Springs Tribal Court had previously entered orders involving R.I. and M.I. Jr., including emergency orders making them wards of that court after a neglect incident involving the father.
- In Minnesota, authorities conducted an emergency removal after a home visit found the mother and others intoxicated; the children were held under a short-term emergency hold and placed in temporary county custody.
- The Warm Springs Tribe intervened in the Minnesota case and sought transfer of jurisdiction to the Warm Springs Tribal Court under ICWA.
- While the Minnesota case was pending, the mother removed R.I. and M.I. Jr. from Minnesota without permission, brought them to the Warm Springs Reservation, was convicted of drug possession, and left the children there; tribal authorities assumed custody and placed them with a relative.
- The Minnesota juvenile court placed R.I. with her father, dismissed the dependency matter as to M.I. Jr. and K.H., and transferred jurisdiction to the Warm Springs Tribal Court.
- The mother appealed, challenging the transfer and related dispositional rulings.

## Issues

1. Whether the Minnesota juvenile court erred under ICWA by transferring jurisdiction to the Warm Springs Tribal Court despite the mother’s objection.
2. Whether the juvenile court properly accounted for existing Warm Springs Tribal Court orders and the tribe’s continuing assertion of jurisdiction in making its disposition.
3. Whether dismissal of the Minnesota dependency proceeding as to certain children was proper once tribal jurisdiction was recognized and the matter was transferred.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed.
- The court upheld the transfer of jurisdiction to the Warm Springs Tribal Court under ICWA.
- The court approved the juvenile court’s disposition, including placement of R.I. with her father and dismissal of the Minnesota dependency proceeding as to M.I. Jr. and K.H.
- The court concluded the juvenile court acted within ICWA and Minnesota juvenile authority in deferring to the tribal court’s role and existing tribal proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- ICWA reflects a federal policy favoring tribal authority in Indian child-custody matters and limiting state-court displacement of tribal decisionmaking.
- Existing tribal court custody orders and the tribe’s prior and continuing exercise of jurisdiction support transfer and state-court deference.
- In assessing whether transfer should be denied, a court may consider a parent’s conduct that is inconsistent with a formal objection, including actions that return children to tribal control.
- State juvenile courts must apply Minnesota dependency law consistently with ICWA’s jurisdictional structure and placement-related policies.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a Minnesota juvenile court order transferring an ICWA child-custody proceeding to the Warm Springs Tribal Court, holding that prior tribal orders, ongoing tribal involvement, and the mother’s conduct supported deference to tribal jurisdiction and validated the state court’s related dispositional rulings.


In re Welfare of R.I., 402 N.W.2d 173 (Minn. Ct. App. 1987)