This article examines the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978, in the context of the child welfare debate on abolition versus classical reform and argues that the lessons learned over its 47 years of implementation offer an example of structural change in child welfare practice that transcends the abolition–reform binary, and embodies a more transformative approach to reform that prioritizes the sovereignty, well-being, and cultural integrity of Tribal children and families. These lessons learned could provide guidance for best practice on how to conduct child welfare policy and practice reforms that affect all child welfare involved children and families.
AkhtarZ. (2013). Native family law, Indian Child Welfare Act & tribal sovereignty. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 7(2), 130–147. https://doi.org/10.7202/1068846ar
2.
BarthR. P.BerrickJ. D.GarciaA. R.DrakeB.Jonson-ReidM.GyourkoJ. R.GreesonJ. K. P. (2022). Research to consider while effectively re-designing child welfare services. Research on Social Work Practice, 32(5), 483–498.
3.
Ben-MosheL. (2018). Dis-epistemologies of abolition. Critical Criminology, 26, 341–355.
BrownH. E. (2023). Administrative burden and the reproduction of settler-colonialism: A case study of the Indian Child Welfare Act. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 9(5), 232–251. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2023.9.5.10
BusseyM.LuceroN. M. (2013). Re-examining child welfare’s response to ICWA: Collaborating with community-based agencies to reduce disparities for American Indian/Alaskan Native children. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(3), 394–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.12.021
8.
ByersL. (2010). Native American grandmothers: Cultural tradition and contemporary necessity. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 19(4), 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2010.523653
CrofootT. L.HarrisM. S. (2012). An Indian child welfare perspective on disproportionality in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), 1667–1674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.04.028
11.
CrossT. L. (1986). Drawing on cultural tradition in Indian child welfare practice. Social Casework, 67(5), 283–289.
12.
CrossT. L.EarleK.SolieH. E.MannessK. (2000). Cultural strengths and challenges in implementing a systems of care model in American Indian communities. Systems of care: Promising practices in children’s mental health, 2000 series, volume I (p. 9). Center for Effective Collaborations and Practice, American Institutes of Research.
13.
DavisA. Y.DentG.MeinersE. R.RichieB. E. (2022). Abolition. Feminism. Now. Haymarket Books.
14.
DayA. G.Grinnell-DavisC.Roundtree-SwainD.UllrichJ. (2022). Qualitative analysis of tribal child welfare expert interviews. Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency. qic-ey.org
15.
DayA. G.MurphyK. S.WhitekillerV. D.HaggertyK. P. (2021). Characteristics and competencies of successful resource parents working in Indian country: A systematic review of the research. Children and Youth Services Review, 121, 105834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105834
16.
Du BoisW. E. B. (1935). Black reconstruction: An essay toward a history of the part which black folk played in the attempt to reconstruct democracy in America, 1860-1880. Harcourt, Brace and Company.
17.
FletcherM.FortK. (2019). The Indian Child Welfare Act as the “gold standard.”American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Advisor. apsaclibrary.org
18.
GilmoreR. W. (2019, December5). Keynote conversation. Making and Unmaking Mass Incarceration.
19.
HaightW.WaubanascumC.GlesenerD.DayP.BusseyB.NicholsK. (2020). The Center for Regional & Tribal Child Welfare Studies: Systems change through a relational Anishinaabe worldview. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105601
20.
HarrellS. (2024). Abolitionist reform for social workers. In KimM. E.RasmussenC. W.WashingtonD. M. (Eds.), Abolition and social work (pp. 51–84). Haymarket Books.
KimM. E. (2024). Abolition and the renewal of community: from carceral feminism to collective self-determination. Community Development Journal, 59(4), 696–715. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsae029
LindellK. U.SorensonC. K.MangoldS. V. (2020). The family first prevention services act: A new era of child welfare reform. Public Health Reports, 135(2), 282–286.
RichieB. E.MartensenK. M. (2020). Resisting carcerality, embracing abolition: Implications for feminist social work practice. Affilia, 35(1), 12–16.
35.
Rocha BeardallT.EdwardsF. (2021). Abolition, settler colonialism, and the persistent threat of Indian child welfare. Columbia Journal of Race and Law, 11(3), 533–574.
36.
SageM.BarkdullC. (2022). Operationalizing ICWA compliance to improve Native American child & family outcomes. Juvenile & Family Court Journal, 73(1), 7–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12212
SheaH.Mosley-HowardG. S.BaldwinD.IronstrackG.RousmaniereK.SchroerJ. E. (2019). Cultural revitalization as a restorative process to combat racial and cultural trauma and promote living well. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25(4), 553–565.
39.
SmallwoodR.WoodsC.PowerT.UsherK. (2021). Understanding the impact of historical trauma due to colonization on the health and well-being of indigenous young peoples: A systematic scoping review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 32(1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659620935955
ThibeaultD.SpencerM. S. (2019). The Indian adoption project and the profession of social work. Social Service Review, 93(4), 804–832. https://doi.org/10.1086/706771
42.
ToraifN.MuellerJ. C. (2023). Abolitionist social work. In Mizrahi T & Davis LE (eds.) Encyclopedia of social work. NASW Press, Oxford University Press.
