The North Carolina Court of Appeals remanded a termination of parental rights order for ICWA compliance after finding that the trial court had conducted the required inquiry under 25 C.F.R. § 23.107(a) as to respondent-father only; an on-the-record inquiry of respondent-mother is required regardless of her absence from prior hearings, and the termination order remains in place pending the inquiry.
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed termination of parental rights in a consolidated three-child case, holding that the Department of Public Health and Human Services made diligent efforts to determine ICWA applicability: a Blackfeet Tribe verification of non-enrollment that was never revised after the Tribe received complete identifying information was conclusive, a typographical error in a putative (not established biological) father’s name was immaterial to tribal eligibility, and the mother waived any ICWA diligence objection by acquiescing in the determinations below and never asserting that the children were Indian children.