Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

• Decision Date: 25 June 2013
• Docket Number: No. 12–399.,12–399.
• Citation: 186 L.Ed.2d 729,133 S.Ct. 2552,570 U.S. 637
• Parties: ADOPTIVE COUPLE, Petitioners v. BABY GIRL, a minor child under the age of fourteen years, et al.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

570 U.S. 637

133 S.Ct. 2552

186 L.Ed.2d 729

ADOPTIVE COUPLE, Petitioners

v.BABY GIRL, a minor child under the age of fourteen years, et al.

No. 12–399.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 16, 2013.

Decided June 25, 2013.

Lisa S. Blatt, Washington, DC, for Petitioners.

Paul D. Clement, Washington, DC, for Respondent Guardian ad Litem in support of the Petitioners.

Charles A. Rothfeld, Washington, DC, for Respondents Birth Father, et al.

Edwin S. Kneedler, for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of the Court, supporting the Respondents Birth Father, et al.

Mark Fiddler, Fiddler Law Office, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, Lisa S. Blatt, Counsel of Record, Christopher S. Rhee, R. Reeves Anderson, Bob Wood, Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, DC, for Petitioners.

Thomas P. Lowndes, Charleston, SC, Paul D. Clement, Counsel of Record, Kelsi Brown Corkran, Bancroft PLLC, Washington, DC, for Guardian ad Litem as Representative of Baby Girl.

John S. Nichols, Bluestein, Nichols, Thompson & Delgado LLC, Columbia, SC, Shannon Phillips Jones, Charleston, SC, Lesley Ann Sasser, Charleston, SC, Charles A. Rothfeld, Counsel of Record, Andrew J. Pincus, Paul W. Hughes, Michael B. Kimberly, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, Jeffrey A. Meyer, Yale Law School Supreme Court Clinic, New Haven, CT, for Respondent Birth Father.

Lloyd B. Miller, William R. Perry, Anne D. Noto, Colin Cloud Hampson, Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry, LLP, Washington, DC, Carter G. Phillips, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, Todd Hembree, Attorney General, Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Assistant Attorney General, Counsel of Record, Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, OK, for Respondent Cherokee Nation.

Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case is about a little girl (Baby Girl) who is classified as an Indian because she is 1.2% (3/256) Cherokee. Because Baby Girl is classified in this way, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that certain provisions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 required her to be taken, at the age of 27 months, from the only parents she had ever known and handed over to her biological father, who had attempted to relinquish his parental rights and who had no prior contact with the child. The provisions of the federal statuteat issue here do not demand this result.

Contrary to the State Supreme Court's ruling, we hold that 25 U.S.C. § 1912(f) —which bars involuntary termination of a parent's rights in the absence of a heightened showing that serious harm to the Indian child is likely to result from the parent's "continued custody" of the child—does not apply when, as here, the relevant parent never had custody of the child. We further hold that § 1912(d) —which conditions involuntary termination of parental rights with respect to an Indian child on a showing that remedial efforts have been made to prevent the "breakup of the Indian family"—is inapplicable when, as here, the parent abandoned the Indian child before birth and never had custody of the child.

Finally, we clarify that § 1915(a), which provides placement preferences for the adoption of Indian children, does not bar a non-Indian family like Adoptive Couple from adopting an Indian child when no other eligible candidates have sought to adopt the child. We accordingly reverse the South Carolina Supreme Court's judgment and remand for further proceedings.

I

"The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), 92 Stat. 3069, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901 – 1963, was the product of rising concern in the mid–1970's over the consequences to Indian children, Indian families, and Indian tribes of abusive child welfare practices that resulted in the separation of large numbers of Indian children from their families and tribes through adoption or foster care placement, usually in non-Indian homes." Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 32, 109 S.Ct. 1597, 104 L.Ed.2d 29 (1989). Congress found that "an alarmingly high percentage of Indian families [were being] broken up by the removal, often unwarranted, of their children from them by nontribal public and private agencies." § 1901(4). This "wholesale removal of Indian children from their homes" prompted Congress to enact the ICWA, which establishes federal standards that govern state-court child custody proceedings involving Indian children. Id., at 32, 36, 109 S.Ct. 1597 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also § 1902 (declaring that the ICWA establishes "minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children from their families").¹

Three provisions of the ICWA are especially relevant to this case. First, "[a]ny party seeking" an involuntary termination of parental rights to an Indian child under state law must demonstrate that "active efforts have been made to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the Indian family and that these efforts have proved unsuccessful." § 1912(d). Second, a state court may not involuntarily terminate parental rights to an Indian child "in the absence of a determination, supported by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, including testimony of qualified expert witnesses, that the continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian is likely to result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child." § 1912(f). Third, with respect to adoptive placements for an Indian child under state law, "a preference shall be given, in the absence of good cause to the contrary, to a placement with (1) a member of the child's extended family; (2) other members of the Indian child's tribe; or (3) other Indian families." § 1915(a).

II

In this case, Birth Mother (who is predominantly Hispanic) and Biological Father (who is a member of the Cherokee Nation) became engaged in December 2008. One month later, Birth Mother informed Biological Father, who lived about four hours away, that she was pregnant. After learning of the pregnancy, Biological Father asked Birth Mother to move up the date of the wedding. He also refused to provide any financial support until after the two had married. The couple's relationship deteriorated, and Birth Mother broke off the engagement in May 2009. In June, Birth Mother sent Biological Father a text message asking if he would rather pay child support or relinquish his parental rights. Biological Father responded via text message that he relinquished his rights.

Birth Mother then decided to put Baby Girl up for adoption. Because Birth Mother believed that Biological Father had Cherokee Indian heritage, her attorney contacted the Cherokee Nation to determine whether Biological Father was formally enrolled. The inquiry letter misspelled Biological Father's first name and incorrectly stated his birthday, and the Cherokee Nation responded that, based on the information provided, it could not verify Biological Father's membership in the tribal records.

Working through a private adoption agency, Birth Mother selected Adoptive Couple, non-Indians living in South Carolina, to adopt Baby Girl. Adoptive Couple supported Birth Mother both emotionally and financially throughout her pregnancy. Adoptive Couple was present at Baby Girl's birth in Oklahoma on September 15, 2009, and Adoptive Father even cut the umbilical cord. The next morning, Birth Mother signed forms relinquishing her parental rights and consenting to the adoption. Adoptive Couple initiated adoption proceedings in South Carolina a few days later, and returned there with Baby Girl. After returning to South Carolina, Adoptive Couple allowed Birth Mother to visit and communicate with Baby Girl.

It is undisputed that, for the duration of the pregnancy and the first four months after Baby Girl's birth, Biological Father provided no financial assistance to Birth Mother or Baby Girl, even though he had the ability to do so. Indeed, Biological Father "made no meaningful attempts to assume his responsibility of parenthood" during this period. App. to Pet. for Cert. 122a (Sealed; internal quotation marks omitted).

Approximately four months after Baby Girl's birth, Adoptive Couple served Biological Father with notice of the pending adoption. (This was the first notification that they had provided to Biological Father regarding the adoption proceeding.) Biological Father signed papers stating that he accepted service and that he was "not contesting the adoption." App. 37. But Biological Father later testified that, at the time he signed the papers, he thought that he was relinquishing his rights to Birth Mother, not to Adoptive Couple.

Biological Father contacted a lawyer the day after signing the papers, and subsequently requested a stay of the adoption proceedings.² In the adoption proceedings, Biological Father sought custody and stated that he did not consent to Baby Girl's adoption. Moreover, Biological Father took a paternity test, which verified that he was Baby Girl's biological father.

A trial took place in the South Carolina Family Court in September 2011, by which time Baby Girl was two years old. 398 S.C. 625, 634–635, 731 S.E.2d 550, 555–556 (2012). The Family Court concluded that Adoptive Couple had not carried the heightened burden under § 1912(f) of proving that Baby Girl would suffer serious emotional or physical damage if Biological Father had custody. See id., at 648–651, 731 S.E.2d, at 562–564. The Family Court therefore denied Adoptive Couple's petition for adoption and awarded custody to Biological Father. Id., at 629, 636, 731 S.E.2d, at 552, 556. On December 31, 2011, at the age of 27 months, Baby Girl was handed over to Biological Father, whom she had never met.³

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the Family Court's denial of the adoption and the award of custody to Biological Father. Id., at 629, 731 S.E.2d, at 552. The State Supreme Court first determined that the ICWA applied because the case involved a child custody proceeding relating to an Indian child.

Id., at 637, 643, n. 18, 731 S.E.2d, at 556, 560, n. 18. It also...