New Orleans • An attorney opposing a 1978 law giving preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native American children told a federal appeals court Wednesday the law is an unconstitutional race-based intrusion on state policies and procedures that has caused families to be "literally torn apart."
Supporters of the decades-old law say it is needed to protect and preserve Native American culture and families. In court, lawyers for Indian tribes argued that the law's definition of an Indian child is based not on race, but on tribal political affiliations.
"A child whose 'Indian-ness' is based solely on race .