Frequently Searched

Restoring Native American Children’s Equal Protection Rights

In re. B.B.

Case Status

Date Filed

February 2, 2018

Last Step

Filed amicus brief supporting adoptive parents and the child.

Next Step

The Supreme Court will decide whether to take the case.

Case Overview

The Goldwater Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Utah Supreme Court decision relating to the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The case involves a three-year-old boy who was placed in a loving adoptive home by his mother. On the eve of the court finalizing the adoption, a man came forward claiming to be the boy’s father. State law establishes a procedure for acknowledging or establishing paternity in such cases—procedures that typically require the alleged father to demonstrate a commitment to and relationship with the child. An allegation of a probable biological link is not enough. These rules are standard across all fifty states and have been upheld by the Supreme Court under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. These procedures, the Court has said, protect the best interests of children by ensuring that disputes over family relationships don’t cause delay in cases where children need stable, permanent, loving homes.

But this case was different, because the child is biologically eligible for membership in an Indian tribe. As a result, the case falls under the Indian Child Welfare Act, which creates a separate and less protective set of rules for child welfare cases involving Native American kids. In fact, the Utah Supreme Court went even further than the Act requires, and created a new rule that allows the alleged parents of Indian children to get around state law limits on paternity.  That meant the alleged father could intervene in the case and block the pending adoption of which the mother had already approved. In other words, because the case involved an Indian child, the purported father—who would otherwise be blocked from interfering in the adoption—was entitled to interrupt the adoption and keep the lawsuit going.

That rule exacerbates the already severe problem of separate and unequal treatment that ICWA imposes on Indian children across the country. If the Utah rule is allowed to remain in place, countless Native American kids could find their adoption cases thrown into chaos by after-the-fact interventions by alleged parents. Now the Supreme Court has been asked to take up the issue, and the Goldwater Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the adoptive parents and the child.

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!