What service requirements are imposed on a party seeking to make a foster care placement or seeking termination of parental rights?
Whether a state or private party, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) 1912(d) requires the party seeking foster care placement under 1912(e) or termination of parental rights under 1912(f) to prove that active efforts have been made to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the Indian family and that such efforts have proved unsuccessful. In re Nicole B., 927 A.2d 1194 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2007); In re N.B., No. 06CA1325 (Colo. Ct. App. Sept. 6, 2007); D.J. v. P.C., 36 P.3d 663, 667 (Alaska 2001). The active efforts requirement even applies in situations that involve the termination of the rights of a non-Indian parent. C.J. v. State, 18 P.3d 1214 (Alaska 2001). At least one court has held that a parent who is voluntarily consenting to terminate her parental rights is not entitled to active efforts to prevent the termination of that relationship. See B.R.T. v. Executive Dir. of Soc. Servs. Bd., 391 N.W.2d 594 (N.D. 1986). However, if a p
