The Fourth Appellate District affirmed a judgment. The court held that the Indian Child Welfare Act does not require an appointed Indian expert to interview a dependant Indian child’s parents in evaluating the risk of harm the child would face if returned to parental custody.
Minor M.B. was born after his four older half-siblings, and father’s stepchildren had already been removed from parental custody due to their father’s sexual abuse of one of them. Dependency proceedings were initiated as to M.B. immediately upon his birth. The dependency court found M.B. to be an Indian child subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
