232B.10 - QUALIFIED EXPERT WITNESSES -- STANDARD OF PROOF -- CHANGE OF PLACEMENT.
232B.10 QUALIFIED EXPERT WITNESSES -- STANDARD OF
PROOF -- CHANGE OF PLACEMENT.
1. For the purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise
requires, a "qualified expert witness" may include, but is not
limited to, a social worker, sociologist, physician, psychologist,
traditional tribal therapist and healer, spiritual leader, historian,
or elder.
2. In considering whether to involuntarily place an Indian child
in foster care or to terminate the parental rights of the parent of
an Indian child, the court shall require that qualified expert
witnesses with specific knowledge of the child's Indian tribe testify
regarding that tribe's family organization and child-rearing
practices, and regarding whether the tribe's culture, customs, and
laws would support the placement of the child in foster care or the
termination of parental rights on the grounds that continued custody
of the child by the parent or Indian custodian is likely to result in
serious emotional or physical damage to the child.
3. In the following descending order of preference, a qualified
expert witness is a person who is one of the following:
a. A member of the child's Indian tribe who is recognized by
the child's tribal community as knowledgeable regarding tribal
customs as the customs pertain to family organization or
child-rearing practices.
b. A member of another tribe who is formally recognized by
the Indian child's tribe as having the knowledge to be a qualified
expert witness.
c. A layperson having substantial experience in the delivery
of child and family services to Indians, and substantial knowledge of
the prevailing social and cultural standards and child-rearing
practices within the Indian child's tribe.
d. A professional person having substantial education and
experience in the person's professional specialty and having
substantial knowledge of the prevailing social and cultural standards
and child-rearing practices within the Indian child's tribe.
e. A professional person having substantial education and
experience in the person's professional specialty and having
extensive knowledge of the customs, traditions, and values of the
Indian child's tribe as the customs, traditions, and values pertain
to family organization and child-rearing practices. Prior to
accepting the testimony of a qualified expert witness described in
this lettered paragraph, the court shall document the efforts made to
secure a qualified expert witness described in paragraphs "a",
"b", "c", and "d". The efforts shall include but are not
limited to contacting the Indian child's tribe's governing body, that
tribe's Indian Child Welfare Act office, and the tribe's social
service office. Section History: Recent Form
2003 Acts, ch 153, §11; 2004 Acts, ch 1101, §29