2024 California Rules of Court
Rule 5.485. Placement of an Indian child
(a) Evidentiary burdens
In any child custody proceeding listed in rule 5.480, the court may not order placement of an Indian child unless it finds by clear and convincing evidence that continued custody with the parent or Indian custodian is likely to cause the Indian child serious emotional or physical damage and it considers evidence regarding prevailing social and cultural standards of the child's tribe, including that tribe's family organization and child-rearing practices.
(1) Testimony by a "qualified expert witness," as defined in Welfare and Institutions Code section 224.6, Family Code section 177(a), and Probate Code section 1459.5(b), is required before a court orders a child placed in foster care or terminates parental rights.
(2) Stipulation by the parent, Indian custodian, or tribe, or failure to object, may waive the requirement of producing evidence of the likelihood of serious damage only if the court is satisfied that the person or tribe has been fully advised of the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act and has knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived them. Any such stipulation must be agreed to in writing.
(3) Failure to meet non-Indian family and child-rearing community standards, or the existence of other behavior or conditions that meet the removal standards of Welfare and Institutions Code section 361, will not support an order for placement absent the finding that continued custody with the parent or Indian custodian is likely to cause serious emotional or physical damage.
(Subd (a) amended effective January 1, 2013.)
(b) Standards and preferences in placement of an Indian child
(1) All placements of an Indian child must be in the least restrictive setting that most approximates a family situation and in which the child's special needs, if any, may be met.
(2) Unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that there is good cause to deviate from them, whenever it is known or there is reason to know the child is an Indian child, all placement in any proceeding listed in rules 5.480 and 5.484 must follow the specified placement preferences in Family Code section 177(a), Probate Code section 1459(b), and Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.31.
(3) The court must analyze the availability of placements within the placement preferences in descending order without skipping. The court may deviate from the preference order only for good cause, which may include the following considerations:
(A) The requests of the parent or Indian custodian if they attest that they have reviewed the placement options, if any, that comply with the order of preference;
(B) The requests of the Indian child, when of sufficient age and capacity to understand the decision being made;
(C) The presence of a sibling attachment that can be maintained only through a particular placement;
(D) The extraordinary physical, mental, or emotional needs of the Indian child, including specialized treatment services that may be unavailable in the community where families who meet the placement preferences live; or
(E) The unavailability of a suitable placement within the placement preferences based on a documented diligent effort to identify placements meeting the preference criteria. The standard for determining whether a placement is unavailable must conform to the prevailing social and cultural standards of the Indian community in which the Indian child's parent or extended family resides or with which the Indian child's parent or extended family members maintain social and cultural ties.
(4) The placement preferences must be analyzed and considered each time there is a change in the child's placement. A finding that there is good cause to deviate from the placement preferences does not affect the requirement that a diligent search be made for a subsequent placement within the placement preferences.
(5) The burden of establishing good cause for the court to deviate from the preference order is on the party requesting that the preference order not be followed. A placement may not depart from the preferences based on the socioeconomic status of any placement relative to another or solely on the basis of ordinary bonding or attachment that flowed from time spent in a nonpreferred placement that was made in violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
(6) The tribe, by resolution, may establish a different preference order, which must be followed if it provides for the least restrictive setting.
(7) The preferences and wishes of the Indian child, when of sufficient age, and the parent must be considered, and weight given to a consenting parent's request for anonymity.
(8) When no preferred placement is available, active efforts must be made and documented to place the child with a family committed to enabling the child to have visitation with "extended family members," as defined in 25 United States Code section 1903(2), and participation in the cultural and ceremonial events of the child's tribe.
(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2020; previously amended effective January 1, 2013.)
(c) Active efforts
In addition to any other required findings to place an Indian child with someone other than a parent or Indian custodian, or to terminate parental rights, the court must find that active efforts have been made, in any proceeding listed in rule 5.480, to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the Indian family, and must find that these efforts were unsuccessful. These active efforts must include affirmative, active, thorough, and timely efforts intended primarily to maintain or reunite the child with his or her family, must be tailored to the facts and circumstances of the case, and must be consistent with the requirements of Welfare and Institutions Code section 224.1(f).
(1) The active efforts must be documented in detail in the record.
(2) The court must consider whether active efforts were made in a manner consistent with the prevailing social and cultural conditions and way of life of the Indian child's tribe.
(3) Active efforts to provide services must include pursuit of any steps necessary to secure tribal membership for a child if the child is eligible for membership in a given tribe, as well as attempts to use the available resources of extended family members, the tribe, tribal and other Indian social service agencies, and individual Indian caregivers.
(Subd (c) amended effective January 1, 2020; previously amended effective January 1, 2013.)
Rule 5.485 renumbered and amended effective January 1, 2020; adopted as rule 5.484 effective January 1, 2008; previously amended effective January 1, 2013.
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