Federal judge says tribal courts can supervise child adoptions

By: Tom Kizzia

A federal judge has ordered the state to allow Alaska tribal courts to supervise adoptions and other child-welfare matters involving their own tribal members. The court decision -- and possible appeal -- poses a fork-in-the-road challenge to Gov. Sarah Palin regarding her administration's stance toward Alaska's many village-based tribal governments.

The Feb. 22 decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess, along with a similar recent decision in state court, would return the state to a more cooperative tribal policy established under former Gov. Tony Knowles. The Knowles administration approved birth certificates and other state records for several hundred children adopted by order of village tribes.

That policy was reversed under Knowles' successor, Gov. Frank Murkowski. His attorney general, Gregg Renkes, issued an opinion in October 2004 withdrawing state approval for tribal adoptions unless tribal courts apply for special permission, which few have done.

Since then, about 50 tribal adoptions per year have been left in limbo, said Natalie Landreth, a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage. Burgess ruled in a case involving the Yukon River village of Kaltag.

There's more to this issue of sovereignty here: http://www.adn.com/front/story/341307.html