NVB’s re-assumption of Exclusive Jurisdiction over child custody proceedings changed in 1999. Mixed with being a PL280 State, this created a world in which the State vs. Village/Tribe share power UNLESS:
1.) The Tribe petitions to “re-assume” its Exclusive Jurisdiction” thus taking away State power over “Child Custody Proceedings”.
• This can be done under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (25 U.S.C. §1918(a).
• THIS IS WHAT NATIVE VILLAGE OF BARROW DID IN 1999.
A little history on NVB Re-Assumption of Exclusive Jurisdiction over “Child Custody Proceedings”
• November 4, 1998 – Secretary of Interior posted notice that it received NVB’s Petition 63FR 59574
• July 6, 1999 – Secretary of Interior officially approved NVB’s Petition 64 FR 36391
• September 7, 1999 – Re-Assumption became effective over “Native Village of Barrow”
• September 10, 1999 – “INTERIM Memorandum of Agreement” between the NVB and Div. of Family and youth services (DFYS)
• November 17, 1999 – first amendment to the above MOA
• September 27, 2002 – “Tribal State Agreement” between NVB Social Services and the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services. (This agreement is between the two social services)
The INTERIM MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT of September 10, 1999 had an effective date of September 7, 1999. This was to exercise concurrent Jurisdiction BUT NVB may file a motion to re-assert Exclusive Jurisdiction at any time.
The Amendment above states that continued effectiveness of “Interim MOA was only until mid-February 2000. (Staff change after staff change within the Tribe only reads the MOA but never the big picture with the amendments and dates)
The Tribal State Agreement dated September 27, 2002 was only effective from November 1, 2002 to September 27, 2005. (again, like the MOA above, they do not read the dates.)
The Native Village of Barrow Tribal Court was established in 2001 (in line with the NVB Constitution) with governing Codes being ratified in 2002 by the Tribal Membership. (There is protocol on adopting what becomes law in our Tribe. There has to be ample notice to our Membership. A Membership meeting happens and the subject needs to be discussed with them. Membership needs to vote on the new law or amendment to the law) If none of these happen, then it is not true.
In early 2000, a group from UCLA that works with the US Tribes came up to Barrow to work with our Tribe on creating Codes for Tribal Court and the NVB Administration. It was a 2 to 3 year project. through an ANA grant. We had a group of elders, staff and consultants to discuss from many drafts of the Codes. One of the recommendations by UCLA Tribal Law Institute was to put wording in our codes to protect our membership from administrations and individuals that do not understand Tribal Law, this was not added because we believed at that time that it would never happen with our people. Well, it started happening in 2018 and 2019 and continues today. There were multiple council people and staff that were sanctioned by the Tribal Court but those individuals never paid their fines but chose to remove judges.
During that time, the NVB Tribal Court was recognized by the Alaska Supreme Court, not the Superior Court but the highest Court in the State of Alaska and because of that, the people behind the NVB Administration and Tribal Council did not like that, they removed Judges and the Judges that were not removed by them resigned because of the wrong doings by the Tribal Executive and Legislative Branch. This still continues today.
Today, we don’t know where the Tribe sits and it just seems like we are losing our Children left and right because our Tribe is not exercising our Exclusive Jurisdiction that our past Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branch fought so hard for.