Bill
HB 1564
The bill requires active, culturally appropriate efforts by agencies to keep Indian families together and only allow removal or termination after these efforts fail.
Status & Sponsors
- Bill number: HB 1564
- Title: An Act to amend and reenact sections 27-19.1-01 and 27-19.1-02, subsection 1 of section 27-19.1-03, subsection 1 of section 27-19.1-04, and sections 27-19.1-05 and 27-19.1-06, North Dakota Century Code — Indian child welfare.
- Introduced: December 10, 2024. Filed with Secretary of State: April 11, 2025.
- Introduced by: Representatives Davis, Beltz, Brown, Finley‑DeVille, Holle; Senators Cleary, Cory, Hogan, Lee, Weston.
- Committee action: Senate Human Services Committee adopted proposed amendments (March 12, 2025).
Purpose and intent
- To update and clarify North Dakota law governing Indian child welfare proceedings (the state-level implementation of principles similar to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act), by revising statutory definitions and specifying what “active efforts” and related procedural protections require before an Indian child may be removed or parental rights terminated.
Key provisions and changes
- Sections amended: 27‑19.1‑01, 27‑19.1‑02, 27‑19.1‑03(1), 27‑19.1‑04(1), 27‑19.1‑05, and 27‑19.1‑06 (as renumbered/re‑enacted).
- Expanded and detailed definition of “active efforts.” The bill makes “active efforts” an affirmative, timely, and culturally appropriate set of steps intended primarily to maintain or reunite an Indian child with family. The statute now lists specific actions that qualify as active efforts, including:
- Conducting a comprehensive, ongoing family assessment aimed at safe reunification.
- Identifying and actively assisting parents/Indian custodians to obtain needed services.
- Notifying and inviting tribal representatives to participate in family team meetings, permanency planning, and placement decisions.
- Conducting a diligent search for extended family and consulting them for placement/support.
- Offering culturally appropriate family preservation strategies and tribal remedial/rehabilitative services.
- Taking steps to keep siblings together where possible.
- Supporting regular, natural-setting visits and trial home visits during removal periods.
- Identifying and helping access community resources (housing, mental‑health, substance‑use services, transportation, peer supports).
- Monitoring service participation and providing post‑reunification services and monitoring.
- Clarifications to defined terms: revises/clarifies definitions for “foster care or nonfoster care placement,” “extended family member,” “Indian,” “Indian child,” “Indian child custody proceeding,” “Indian child's tribe,” “Indian custodian,” “parent,” “preadoptive placement,” and “termination of parental rights.” Notably, the foster care definition excludes adoptive/preadoptive placements and certain emergency/criminal placements.
- Procedural requirement: Before involuntary foster care placement or termination of parental rights for an Indian child, the court must find that active efforts were made to prevent breakup of the Indian family and that those efforts were unsuccessful (i.e., codifies the active‑efforts burden on agencies and courts).
Who is affected
- Indian children and their parents, Indian custodians, and extended family members.
- Indian tribes (notification, participation, and access to services).
- State child welfare agencies and caseworkers (greater duties to provide/coordinate active efforts and document compliance).
- State courts hearing child custody, foster care, and termination cases (must make findings regarding active efforts).
- Foster care providers, tribal social services, and service providers (may be called on to provide culturally appropriate services and reunification supports).
Potential impacts and considerations
- Increased requirements for casework, documentation, tribal notice/participation, family searches, and post‑reunification monitoring could require additional agency time and resources.
- May slow or alter timelines for removal and termination proceedings where additional active efforts and tribal engagement are required.
- Strengthens procedural protections for Indian families, emphasizes culturally appropriate services, and aligns state practice more closely with the protective goals of federal Indian child welfare policy.
Procedural/timeline notes
- Introduced Dec. 10, 2024. Committee amendments adopted by Senate Human Services Committee on March 12, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State April 11, 2025. (Bill not shown as enacted into law in the materials provided.)
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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