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Rh the cases before us attest, this historic tradition of state oversight of child custody and welfare through state judicial proceedings continues to the present day.

The ICWA provisions challenged here do not simply run up against this traditional state authority, they run roughshod over it when the State seeks to protect one of its young citizens who also happens to be a member of an Indian tribe or who is the biological child of a member and eligible for tribal membership, herself. 25 U. S. C. §1903(4). In those circumstances, ICWA requires a State to abandon the carefully-considered judicial procedures and standards it has established to provide for a child’s welfare and instead apply a scheme devised by Congress that focuses not solely on the best interest of the child, but also on “the stability and security of Indian tribes.” §1902. That scheme requires States to invite tribal authorities with no existing relationship to a child to intervene in judicial custody proceedings, §§1911(c), 1912(a), 1914. It requires States to replace their reasoned standards for termination of parental rights and placement in foster care with standards that favor the interests of an Indian custodian over those of the child. §§§ [sic]1912(e), (f). It forces state courts to give Indian couples (even those of different tribes) priority in adoption and foster-care placements, even over a non-Indian couple who would better serve a child’s emotional and other needs. §§§ [sic]1915(a), (b). And it requires state judges to subordinate the State’s typical custodial considerations to a tribe’s alternative preference. §1915(c).

It is worth underscoring that ICWA’s directives apply even when the child is not a member of a tribe and has never been involved in tribal life, and even when a child’s biological parents object. As seen in the cases before us, the sad consequence is that ICWA’s provisions may delay or prevent a child’s adoption by a family ready to provide her a permanent home.

ICWA’s mandates do not simply touch on family matters.