On November 9th, SCOTUS heard the case of Haaland vs. Brackeen regarding the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in the United States. While many, many child welfare professionals and advocates support upholding ICWA, the approach to legal arguments can be complex and difficult to understand. CASCW will hosted a forum in which speakers helped attendees understand what is at stake in this case as well as broke down the arguments each side presented to the court both written and oral. Tribal perspective and judicial perspectives also played a vital role in this forum.
Resources and speaker information from the forum are now available.
Watch the forum
Resources
Event Speakers
Jessica is an enrolled member of the Brothertown Indian Nation, where she also serves as an elected Tribal Council member. She graduated from Hamline Law
School in 1997. Ms. Ryan has clerked for State and Tribal Court Judges and currently represents Indian Bands and Tribes in both state and tribal court proceedings. Ms. Ryan recently started her own law firm, where she is committed to working with Indian Tribes and families, to help restore balance and harmony.
Ms. Ryan is admitted to practice law in Minnesota and several Tribal Courts, and serves as a Tribal Court Judge.
She is active in legislative policy analysis affecting Indian families and collaborates with various tribes, counties and states to develop policy and practice that better serves American Indian families. Ms. Ryan was actively involved in collaborating to revise the Tribal/State Agreement; participated in developing the Judge Judge’s Juvenile Protective Benchbook – ICWA Chapter; and has served on numerous Supreme Court Committees, including the Race Bias Task Force, the Minnesota Tribal
Court/State Court Judges; and the Juvenile Protection Rules Committee.
Ms. Ryan helped establish the Hennepin County ICWA Guardian ad Litem panel and subsequently served as a guardian ad litem for ICWA cases for several years. She has served on the Board of Directors for a number of American Indian non-profit organizations.
Shannon Smith has served as Executive Director of the ICWA Law Center since July 1, 2004. Shannon has been with the ICWA Law Center since 2000. She has over 15 years of experience working in the field of Indian child welfare. She has provided direct legal representation to hundreds of families impacted by the child protection system in state and tribal courts. She has provided ICWA training to local and national audiences.
Ms. Smith is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School class of 1999, where she graduated with honors and earned the MJF Volunteer of the Year Award in 1999. Prior to joining the ICWA Law Center, Shannon clerked for the Honorable Robert A. Blaeser of the Hennepin County Juvenile Court. She is highly regarded as a leader in the field of Indian child welfare and has served on several committees impacting the interests of Indian children, their families and their tribes, including the Supreme Court Juvenile Protection Rules Committee, the Legal Service Advisory Council Emerging Leaders and the Tribal / State Agreement drafting committee.
After graduating from college and serving in the US Air Force, Karl Nastrom earned advanced degrees in law, creative writing, and education. He has practiced law in Minnesota, Alabama, and California and taught math in public schools in Mississippi and Maryland. Karl currently works at the ICWA Law Center.
Reanna Jacobs, American Indian Wellbeing Manager is a member with the Cansayapi Community (Known as Lower Sioux Indian Community of Morton, MN). She has worked for the department almost seven years in various roles within the American Indian Wellbeing Unit. Her career started in the field of chemical dependency counseling, however shifted paths into the field of Social Work and ICWA advocacy.
Cindi Miller has been an ICWA compliance consultant with the Minnesota Department of Human Services American Indian Well-Being Unit since 2018. Prior to working for DHS, she worked for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe as a child welfare initiative attorney and staff attorney. She has over 20 years of experience practicing in the family law and child welfare areas in both tribal courts and state courts. Cindi is an enrolled member of the Cansayapi Community, also known as the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Morton, Minnesota.
McKeig joined the Minnesota Supreme Court in September 2016, making her the first female American Indian appointed to the state’s highest court.
A descendant of the White Earth Nation, Justice McKeig is a native of Federal Dam, Minnesota, where she grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation. She attended St. Catherine University for her undergraduate degree, and received her law degree from Hamline University. She served as an assistant Hennepin County Attorney for 16 years, and was a district court judge for almost 9 years.
She is involved with several committees focusing on child welfare and domestic violence issues, teaches as an adjunct professor at St. Thomas and Mitchell Hamline law schools, and has spoken at numerous conferences regarding domestic violence, child abuse, child protection, diversity, and tribal community issues.
Justice McKeig is the proud mother of five children, and a Johnny Cash Super Fan.