Summary
The Texas Eleventh Court of Appeals reversed an order terminating the mother’s parental rights because the Department failed to file proof of service for notice to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and failed to demonstrate due diligence under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The court held that the ICWA requirements applied after the child’s possible Cherokee ancestry was disclosed and that the deficiencies were not remediable through abatement. The case was remanded for further proceedings.
Court
Texas Court of Appeals, Eleventh District
Jurisdiction
Texas Court of Appeals, Eleventh District
Decision date
December 18, 2025
Docket number
11-25-00187-CV
Disposition
reversed_and_remanded
Questions Presented
- Whether the Department complied with the Indian Child Welfare Act and its implementing regulations by filing a return receipt or other proof of service for notice sent to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
- Whether the Department exercised the required due diligence to determine whether Z.F. was an Indian child after the United Keetoowah Band failed to respond to the initial notice.
- Whether the appellate court should abate the appeal under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.4 rather than reverse and remand.
- Whether the evidence was legally or factually sufficient to support the finding that termination was in Z.F.'s best interest.
Holdings
- When the ICWA applies, the Department must file the notice sent to the potentially relevant tribe together with the return receipt or other proof of service; a certificate of service under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21a does not substitute for the federal ICWA requirement when the recipient tribe is not a party to the action.
- When the record is inconclusive regarding a child's Indian-child status, the agency must use due diligence to identify and work with all tribes of which there is reason to know the child may be a member, and a tribe's failure to respond to an initial notice does not by itself discharge that duty.
- The failure to comply with the ICWA's notice and due-diligence requirements is not a remediable defect for purposes of abatement under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.4; the appropriate remedy is reversal of the termination order and remand for further proceedings.
Court Document
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