Alaska Supreme Court clarifies active-efforts standard in Jace B. ICWA case

The Alaska Supreme Court issued a decision Friday clarifying what state caseworkers must do under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act when a newborn's tribal status is still being confirmed in the days and weeks around birth.

The case, Jace B. v. State of Alaska, focused on whether the Office of Children's Services met its duty to make "active efforts" — a higher bar than the "reasonable efforts" required in non-Native cases — to keep a family together before seeking to terminate parental rights. ICWA, passed by Congress in 1978 to stop the mass removal of Native children from their families, sets that higher standard for any child identified as eligible for tribal membership.

The opinion is fact-specific to one family. It doesn't categorically change how courts apply ICWA, but it adds to a growing line of Alaska decisions defining what "active efforts" actually requires — especially in the narrow window when a baby's tribal status is still being confirmed.

The ruling lands amid continued national attention to ICWA after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law's constitutionality 7–2 in 2023's Haaland v. Brackeen, beating back the most serious legal challenge since the act's passage. Friday's Alaska decision works within that framework rather than against it.

For Alaska Native families, tribal courts, and OCS caseworkers, the practical effect is incremental — a clearer expectation of what the state has to do at a moment in a child's life when timing matters a lot.