Comment: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Under Iowa's ICWA Legislation

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) provides that States may apply their own standards of protection to the rights of the parent or Indian custodian of an Indian child if those state standards grant greater protections than those embodied in federal ICWA standards. However, in both instances where states have departed from the Federal norms, both Iowa and Oregon have seen substantive state law pre-empted by the supposed operation of Federal law. This short paper is a brief analysis of only the most recent setback to state-level ICWA legislation, In re A.W./S.W. issued by the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa.