In re E.S.S.

Full title: IN THE INTEREST OF E.S.S., A CHILD

Court: Court of Appeals of Texas, Fifth District, Dallas

Date published: May 1, 2023

No. 05-23-00031-CV (Tex. App. May. 1, 2023)

Opinion

05-23-00031-CV

05-01-2023

IN THE INTEREST OF E.S.S., A CHILD

ROBBIE PARTIDA-KIPNESS, PRESIDING JUSTICE.

On Appeal from the 354th Judicial District Court Hunt County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 90148.

ORDER

ROBBIE PARTIDA-KIPNESS, PRESIDING JUSTICE.

This appeal involves the termination of parental rights to a child in which compliance with the notice provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, 25 U.S.C.A. §§ 1901-63 (2001) (ICWA) is at issue. Appellant and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (the Department) agree the record contains information of the child's alleged "Cherokee" and "Choctaw" heritage, but the record does not indicate the tribes were notified in accordance with the ICWA. The Department requests that this Court abate this appeal to notify the proper tribes as required under the ICWA, to allow the trial court to hold a hearing, and to determine if the child is an Indian child under the ICWA. See 25 U.S.C.A. § 1912(a); 25 CFR § 23.11.

We GRANT the Department's motion to abate, ABATE this appeal, and REMAND to the trial court.

We ORDER the trial court to provide the relevant tribes with notice that complies with the statutory notice requirements of the ICWA.

We further ORDER the trial court to conduct a hearing within twenty (20) days from the date of this Order to determine whether the child is an Indian within the meaning of the ICWA. We ORDER the trial court to conduct the hearing after providing the relevant tribes with statutory notice in compliance with the ICWA but no later than twenty (20) days from the date of this Order.

We further ORDER the trial court to PREPARE a supplemental clerk's record indicating compliance with the statutory notice requirements of the ICWA, PREPARE a supplemental reporter's record of the hearing ordered herein, and FILE the supplemental clerk's record and supplemental reporter's record with this Court within ten (10) days of the hearing.

This Court will automatically reinstate this appeal thirty (30) days from the date of this order or upon receipt of the supplemental records, whichever is sooner.