Lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said the court was expected to issue a written ruling by Tuesday after extensive testimony was presented on a number of issues. Spears did not comment after the hearing.

There are no statutory time limits on exercising these rights. The U.S. Supreme Court first considered the ICWA in 1989, in the case of Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield.

This was a close decision. It came down to a 5-4 ruling. Basically, the justices said they respect the Indian Child Welfare Act, but that federal law does not apply to this case.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has agreed with a decision by a Bedford County judge who ruled the mother of a young child should retain custody of the child even though the grandmother raised him ...

Tribes, advocates and many state child welfare agencies fear that a decision striking down the Indian Child Welfare Act, known as ICWA, could threaten decades of work to ensure that Native kids ...

This month, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case In re the Matter of T.Q.L. that is one of the most significant advances in child custody cases in a very long time, perhaps ever.