In re Crystal K

In In re Crystal K. (1990) 226 Cal. App. 3d 655, the Court concluded that the ICWA dissolution exception was inapplicable when a non-Indian mother petitioned to terminate the parental rights of the Indian man who was her ex-husband and the father of the child. The Crystal K. court observed, as did the Lindsay C. court, that the statutory scheme included only two exceptions: "(1) custody disputes resulting from dissolution proceedings between parents of an Indian child; and (2) placements of Indian children resulting from juvenile delinquency actions. " ( Crystal K., supra, 226 Cal. App. 3d at p. 662.) As the Crystal K. court further stated, "The excluding language . . . on its face means a custody dispute involving a placement in a dissolution proceeding. Congress delineated the only exclusions and judicially created exclusions cannot be added. " ( Id. at pp. 663-664.) The court rejected the view that the ICWA is inapplicable in all types of "intrafamily custody disputes." Rather, it concluded Congress was obviously aware of the issue of whether the ICWA should apply in all intrafamily custody disputes or only in dissolution proceedings and chose to limit the exception to the dissolution context. ( Id. at p. 664.)