All Roll Calls
Yes: 259 • No: 0
NebraskaLB1032109th Legislature 1st and 2nd SessionslegislatureWALLET
Provide for recognition and enforcement of tribal customary adoptions under the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act and related laws
Sponsored By: Wendy DeBoer
Signed by Governor
Judiciary Committee
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Tribal customary adoptions fully recognized
Nebraska now recognizes tribal customary adoption as a real adoption, even without ending parental rights. State courts must accept a tribe’s adoption order and give it full faith and credit. The state decree must list any rights the biological parents keep, say all other parental rights move to the adoptive parents, and describe the child’s legal tie to the tribe. Retained contact or inheritance rights cannot be used to undo the adoption, and the decree can be entered without the child’s or parents’ consent; the tribe’s consent controls for tribal customary adoptions. Tribal orders cannot require child support from biological parents and may include findings needed for Title IV‑E or Nebraska adoption assistance. After the decree, juvenile court jurisdiction ends. Prospective tribal adoptive parents do not need to file a state adoption petition, and adoptive parents under tribal law or custom count as “parents” under state ICWA rules.
Streamlined process to finish tribal adoptions
When a court finds tribal customary adoption is appropriate and the tribe consents in writing, the court gives the tribal court temporary shared authority to finalize the adoption. The tribal court must finish and return the case within 120 days, unless the state court grants up to 60‑day extensions for good cause. Within 30 days of sharing jurisdiction, the department must send the tribe a checklist for a state‑acceptable tribal adoption order, needed filings, and a written report on the child, and share court filings as allowed. The tribe can do or designate the adoptive home study if it meets national tribal licensing standards and uses the tribe’s cultural standards, and the state must accept it. The tribe may work with the department to complete the adoption assistance agreement so the child can access state, federal, and Indian Health Service resources. Existing legal ways to transfer cases to tribal court remain in place.
Stronger NICWA protections and tribal notices
If someone seeks to change an Indian child’s plan away from return home or to end parental rights, they must notify the child’s tribe by registered mail at least 20 days before court. The tribe may object, and the court must deny a plan change unless tribal customary adoption is not in the child’s best interests. A court can end parental rights only with proof beyond a reasonable doubt of likely serious harm and only after finding tribal customary adoption is not appropriate. The state is not required to file or join a termination case when a child may be eligible for tribal customary adoption, and the department must not recommend termination in those cases. Courts must consider tribal customary adoption at permanency hearings; guardianship is allowed when adoption is not recommended; and preadoptive parents in tribal adoptions get hearing notices. NICWA rules govern over general adoption statutes, more sections are added to NICWA, and “the department or the state” is clarified. The law expands and documents “active efforts,” and the department must file a report at every hearing and send it to the tribe within three days.
More adoption help and reimbursements
DHHS may keep paying for a child’s maintenance and medical care after adoption if the child was a DHHS ward with special needs or had a state‑subsidized guardianship. These payments stop on or before the child’s 20th birthday. DHHS must pay for treatment diagnosed within three years after the decree if the condition existed before adoption, the child was adopted through DHHS, DHHS did not disclose it, and it needs more than ordinary care. Adoptive parents can get a one‑time reimbursement up to $2,000 for nonrecurring adoption expenses that are legal, directly tied to the adoption, and not paid by others. Tribal customary adoptions qualify for these supports.
State sets rules to run this law
DHHS and the Nebraska Supreme Court can issue rules and forms to carry out these tribal‑customary‑adoption changes. Older statutes listed in the bill are repealed and replaced with the new rules.
Limits on access to adoption records
If adoption consent or relinquishment was given on or after July 20, 2002, the usual adoption‑record access rules do not apply. Access can also be limited by the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Wendy DeBoer
Senate
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
legislature vote • 4/10/2026
Final Reading
Yes: 49 • No: 0
legislature vote • 3/31/2026
Vote
Yes: 42 • No: 0 • Other: 7
legislature vote • 3/31/2026
Vote
Yes: 42 • No: 0 • Other: 7
legislature vote • 3/31/2026
Vote
Yes: 42 • No: 0 • Other: 7
legislature vote • Unknown
Vote
Yes: 42 • No: 0 • Other: 7
legislature vote • Unknown
Vote
Yes: 42 • No: 0 • Other: 7
Actions Timeline
Presented to Governor on April 10, 2026
4/17/2026legislatureApproved by Governor on April 16, 2026
4/16/2026legislaturePresident/Speaker signed
4/10/2026legislaturePassed on Final Reading 49-0-0
4/10/2026legislatureDispensing of reading at large approved
4/10/2026legislaturePlaced on Final Reading
4/8/2026legislatureAdvanced to Enrollment and Review for Engrossment
4/7/2026legislatureKauth FA691 withdrawn
4/7/2026legislaturePlaced on Select File
4/7/2026legislatureAdvanced to Enrollment and Review Initial
3/31/2026legislatureJudiciary AM2847 adopted
3/31/2026legislatureDeBoer AM2961 adopted
3/31/2026legislatureDeBoer AM2961 to AM2847 filed
3/31/2026legislatureJudiciary AM2847 filed
3/25/2026legislaturePlaced on General File with AM2847
3/25/2026legislatureConrad name added
3/3/2026legislatureState-Tribal Relations Committee priority bill
2/19/2026legislatureDeKay name added
2/17/2026legislatureNotice of hearing for February 12, 2026
2/3/2026legislatureReferred to Judiciary Committee
1/16/2026legislatureKauth FA691 filed
1/15/2026legislatureDate of introduction
1/14/2026legislature
Bill Text
Introduced
1/14/2026
Enrolled / Slip Law
Final / Enacted
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