People in Interest of Z.C., 2019 COA 71M

In this decision, a division of the Court of Appeals considers the adequacy of the notice under ICWA. On remand from the Court of Appeals, the El Paso County Department of Human Services sent notice to eight tribes; while all eight notices contained the information required by ICWA and the department received signed and dated notices from four tribes, the department received two signed but undated notices from two tribes, an unsigned and undated receipt from another tribe, and no return receipt from the last tribe. With regard to the two signed but undated notices, the division holds that the department’s return date stamp provided record support for the juvenile court’s findings that those tribes received timely notice, as the date stamp indicated the department received and processed the receipts at least ten days prior to the termination hearing. However, the record did not contain sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court’s findings of sufficient notice with regard to either the unsigned and undated notice or the notice that had not been returned.

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