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(a) The Child Protection Team, or a person designated by the team, shall make the determination whether a child is considered a member of the Tribe under the Indian Child Welfare Act.

(b) The team or its designee shall decide whether the Tribe should attempt to intervene in any child dependency court proceedings in another jurisdiction involving a member child. In making the decisions, the team or its designee should consider the need to protect the descendents of the Tribe and its tribal heritage, as well as the Tribe’s available resources to provide services to the child and the child’s family. The factors to be considered for intervention may include:

(1) Whether the child lives on or off the island of St. Paul;

(2) Whether the child or the child’s parent is an enrolled member;

(3) The child’s connections with the Tribe and the community;

(4) The resources of the Tribe; and

(5) The need for intervention based on the actions of the State.

(c) The team or its designees shall determine whether to seek transfer to Tribal Court of a child protection case from another jurisdiction. The team shall consider factors in subsections (b)(1) through (b)(4) of this section, as well as:

(1) The best interests of the child;

(2) The best interests of the Tribe;

(3) Centralized case management for all siblings in the family;

(4) The availability of services to meet the needs of the child and the child’s family; and

(5) The prospects for permanent placement for the child.

(d) The team or its designee shall request the Tribal Court accept the transfer of a child protection case from another jurisdiction based on the determinations above and shall provide the Tribal Court with the reasons and justification(s) for the acceptance of the transfer of jurisdiction.

(e) The Tribal Court may transfer any proceeding involving the care of a child pending before it to another appropriate jurisdiction if it determines that the other jurisdiction has significant interest in the child and the transfer would be in the best interest of the child. [Res. 2012-56; 2008 Code § 6.2.8]