Indian Child Welfare Act

Our daughter, a non Indian, has a 17th month old daughter, whose father is Native American. The father has not had any contact with the child for at least 11 months, including not making any court ordered support payments. Our daughter was granted sole custody of the child last November, and the father was not given any visitation rights. Our daughter has never lived on the reservation, nor has her 17th month old daughter. During the 6 months that the father did have contact with the child, he lived with our daughter in non reservation communities.

Our daughter is now married, and her husband would like to adopt the child. We were in court on July 2, 2002 to petition the court to remove the fathers parental rights. The father would not voluntarily agree to this, so the case was continued until July 17, 2002. At this time the court will determine if the child was abandoned by the father. My question is: Does the Indian Child Welfare Act apply to this case? The child is not being removed from her natural mother, and the child has never lived on a reservation. We have been told that if we do nothing (not proceed with the termination of parental rights), the tribal court will not step in.