In re Adoption of Baby Boy L

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is an appeal from sundry trial court rulings and findings and from a decree of adoption entered by the Sedgwick County District Court. Carmon Perciado (Perciado), the putative father of Baby Boy L., an infant born out of wedlock, Quelin and Ernestine Perciado, the baby's paternal grandparents, and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, are the appellants. The adoptive parents are the appellees. The baby is the illegitimate son of Miss L., a non-Indian and the appellant, Carmon Perciado, a five-eighths by blood relationship Kiowa Indian duly enrolled as a member of the Kiowa Tribe. The appellants contend that the trial court erred in determining that the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA or the Act), 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq. (Supp. III 1979), were not applicable to the adoption proceeding and in the alternative assert that if the Act does not apply then the adoption is invalid under state law. Due to the involved procedural aspects of this case, it is necessary that we set forth the facts in some detail. Baby Boy L. was born at Wichita, January 29, 1981. On the same date his natural mother, an unmarried non-Indian woman, executed a consent to the adoption specifically directed and limited to the adoptive parents named in the consent. The appellees filed their petition for adoption along with the mother's consent the same day and the court entered an order granting them the temporary [231 Kan. 202]