TULALIP — Tulalip tribal leaders plan to begin overseeing the child-support cases of tribal members early next year.
The child-support program will be handled through Northwest Intertribal Court System, the same organization through which the tribal court operates.
Tribal child-support cases have been previously handled by the state, like other cases.
The program began making a transition to the tribal court system early this month, according to a tribal announcement.
The Tulalip program is part of a nationwide trend among American Indian tribes to handle most legal cases for their own people, Catherine Bryan of the National Tribal Justice Resource Center said earlier this year.
The tribal system will be able to collect child support on behalf of tribal children from both tribal and nontribal parents. It’s likely that the system will face the same challenges in collecting child support that the state does, Bryan said.
Tribal leaders plan to hire employees for the program soon.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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