How to Complete and File the ICWA-010(A) Indian Child Inquiry Attachment

To complete and file the ICWA-010(A) Indian Child Inquiry Attachment, interview the child’s parents, extended family, and anyone else with knowledge of the child about possible tribal ancestry; record what you learned on the current Judicial Council form (one attachment per child); and file it together with the petition that starts your case. The form was most recently revised effective January 1, 2026, and California courts will not accept older versions.¹

When You Need to File This Form

California Rules of Court, Rule 5.481(a) requires the ICWA-010(A) to be attached to petitions in several kinds of proceedings:²

Dependency petitions under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300.
Juvenile justice petitions under Welfare and Institutions Code sections 601 or 602, but only when the child is in foster care or likely to enter it.³
Guardianship of the person (or person and estate) when the proposed guardian is not the child’s parent or Indian custodian, and conservatorship petitions involving minors.
Family Code section 3041 custody cases placing a child with a nonparent.
Petitions to terminate parental rights and adoption petitions.

You don’t need to file a fresh ICWA-010(A) with a subsequent or supplemental petition in the same case if nothing about the child’s Indian heritage has changed since the last filing.²

One related form often shows up alongside this one: ICWA-020 (Parental Notification of Indian Status) is completed by the parents themselves.⁴ The ICWA-010(A) is yours as the petitioner. They are different documents, and both may be needed in the same case.

Do the Inquiry Before You Touch the Form

The form is a report of what you found out. The checkboxes and fields won’t make sense until you have answers to record, so start the interviews before you draft the petition.

Who You Must Ask

Rule 5.481(a) requires you to question the child (if old enough), the parents, any Indian custodian or legal guardian, extended family members, and anyone else with an interest in the child.² Federal law defines “extended family member” as a person 18 or older who is the child’s grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, sibling-in-law, niece, nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent, unless the child’s tribe defines the term differently by its own law or custom.⁵

What You Need to Learn

Ask whether the child or any parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent is or was a member or citizen of a federally recognized tribe; whether the child is eligible for tribal membership; whether the family has lived on a reservation, rancheria, or Alaska Native village; whether the child or family has received services from a tribe or from federal Indian programs such as the Indian Health Service; and whether anyone holds a tribal identification card. These categories match the checkboxes in Section 5.

If a Parent Can’t Be Reached

A missing or uncooperative parent doesn’t excuse the inquiry. Ask the other parent and any available relatives about the absent parent’s possible Indian ancestry, and document your attempts. The duty is ongoing, so if that parent surfaces later, ask them at that point and update the court.⁶

Filling Out the Form

Download the current version from the California Courts website.⁷ Use one form per child. Siblings each get their own attachment.

Header and Section 1

Enter the child’s name in the header and again in Section 1. Add the case number if one has been assigned. If you’re filing the initial petition, leave the case number blank and the clerk will assign one.

Section 2: Status of the Inquiry

Two paths. If you haven’t been able to complete your inquiry, check the first box and explain why (for example, a parent hasn’t been located). If you have completed it, personally or through a social worker, check the second box and identify who conducted the interviews. Then list the people questioned: name, address, phone, date of the interview, and relationship to the child. The form has room for two individuals. If you interviewed more, check the box for additional persons and continue on a Judicial Council form MC-020 (Additional Page).¹

Section 3: Reason to Believe

Check one of two boxes. If anyone gave you information suggesting the child is or may be an Indian child, check the first box and go to Section 4. If nothing in the interviews pointed that way, check the second box and skip to the signature. This is the branching point.

Section 4: Contact With the Tribe

If your inquiry turned up a possible tribal connection, Section 4 asks whether you contacted the tribe to help confirm the child’s membership or eligibility. Attach details of each tribe you reached out to, the person you spoke with, and how you made contact (phone, email, or fax). This reflects California’s “further inquiry” requirement, which is triggered by any reason to believe the child may be an Indian child.⁶

Section 5: Why You Believe the Child May Be an Indian Child

Check every box that applies:

The child is or may be a member, citizen, or eligible for membership in a tribe (with space for the tribe’s name and location).
The child’s parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents are or were tribal members or citizens.
The child, a parent, or an Indian custodian lives on a reservation, rancheria, Alaska Native village, or other tribal trust land.
The child or family has received tribal services or federal Indian services such as the Indian Health Service or Tribal TANF.
The child is or has been a ward of a tribal court.
A parent or the child holds a tribal identification card.

Spell tribal names as precisely as you can. If a relative says “Cherokee” but doesn’t know which of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, write down exactly that. The court or agency will send notice to all three. Vague leads are workable; missing details are not.

Section 6: Delinquency Cases Only

This section appears only in juvenile justice cases under sections 601 or 602. Check the box indicating whether the child is already in foster care or is likely to enter it. ICWA inquiry requirements apply in delinquency proceedings only when one of those conditions is met.³

Signature

Sign, date, and print your name. The signer should be the person who conducted or directed the inquiry: a social worker in a dependency case, or the petitioner in a guardianship case.

Filing the Form

Attach the completed ICWA-010(A) to your petition and file everything together with the court clerk. The California Courts self-help site tells guardianship petitioners to fill out one attachment per child and attach it directly to the petition.⁸ Many counties accept electronic filing; check your local court’s website.

There’s no separate filing fee for the attachment. You pay the fee for the underlying petition. Guardianship of the person is $225.⁹ Guardianship of the estate, or a combined person-and-estate guardianship, is $435.¹⁰ Dependency petitions from county agencies follow a different fee structure. If you can’t afford the fee, ask the court for a waiver.¹¹

What Happens After the Court Receives It

The court reviews the attachment to decide whether more ICWA steps are needed.

If You Reported No Reason to Believe

The initial inquiry duty is treated as satisfied for now. It doesn’t end there: the duty continues throughout the case, and if new information surfaces, you may need to file an updated ICWA-010(A).

If You Reported a Possible Connection

Further inquiry follows. California treats the trigger as a low threshold; very little information sets it off.⁶ Further inquiry includes interviewing more relatives, contacting the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the California Department of Social Services for help identifying relevant tribes, and reaching out to the tribes directly by phone, fax, or email. Formal notice on form ICWA-030 is a separate, later step that comes into play only if the further inquiry gives the court “reason to know” an Indian child is involved.¹²

What a Weak Inquiry Can Cost

In In re Dezi C. (2024), the California Supreme Court held that when a child welfare agency’s initial inquiry is inadequate, the remedy is conditional reversal of the juvenile court’s order terminating parental rights, with directions for the agency to conduct a proper inquiry supported by documented evidence.¹³ The court rejected a harmless-error approach, reasoning that without an adequate inquiry there’s no way to tell whether the error mattered.

A sloppy or incomplete ICWA-010(A) can unwind months or years of proceedings. A termination of parental rights that took a year to litigate can be conditionally reversed on appeal and sent back on the ICWA question. Getting the inquiry right at the outset is the point.

Practical Tips

Start the inquiry early, before you draft the petition. Interviews take time, and locating extended relatives who might know about tribal ties often takes longer than expected.

Document every attempt, including the ones that failed. If you called a grandparent three times and left voicemails, note the dates and numbers. Use MC-020 attachment pages freely when you interviewed more than two people.

Be as specific as you can with tribal names. “Navajo Nation” with a note about the family’s geographic ties beats a bare “Navajo.” If a relative mentions heritage but can’t name a tribe, write down exactly what they said. The court and BIA can work with vague leads only if you preserve the details.

Private petitioners in guardianship cases can consult the Judicial Council’s information sheet, form ICWA-005-INFO, which walks through how to complete the ICWA-010(A) and the notice forms.¹⁴ Read it before you start.

1
Superior Court of California, County of Sonoma. Indian Child Inquiry Attachment
2
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 5.481 Inquiry and Notice
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Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 5.480 – Application
4
Judicial Branch of California. Parental Notification of Indian Status
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 U.S. Code 1903 – Definitions
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Judicial Branch of California. ICWA Inquiry Dependency Information Checklist
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California Courts. Indian Child Inquiry Attachment (ICWA-010(A))
8
California Courts. Start a Guardianship Case
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California Courts. File Guardianship Papers
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Judicial Branch of California. Superior Court of California Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
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California Courts. Ask for a Fee Waiver
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eCFR. 25 CFR 23.107 – How Should a State Court Determine if There Is Reason to Know the Child Is an Indian Child
13
Justia Law. In re Dezi C
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California Courts. Information Sheet on Indian Child Inquiry Attachment and Notice of Child Custody Proceeding for Indian Child