A Montana Indian Reservation is following the lead of reservations in Washington state, Wyoming and Oklahoma and will be implementing their own child support legal systems independent of nontribal legal systems.
All they are waiting for is final comments from the Indian population for federal funding to kick in and then the Tribe will exercise jurisdiction over child support matters involving tribe members.
The state and the tribe are working on interagency cooperation agreements.
The new system will allow the parties to a dispute to opt for resolution in the Traditional Circle, a traditional, tribal forum, rather than in a court.
The Montana tribe is the first to really use the Traditional Circle.
Read more in this Havre [MT] Daily News article: Rocky Boy rolling out child support programs.