In re the Guardianship of a Tulalip Minor

A child was the subject of a dependency matter filed in the Tulalip Tribal Court. The child was placed in the temporary custody of his maternal grandmother. The Tulalip social-services agency, beda?chelh, moved the child to the custody of his paternal grandparents because they lived on the reservation. One day, the paternal grandparents took the child to the home of his mother and father. There was a domestic-violence incident, and the paternal grandparents tried to get the mother to leave the home before the police came to investigate, causing beda?chelh to change custody back to the maternal grandmother. The child stayed with the maternal grandmother for one and a half years. After the maternal grandmother allowed the mother and father to visit the child, beda?chelh changed custody back to the paternal grandparents. The maternal grandmother and the paternal grandparents petitioned the trial court for guardianship of the child. Though beda?chelh had the responsibility of recommending whether the maternal grandmother or paternal grandparents should have guardianship of the child, it did not make a recommendation. The court appointed a guardian ad litem (GAL) to investigate and make the recommendation. The GAL recommended that the maternal grandmother should be the child’s guardian and submitted a detailed report in support of her reasoning. The trial court granted the petitions of the maternal grandmother and the paternal grandparents and ordered custody to be divided between them. The maternal grandmother appealed.