Post-placement contact agreements came into use in the 1990s, and even agencies in states where the contracts aren't enforceable use them to provide adoptive and birth families a framework for their relationship.

WSJ: One Baby, Two Moms: a Rise in Open Adoptions

The Capobiancos think the issue should be about whether the ICWA law can improperly block adoption proceedings voluntarily initiated by a non-Indian mother who had sole custody of her child, due to what the adoptive parents say is the Indian father's failure to establish a legal parent-child relationship under state law.

CNN: High court to tackle Native American adoption dispute