Wis. Stat. § 48.485

This is the official text of Wis. Stat. § 48.485, part of Wisconsin’s Wisconsin Statutes — the complete compiled statutory law of Wisconsin, organized into numbered chapters by subject.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Transfer of Indian children to department for adoption.

Official statutory text

(1) If the department accepts guardianship or legal custody or both from a tribal court under s. 48.48 (3m) , the department shall seek a permanent adoptive placement for the child or seek to enter into a subsidized guardianship agreement under s. 48.623 (2) with a proposed guardian of the child and petition the court for the appointment of that individual as the guardian of the child under s. 48.977 (2) or under a substantially similar tribal law.

(2) If a permanent adoptive or subsidized guardianship placement is not in progress within 2 years after entry of the termination of parental rights order by the tribal court, the department may petition the tribal court to transfer legal custody or guardianship of the Indian child back to the Indian tribe, except that the department may not petition the tribal court to transfer back to an Indian tribe legal custody or guardianship of an Indian child who was initially taken into custody under s. 48.195 (1m) .

History: 1989 a. 31 ; 2005 a. 296 ; 2009 a. 94 ; 2013 a. 20 ; 2023 a. 79 .

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in Wisconsin?

Find a Wisconsin lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.