By Matthew Brown THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)- Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed legislation giving Native American families preference in fostering and adopting Native children involved with child protective services, a proactive move to protect such rights as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could undercut them nationally. Gianforte signed the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act on Monday after it passed the Legislature by a wide margin. Governors in Wyoming and North Dakota signed similar laws this spring, while a proposal in Utah stalled in the state Legislature. The measures are modeled after the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which Congress passed in 1978 in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaskan Native children were taken from their homes by public and…
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