ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A new federal rule will require judges in every state to ask whether a child is a Native American during foster-care and adoption proceedings — especially when there's reason to believe a child is a tribal member.

Under the rule announced Wednesday by the Interior Department, judges also must ask about a child's status as a tribal member during hearings to determine whether or not a mother or father's parental rights will be terminated. The regulation is set to go into effect in December as part of the Indian Child Welfare Act — a highly scrutinized law that aims to place Native American children, who are removed from their homes at disproportionately high rates, with relatives or another Native American family.

Citing 2013 data, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs said Native American children nationwide are represented in their state foster care systems at a rate 2.5 times greater than their presence in the general population.

"One of the challenges has been the courts not knowing to ask that very simple question just at the outset," Larry Roberts, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Even though it's a very simple question, it will make a world of difference for children and Native communities."

Contentious and high-profile custody cases involving Native American children have regularly tested the law since it passed in 1978, including a recent challenge from a California foster family that is fighting a decision to place a Choctaw girl they had hoped to adopt with relatives of her father.

Another well-known case involving the Indian Child Welfare Act was that of Baby Veronica. Her father, a member of the Cherokee Nation, cited the law in seeking custody of her from a non-Indian family who had adopted her. But the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act didn't apply because they said the father, Dusten Brown, had been absent from part of Veronica's life.

By requiring judges and others to ask about a child's Native American status during court proceedings, advocates, tribal leaders and others hope such cases will be resolved early in court before they evolve into the emotionally charged custody battles that have made headlines in California, Oklahoma and other states.

The regulation requiring children and family court judges to inquire about a youth's Native American status reflects guidelines issued last year by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a move that was met with opposition from the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.

The group argued then that the guidelines were issued without giving its legal experts opportunity to provide input and said they were not issued in the best interest of Native American children — a notion with which the Goldwater Institute, which has filed a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law, agrees.

"The Indian Child Welfare Act creates a separate and unequal system for Indian children," said Timothy Sandefur, vice president for litigation at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute. "It is more difficult to protect these chidren from abuse, more difficult to find them safe and stable and loving families."

Roberts said the new rule developed in consultation with the Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services won final approval from Interior Department officials after they held multiple public hearings and listening sessions with tribes this spring. He said it will establish more consistency among state courts, many of which adhere to the Indian Child Welfare Act with their own individual rules and regulations.

In cases where a judge does not follow the regulation, family members of the child or a tribe can challenge the proceedings, Roberts said.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday that the new rule "reflects the highest standards in child welfare.”