Baby Veronica handed back to her adoptive parents following long and bitter custody battle after Oklahoma Supreme Court lifts order keeping her with her biological father
- Baby Veronica was handed over to her adoptive parents hours after the Oklahoma Supreme Court dissolved a temporary court order leaving the child with her father and his family
- Matt and Melanie Capobianco of Charleston, S.C. had resolved to not leave Oklahoma until they went home with the 4-year-old girl
- The Capobiancos and the girl's biological father, Dusten Brown, had fought over custody of the girl for years
By James Nye
|
A South Carolina couple who vowed last month to not leave Oklahoma unless they went home with a 4-year-old Cherokee girl they have been trying to adopt since her birth were given custody of the girl Monday night after the Oklahoma Supreme Court said it didn't have jurisdiction over the child.
Cherokee Nation spokeswoman Amanda Clinton confirmed that 4-year-old Veronica was handed over to Matt and Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina at the Cherokee Marshal’s building.
The custody exchange was made around 7:30 Monday night just minutes from the home that Dusten Brown, Veronica’s biological father, was living with his wife Christina Maldonado, according to Cherokee County undersheriff Jason Chennault.
Veronica has been living in the Cherokee Nation with her father, Dusten Brown, and his family since she was 2 years old. Before that, she lived with the South Carolina couple who had taken custody of her shortly after her birth.
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Baby Veronica: The 4-year-old Cherokee girl at the center of a yearslong custody dispute was handed over to her adoptive parents on Monday night
A spokeswoman for the Capobianco family, Jessica Munday, said she was not sure when the couple planned to return to South Carolina with Veronica, but that they felt they were now free to do so at any time.
'It was smooth. There wasn't any danger. ... Hopefully everyone can focus on healing now,' said Munday, a friend of the family.
The Brown's made an emotional goodbye to Veronica behind closed doors before she was handed back to her adoptive parents.
Relieved: Melanie and Matt Capobianco stand side by side before a news conference in South Carolina last month - they have won their long legal battle to gain custody over Baby Veronica
Relieved: Melanie and Matt Capobianco stand side
by side before a news conference on James Island, South Carolina last month in which they appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court to grant them custody of Baby Veronica
Adopted parents: Matt and Melanie Capobianco were awarded custody of the girl they raised from birth
Her adoption to the Capobiancos was finalized earlier this year, but Brown had appealed Oklahoma court orders certifying the adoption.
The girl was handed over to the Capobiancos after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled it would not intervene in the case.
The court lifted a stay it had imposed on August 30 that had kept Veronica in Oklahoma where she has lived for the past two years while her biological father, Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation, fought the adoption.
The ruling removed a legal roadblock to an earlier court order in August that she be sent back to South Carolina.
Torn: This undated photo provided by the Capobianco Family shows four-year-old Veronica, bottom, with Melanie Capobianco during a recent visitation
Terrible Situation: This undated photo provided by the Capobianco Family shows four-year-old Veronica, left, with Melanie Capobianco
But lawyers for the Cherokee Nation said Monday the court's ruling does not override a Cherokee Nation District Court order that allows Veronica to remain on tribal trust land, where she and Brown have been living since July.
Todd Hembree, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation, said a state order has to be upheld by the tribal court before he will enforce it.
'We are a sovereign nation with a valid and historic court system,' Hembree said in a statement. 'As Attorney General, I will require that our court system be honored and respected.'
Decision time: Dusten Brown (second from left)
enters the Cherokee County Courthouse with his wife Robin Brown last month for a hearing in which he was granted a temporary stay of custody of his daughter
The pair were moved off Brown's property and onto the tribe's land to protect them from media and other public exposure at Brown's home, which is not on tribal lands, said tribe spokeswoman Amanda Clinton.
The case has highlighted overlapping parental claims in two states - as well as the clash between a Native American culture seeking to protect children from being adopted outside their tribes and U.S. legal safeguards for adoptive parents.
Attorneys for both sides are not allowed to talk to the media. Documents have been sealed, preventing the release of further details.
The adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina, have been in Oklahoma for the past month and have been allowed to visit Veronica, who lived with them for the first two years of her life, family spokeswoman Jessica Munday said.
The August 30 stay blocked an order by a county district court in Oklahoma that Brown turn over Veronica to the Capobiancos in compliance with her adoption, a victory for her biological father until the court lifted the stay Monday.
'Matt and Melanie cannot wait to bring Veronica home and begin the healing process as a reunited family,' Munday said in a statement.
In the middle: Veronica has been caught in an ongoing tug of war custody battle for most of her young life
The statement did not acknowledge that the adoption case is not over but is still being appealed - and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court again if Brown continues to pursue it.
Munday called on Brown to return Veronica 'peacefully and voluntarily' and avoid placing her in 'a dangerous and traumatic situation.'
The ruling does not affect an extradition order Brown currently faces on charges of custodial interference in South Carolina after refusing to hand over Veronica earlier this summer, after the Capobiancos' adoption of her was finalized.
He has a hearing on that extradition order set for October 3.
Veronica's birth mother, who is not Native American, arranged the adoption with the Capobiancos before the girl was born. Brown has argued he did not know the mother would give her up for adoption when he signed away his parental rights.
Custody battle: Veronica, pictured above with biological father Dusten Brown has been at the center of a custody tug-of-war for her entire life
Brown, who was not married to the birth mother, argued that the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 allowed him to have Veronica, who is 3/256th Cherokee. A South Carolina family court agreed with him and he took custody of her in 2011.
But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that ruling and decided the act did not apply. Her adoption by the Capobiancos was finalized in July, but Brown refused to turn her over.
An attorney for Brown did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The dispute has raised questions about jurisdictions, tribal sovereignty and a federal law meant to help keep Native American tribes together.
Veronica's birth mother, who is not Native American, was pregnant when she put the girl up for adoption. Her father claims federal law favors his keeping the child and won custody when she was 2. But the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act does not apply to the case.
A South Carolina court subsequently finalized the adoption to the Capobiancos and ordered Brown to hand Veronica over.
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Comments (193)
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So she's 0.01% Cherokee - why is this even mentioned? It sounds ridiculous!
This happened to a school friend of mine. She hated both her adoptive and biological parent/s and she lost all her hair from the stress. She was bald from 0-18yrs old when she finally got away from them all. Unfortunately they all felt they were doing what was best.
THE JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILED VERONICA, IN FAVOR OF OBSESSED & SELFISH, PREVIOUS ADOPTIVE PARENTS. SHE'S NOT A HAPPY LITTLE GIRL RIGHT NOW :(
Blood is always thicker than water! Everybody makes mistakes in life, but this father wanted badly to correct his! This adopted family already has children of their own, while this soldier only has his one daughter. This is so very wrong on every level.
the guy signed away his parental rights before she was born, she wasn't stolen from him, that's how the law works. if it wasnt for him claiming his highly dodgy amount of Native American heritage he would have been charged with kidnapping
He signed away his rights. What would he do in the future if his child's welfare was in conflict with what HE wants to do? He couldn't bother to marry her mother. The child has such a minmal amount of Cherokee DNA it's laughable. He and his current wife are hardly a class-act...rubber flip-flops and torn jeans to COURT????? This kid is SO much better off with people who WANT her and are ready to do what's best for HER.
One of the founding principles of this country is "We are a Nation of Laws not Men." That means Courts do not consider emotions, social status of any party, or anything else but the Law when ruling on cases. In this case all State laws favored the adoptive parents, the only problem was the U.S. federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The State Courts interpreted that federal law as overriding their State laws, but the United States Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter of what U.S. law means, said that was not the case and state law should take precedent. They therefore remanded the case back to the State Supreme Court with the instructions that the Federal law does not apply in this case. Therefore, the State Court did what it would do in any other case and find in favor of the adoptive parents. This is a clear cut case, and a pretty good example about how federalism and our courts work.
I thought adoption was for children without parents or unfit parents. So I do not accept this adoption. If it was the mother fighting the adoption would people be so willing to say the adoptive parents are right? I think they are dead wrong.
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FayLeeSeeah, US, 11 hours ago
She should be with her dad. Period!! So what he had cold feet. He has stepped up in effort to make amends. We don't know what the situation was with him & the mom or other circumstances that prompted him initially signing away rights. What ever it was.....he loves HIS daughter and wants to raise her. I've seen far worse parents been given there children back.