Long custody fight for girl ends
The hope is she now finds stability after a battle that reached the Supreme Court.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Veronica's entire 4-year-old life has been lived at the center of a protracted custody dispute between her biological Native American father and a couple in South Carolina chosen as adoptive parents by her mother.
Now that the legal fight is over, the struggle to create a normal existence for the young Cherokee girl begins.
Late Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court declined to uphold a stay keeping Veronica with her father, Dusten Brown, and ordered that custody be turned over to Matt and Melanie Capobianco, of Charleston.
The Capobiancos began the long trip back from Oklahoma to Veronica's new permanent home after the resolution of a years-long battle involving questions of jurisdiction and tribal sovereignty in both Native American and U.S. courts.
Veronica was born Sept. 15, 2009 to an unwed, non-Native American mother in Oklahoma who decided to give her up for adoption and chose the Capobiancos in South Carolina as her adoptive parents.
But Brown had petitioned for custody shortly after her birth, and in December 2011, after Veronica had lived with the Capobiancos for a little more than two years, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in the father's favor. The court said that under the Indian Child Welfare Act, it was in the girl's best interest to be raised by her biological father. Veronica went to live with Brown in Oklahoma.
Two more years passed, and this summer, the tables turned again: The U.S. Supreme Court - responding to a challenge from the Capobiancos to the South Carolina court's decision - ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply in this case because Brown had been absent from the child's life. The South Carolina courts finalized the couple's adoption and ordered Brown to hand Veronica over. Two Oklahoma courts certified the order.
But Brown wasn't done. He was still hoping that the Oklahoma Supreme Court would refuse to lift a stay that was in place to keep Veronica with him. The court declined the request, and Veronica was transferred Monday night to the Capobiancos.
The Cherokee Nation fought on Brown's behalf for permanent custody, but late Monday, the tribe's attorney general indicated the fight was over. In a statement, he expressed hope that the Capobiancos would "honor their word" to allow Brown to be remain a part of the girl's life.