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Native Americans Threaten State With Civil Rights Complaint
Melanie Capobianco/AP
This October 2011 photo of "Baby Veronica," provided by her adoptive mother, Melanie Capobianco, shows Veronica trick-or-treating.
Even after a United States Supreme Court ruling, the "Baby Veronica" case is still stirring emotions in Indian Country. Native American legal advocates are warning South Carolina that unless the state reconsiders its ruling in a controversial adoption case, civil rights violation charges will be filed.
In a press conference Monday, John Echohawk of the Native American Rights Fund accused South Carolina's Supreme Court of ignoring due process of law and violating Baby Veronica's civil rights.
"In this case, we strongly believe that federal civil rights laws are being violated, and other applicable revisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act are being ignored by the state courts, and the principles underlying treaty and international law protecting the rights of indigenous people are being undermined," said Echohawk.
The case involves a three-year-old named Veronica. She was adopted by a South Carolina couple, but her father, a Cherokee tribal member named Dustin Brown, eventually sought custody. She was returned to Brown under the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives preference in adoption cases to Native Americans. However, the father's custody was challenged by Veronica's adoptive parents.
In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to South Carolina, and last week the states Supreme Court ruled Veronica would be removed from her father's custody and placed back with her adoptive parents.
Veronica has been living with her father and tribe for 18 months, and previous rulings found it was in the child's best interest to remain with her father.
However, in transferring custody of Veronica to her adoptive parents last week, the courts did not hold a hearing to determine the best interest of the child, and advocates say that skipped step is a violation of her rights and have threatened to pursue a Civil Rights lawsuit.