US supreme court case considering indian adoption

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INDIAN_CHILD_WELFARE_DISPUTE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-20-09-57-36

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court could reshape longstanding federal law on the adoption of Native American children, depending on how the justices rule in the case of a South Carolina family fighting for custody of their adopted daughter.

That law is at the center of the appeal by Matt and Melanie Capobianco, a Charleston-area couple who adopted a baby girl several years ago. But the girl's biological father - a member of the Cherokee Nation whom she had never met - later went to court seeking custody, arguing that the girl's mother gave her up without his consent.

A South Carolina court agreed with Dusten Brown, who took the girl named Veronica back to Oklahoma in 2011. The Capobiancos challenged that decision in the state Supreme Court, saying they had bonded with Veronica and arguing that removing her was detrimental to her development.

But justices sided with Brown last summer, saying that, while the Capobiancos were "ideal parents," federal law requires that custodial preference be given to the child's Native American parent.