WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will review a ruling that sent a South Carolina couple's adopted Native American daughter back to her biological father in Oklahoma.
The high court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by Matt and Melanie Capobianco, who live on James Island just outside Charleston. The adoption of their 3-year-old daughter, Veronica, was overturned by the South Carolina state Supreme Court, who said the girl must go back to Oklahoma to be with her biological father, a member of the Cherokee tribe.
The state court said the federal Indian Child Welfare Act gave custodial preference to the girl's father. That 1978 act gives the child's tribe and family the right to have a say in decisions affecting the child.
The case will be heard later this year.
