OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma Supreme Court referee is weighing which of three courts should take up the adoption fight over a 3-year-old Cherokee girl.
Lawyers gathered at the court Tuesday to discuss who should raise 3-year-old Veronica: a South Carolina couple who have attempted to adopt her since birth or the girl's biological father, who claims a federal law requires that she be raised in a Native American home.
Oklahoma's Supreme Court granted an emergency stay Friday that keeps young Veronica with her father, Dusten Brown. Matt and Melanie Capobianco, of Charleston, S.C., say they are the rightful parents. Veronica's mother agreed to the adoption but Brown has since intervened.
Brown and the Capobiancos left Tuesday's hearing without comment. The referee is expected to recommend which court should take the case: South Carolina's, Oklahoma's or the Cherokee Nation's.