NOWATA, Okla. (AP) — Both sides in the years-long custody fight over a young Cherokee girl have met in an Oklahoma courtroom, but the status of the case remains unclear.
The biological father and adoptive parents of 3-year-old Veronica were at the Nowata County courthouse on Friday. Because of a gag order, neither side would comment.
Veronica was relinquished for adoption by her birth mother, and she was adopted by Matt and Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina. But her birth father, Dusten Brown, later fought the adoption under the Indian Child Welfare Act. He's a member of the Cherokee Nation.
A South Carolina court awarded Brown custody when Veronica was 2 years old. The couple appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and eventually regained custody, but Brown didn't return Veronica as he appealed.