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SEPTEMBER 18, 2000

The Superior Court in Clark County, Washington, has ruled that a 13-year-old daughter of a Navajo Nation woman belongs in the custody of her non-Indian guardians.

A Navajo Nation court, however, is also exercising jurisdiction over the case. It will hear a petition later this week to return custody of Allyssa Keetso-Pitts to her mother, Patricia Keetso Polacca.

Her current guardians, Paul Ricardo Pitts and Cheryl Sorrick, who live in Vancouver, Washington, are divorced now. They had attempted to adopt Allyssa in 1988, with her mother's consent, but the Navajo Nation intervened under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978.

However, a tribal court then gave Pitts and Sorrick custody.

Get the Story:
Girl's custody torn between two courts; teen returned to non-Indian family (The Seattle Times 9/18)