"The Supreme Court has agreed to consider an adoption case involving a South Carolina couple who were ordered to turn over a 2-year-old girl they had cared for since birth to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee Nation, whom she had never met. While South Carolina law says the girl, Veronica, should stay with the adoptive parents, federal law, under the Indian Child Welfare Act, says tribal authorities should decide the case.

Should the adoption of American Indian children receive special consideration, or is it too focused on race? Kevin Noble Maillard, a professor of law at Syracuse University and a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, organized this discussion."

Get the Story:
Adoptive Parents vs. Tribal Rights (The New York Times 1/24)

South Carolina Supreme Court Decision:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (July 26, 2012)

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