Court holds second day of hearings in Cherokee custody case


Cherokee Nation father Dusten Brown and his family in Oklahoma. Photo Courtesy National Indian Child Welfare Association

An appeals court in Oklahoma heard a second day of arguments in a custody dispute involving a Cherokee Nation girl.

Like yesterday's proceeding, the hearing was closed to the public. Attorneys in the case are under a gag order so information is scarce and neither Dusten Brown, the Cherokee father whose daughter is at the center of the battle, nor the non-Indian couple that wants to adopt her, are talking publicly.

Brown and his family currently have custody of the girl, who turned 4 on Sunday. They are living on Cherokee trust land at the moment.

The non-Indian couple is from South Carolina and has been in Oklahoma since late last month in hopes of taking the girl back to their state and finalizing the adoption.

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