WASHINGTON (WCIV) – The United States Supreme Court is
slated to hear the Baby Veronica case in April, according to the court's
calendar.
In October, the guardian ad litem for 3-year-old Baby
Veronica caught in the middle of a custody battle filed a brief to the United
States Supreme Court in support of the toddler's adoptive parents, asking the
high court to hear the case.
The brief states the child's guardian, "exhaustively
considered the child's best interests and concluded that they clearly would be
served by allowing her adoptive parents to retain custody."
Matt and Melanie Capobianco, of Charleston, began the process of adopting
Veronica at birth in September 2009. After caring for her for more than two
years, they lost custody to the toddler's biological father in December 2011.
On Oct. 1, 2012, they filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme
Court in hopes of regaining custody of their child.
Just days after Christmas, the couple was ordered by a South Carolina court to
hand over Veronica to her biological father, whom the child had never met.
Dusten Brown, the child's birth father, gained custody based
on the lower court's interpretation of a federal law known as the Indian Child
Welfare Act.
He is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
