Indian child case appealed to the US Supreme Court
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A ruling that sends a Native American girl back to Oklahoma from her adoptive South Carolina family is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state Supreme Court agreed in July that the 2-year-old should be returned to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee tribe. It was the court’s first decision weighing state adoption law against the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
Washington, D.C., attorney Lisa Blatt has joined the legal team representing the adoptive family from the Charleston area.
The state Supreme Court ruled that federal law gave custodial preference to the girl’s father.
A state Family Court judge awarded custody of the child to the biological father last year and she was taken back to Oklahoma.
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