Oh what a difficult decision the Supreme Court justices have to make in the case of a Baby Veronica! The adoptive parents of the 3-year-old girl were ordered to return her to her biological father, Dusten Brown, who gave up his parental right when she was born, but later said he was tricked into doing so. Understandably, her adoptive parents want her back and now it's up to the Supreme Court to decide who'll raise the little girl.
But before you take sides, you have to understand that this is an extremely difficult case because Baby Veronica's dad is Native American. And there's a strong law, known as the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) enacted to maintain Native American families together and to prevent adoptions outside tribes which appears to support Brown's parental rights.
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Brown claims he gave up his parental rights to his daughter because he figured she'd be better off with her mother particularly because he was about to be shipped off to Iraq. But he had no idea she had plans of putting the baby up for adoption and as soon as he found out, he tried to put a stop to it citing the ICWA before he went overseas.
In 2011, a family court in South Carolina agreed Baby Veronica belonged with her biological father and ordered Matt and Melanie Capobianco to turn her over to him. So the little girl has been living with her father for the last 15 months and Brown claims she doesn't even even remember her adoptive parents. But they do and they will fight until the end to get her back.
The legal details of the case are complicated but, in the end, the most important thing should be what will be best for the child. While I feel terrible for the adoptive parents who clearly loved and cared for this little girl better than many biological parents would, I think Brown has demonstrated he's capable and willing to do the same.
Although not all the circumstances are the same, this case reminds me of Terry Achane, a dad who was also in the Army, and whose daughter was given up for adoption without his consent. Just like in that case, I feel like Baby Veronica belongs with her father. The poor little girl is only 3 and she's already gone through more than most of us will go in a lifetime. Sending her back to her adoptive parents would be not only incredibly disruptive, but also cruel and heartbreaking for the new family they've managed to create in the last 15 months.
Image via Dusten Brown
