COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Several American Indian groups have gone to court seeking to protect the civil rights of a Cherokee girl being adopted by a South Carolina family.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday argues that a hearing is needed to determine the best interests of the child. The groups also sought a restraining order to stop an adoption hearing in Charleston Wednesday, but that request has already been denied.
A Charleston-area couple has been trying to adopt 3-year-old Veronica since her birth, but the matter has been tied up in court for years.
Matt and Melanie Capobianco raised the girl for two years, but Veronica moved to Oklahoma in 2011 after a South Carolina court ruled that federal law favored her being raised by her father, a member of the Cherokee nation.
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Cherokee Nation