Matt and Melanie Capobianco are celebrating their reunion with four-year-old baby Veronica, the child they have been trying to adopt since birth. The Capobianco's were fighting a bitter custody battle with their daughter's biological father, Dusten Brown. On Monday night the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that they did not have jurisdiction over the child and allowed the Capobianco's to take the girl home to South Carolina. Jessica Munday, a spokeswoman for the Capobianco family told the Associated Press that baby Veronica is "safely in her parents' arms."
Baby Veronica was born in Oklahoma in September of 2009. The girl's birth mother chose the Capobianco couple to adopt her daughter and after her birth they took the child home to South Carolina. Dusten Brown was reported to have given up his parental rights over the girl but after two years would try to use a federal law that prevents Native American children from being separated from their families to get custody of Veronica. A court agreed with Brown and awarded him custody.
Unwilling to accept the fact that the child they raised since birth was no longer their own the Capobianco couple decided to fight the court's decision and regain custody of their daughter. Matt and Melanie Capobianco believed that Brown misused the law for Native American's because their daughter is not solely of Native American decent but a variety of backgrounds including Hispanic and Caucasian. The Supreme Court decided that the law did not apply to baby Veronica and ordered the child be gradually returned to her adoptive parents.
Brown refused to hand his daughter over and was arrested. Brown turned himself into police and was later released on bail all the while refusing to give the girl up having sent her to live with his relatives. The Capobianco's took their case once again to the Supreme Court and it was decided that the Indian Child Welfare Act was misused in Veronica's case. It has been reported that Dusten Brown handed baby Veronica over to her adoptive parents Monday night with dignity and respect. There has been no reports about whether or not Brown and his wife will be allowed visitation rights.
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