News from the Plains: All this RED can make you BLUE
And Veronica
by Barry Friedman
There are no villains.
There is the timeline.
In September, 2009, a baby girl, Veronica, is born in Oklahoma to an unmarried couple. In January, 2010, her father, Dusten Brown, a soldier, a Native American, signs away his custodial rights--sends a text to that effect, as well. He says he does so because his National Guard Unit is being deployed to Iraq and has no other choice. Meanwhile, Veronica's mother puts her up for adoption and a South Carolina couple, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, is given custody.
The father, the soldier, then returns from war and wants his baby girl back.
King Solomon, line one.
In 2011, a South Carolina Family Court and in 2012, the South Carolina Supreme Court side with Brown, and do so based upon the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was designed to keep Indian children from being taken from their homes and placed with non-Indian adoptive or foster parents, which most thought (and think) a good idea. Veronica is ordered returned to him. The Capobiancos then sue on the basis that Brown gave up those rights.
They know about the text.
He admits as much, but says he was duped, confused, thought he was only agreeing to custody to Veronica’s biological mother--not to an adoption. The mother disagrees.
CBS News' Elaine Quijano said, "But you said 'yes' in that text message. And you signed the paperwork before you left for Iraq."
Brown replied, "Right. And that was one of the dumbest decisions that I've made."
That was then. This is then.
It feels the same.
The Capobiancos want their little girl.
Dusten Brown wants his little girl.
This is a love story with too many characters.
It's easy to demonize the courts, the lawyers, the governors, the parents, but not here--not entirely anyway.
The case reaches the United States Supreme Court. In June, it determines the South Carolina Court was wrong to cite the Indian Child Welfare Act, agreeing with the Capobiancos that its provisions no longer apply because Brown signed away his rights. What was onerous--even if you agree with the ruling--was its explanation.
Here's Associate Justice Samuel Alito.
"Under the State Supreme Court's reading, a biological Indian father could abandon his child in utero and refuse any support for the birth mother ... and then could play his ICWA trump card at the eleventh hour to override the mother's decision and the child's best interests. If this were possible, many prospective adoptive parents would surely pause before adopting any child who might possibly qualify as an Indian under the ICWA."
Okay, one villain.
The trump card? Yes, because that's what fathers do who love their daughters. Can anyone imagine Alito saying this about a white parent?
How tough of a call was this? Justice Breyer voted with Alito, Thomas, Kennedy, and Roberts; Scalia voted with Sotomayor, Kagan, and Ginsburg.
There is then the new decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court, which can no longer consider ICWA.
It orders Veronica be returned to the Capobiancos.
In a 3 to 2 vote, the court ordered that Veronica's adoption to Matt and Melanie Capobianco be finalized, and terminated Brown's parental rights. The ruling has been sent to the South Carolina Family Court.
There is then the
arrest of Brown when he refuses to. He is charged with resisting a court order and ordered extradited to South Carolina.
This is a love story with a bad narrative.
Dusten Brown surrendered Monday to the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office in eastern Oklahoma. Brown, an Iraq war veteran, appeared before a judge but refused extradition without a governor's warrant from South Carolina, where the adoptive parents, Melanie and Matt Capobianco, live.
There is, of course, reality television
Reality TV personality Troy Dunn made an effort Thursday to see Baby Veronica, but Cherokee Marshals turned him away, tribal officials said Thursday.
He stumbled across an article about the case 13 months ago, Dunn said, "and I immediately knew I needed to help in any way possible."
Please STFU now.
There is Brown's new attorney
Brewster said this case ultimately comes down to the best interests of Veronica and he believes that anyone who sees Veronica with Brown will side with Brown.
There is the bickering between two Republican governors--Fallin of Oklahoma and Haley of South Carolina.
Fallin said that her office would continue to review the rendition order from Haley and would sign it if it "adhered to the letter and spirit of the law."
"Gov. Haley has been working with law enforcement and the solicitor's office to issue a requisition warrant today," said spokesman Doug Mayer." She stands in support of the Capobiancos and shares their desire to bring Veronica home safely."
There is a mother and a father and a mother and a father.
There is too much pain.
Melanie Capobianco
"We pray that those who are holding Veronica will do the right thing and send Veronica home to us, please," she pleaded.
Dusten Brown
"I'm going to fight till I have no fight left in me and till they say you can't fight no more," Brown said. "This is my daughter. It's not a yo-yo that I can just say, hey, I borrowed it for two years and here's it back."
This is a love story with no good end.
But no villains.
And Veronica.