SC Supreme Court to Consider Child Custody Dispute

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – The South Carolina Supreme Court will determine if a lower court judge was correct in ordering a 2-year-old removed from a Charleston couple who thought they had adopted her legally and returned her to her biological father. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that Matt and Melanie Capobianco are appealing a family court decision to transfer custody of the girl to her biological father, Dusten Brown, of Oklahoma. The judge’s decision was based on a little known federal law designed to keep American Indian families together. Brown is a member of the Cherokee Nation and objected after the girl’s birth mother gave her up for adoption by the Capobiancos. Brown and the Capobiancos have been battling in court for two years.