Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance
November 23, 2024
News Media Collaborative

SC couple appeals custody case involving Oklahoma Native American girl to Supreme Court

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
by
jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave
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JT Shining Oneside shared stories about her Ojibwe and Anishinaabe inheritance during the Native American Heritage Month Celebration on Nov. 15. She spoke about the coming-of-age and traditional birth ceremonies. (Photo credit/ Adrianna Adame)

By BRUCE SMITH, AP

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A court ruling sending a Native American girl back to Oklahoma from her adoptive South Carolina family has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the 2-year-old should be returned to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee tribe.

But in a 142-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for the South Carolina couple say courts in a dozen states are divided on the interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

They want the high court to clarify whether a non-custodial parent can use the act to block an adoption undertaken legally by a non-Indian parent under state law.

A state Family Court judge awarded custody of the child to the biological father last year and she was taken to Oklahoma.

Read more on NewsOK.com



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Posted in News Media Collaborative
Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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