OKLAHOMA CITY -- The adoption controversy of a little girl born in Oklahoma is causing outrage.
The girl was taken away from her adoptive parents in South Carolina because of a law meant to keep Native American families together.
Veronica, a toddler, was adopted and raised by Mat and Melanie Capobianco, the only parents she's ever known.
Veronica was taken from the Capobianco's on New Year's Eve by a court order and turned over to her biological father whom she had never met.
Mat Capobianco said he felt he had failed Veronica as her father when he had to send her off to be with people she didn't know.
The Capobianco's say it was an open adoption, and Veronica's biological mother was in full agreement with the adoption.
But when Veronica was 4-months-old, her biological father, Dustin Brown, filed suit to get her back.
Brown's attorney says he claimed he had been tricked into signing papers saying he had to give up his daughter.
Brown won full custody of his daughter under a law called the Indian Welfare Act of 1978.
The law was designed to keep Indian children and their families together.
The Capobianco's say their daughter is starting a new year with an entirely new family.
The only family Veronica has ever known is starting the year without her.
Last week the attorney general for the Cherokee Nation filed a motion for a gag order in the case.
The girl was taken away from her adoptive parents in South Carolina because of a law meant to keep Native American families together.
Veronica, a toddler, was adopted and raised by Mat and Melanie Capobianco, the only parents she's ever known.
Veronica was taken from the Capobianco's on New Year's Eve by a court order and turned over to her biological father whom she had never met.
Mat Capobianco said he felt he had failed Veronica as her father when he had to send her off to be with people she didn't know.
The Capobianco's say it was an open adoption, and Veronica's biological mother was in full agreement with the adoption.
But when Veronica was 4-months-old, her biological father, Dustin Brown, filed suit to get her back.
Brown's attorney says he claimed he had been tricked into signing papers saying he had to give up his daughter.
Brown won full custody of his daughter under a law called the Indian Welfare Act of 1978.
The law was designed to keep Indian children and their families together.
The Capobianco's say their daughter is starting a new year with an entirely new family.
The only family Veronica has ever known is starting the year without her.
Last week the attorney general for the Cherokee Nation filed a motion for a gag order in the case.
