Reflections on Veronica Brown and being raised in a family different from your own

Veronica Brown yesterday

It was not on television, it was dignified, it was as private as possible, but it happened last night: Dusten Brown gave his daughter Veronica to the adoptive parents who treated her no more than a piece of property they had paid for. Now she was signed, sealed and delivered into the hands of Matt and Melanie Copabianco, and from reports, whisked immediately out of the county. It is likely they will be back home today in South Carolina, a thousand miles away from her father--her real father--in Oklahoma. 

From new reports we learned that Dusten Brown said goodbye to Veronica at Jack Brown House, the tribal headquarters where they have been living in Tahlequah. As Brown and his wife, Robin, watched from a window, a Cherokee County sheriff's deputy and a Cherokee Nation marshal led Veronica to the nearby marshal's building, where the handover occurred about 7:30 p.m.

Dusten Brown continues to fight for his daughter; the Capobiancos dig in deeper

 

Veronica and her father, Dusten Brown

Oh, pity the poor Capobiancos. Practically weeping on camera how they want "their daughter," to "come home." The girl is question is Veronica Brown, otherwise known as Baby Veronica in the media.

Then Chris Cuomo on CNN is arguing the "legal rights" in this case this morning, and how it has been settled--thus, the father of Baby Veronica (now Toddler Veronica, as she will be four next month), Dusten Brown ought to just get with the program, and turn over his child to the would-be adopters. He nods to the another member of the New Morning show, Michele Pereira, whose family "has embraced" adoption. (How, I do not know.)

A relationship with my daughter goes awry. Reason unknown.

Jane and Lorraine, 1983

Just when everything is going swimmingly for a couple of years there, the tide shifts and the life raft of our relationship breaks apart again on the rocky shoals of Jane’s divided loyalties. 

She and I speak frequently, send each other presents, and appear to have found a comfortable plateau in our relationship. Our closeness, even with the disruption of adoption, reminds me of my relationship with my mother after I left home—we talked about once a week, everyday chitchat, and now Jane and I do the same: Here’s a recipe for a canapé we call Memphis cheesies, made with Rice Crispies and cheddar. How’s Bill? He’s now working full time as a post man? Great. What’s Brittney up to? You got a steamer to “steam clean” your house? Whoa! Tony thinks I’m a clean freak, wait til he hears about this. Arthur is going to China to visit his daughter—you do remember she lives there? With Lulu, the girl she adopted from China? I’m painting the deck chairs white. You’re painting your bench yellow? You wanted that recipe for the turkey brine? Half apple juice, half water, cup of brandy, one and a half cups of salt.

'Baby Veronica' adoption will go forward

Dusten Brown and his daughter, Veronica. The Washington Post
Getty Images 

For Later Posts: 

Dusten Brown continues to fight for his daughter; the Capobiancos dig in deeper

Adoptive father John Roberts: Not impartial in the Baby Veronica case

Baby Veronica, now nearly four, will be taken from her natural father and returned to the couple who want to adopt her, Matt and Melinda Copabionco of South Carolina, following a 3-2 decision today by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Her natural mother, according to her attorney, is "over the moon."

This comes only weeks after a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that held that Dusten Brown, and his daughter, Veronica—both citizens of the Cherokee Nation—were essentially not protected under the Indian Child Welfare Act. After that ruling, Brown  attempted to adopt his own daughter in Oklahoma, where he has been living with her for the last 18

The lie behind the question: Aren't those kids better off adopted?

Jane

Aren't kids better off adopted? That's the underlying argument of adoption apologists who feel the answer is an obvious yes. "Maybe mothers were misled about adoption or fathers were tricked by Utah's laws into losing their rights, but at the end of the day, aren't the kids better off with living in an intact family with more money who can give them better opportunities?"

Now that shame no longer propels young women to give their babies to strangers, the adoption industry relies on "better off" to acquire children. Mothers aren't giving up their babies; they are giving them more. American Adoptions, for example, claims that: "...birth mothers are choosing life for their child--a life complete with all of the hugs, laughter and lullabies that they desire for them.... Birth mothers place their babies into the arms of eternally grateful

Supreme Court rules against Indian father, limits Indian Child Welfare Act

Veronica at her father's home

 UPDATED BELOW

Showing a clear disdain for the rights of biological parents--and a preference for the legal rights of adoptive parents--the Supreme Court today voted 5-4 in favor of granting custody of a three-year-old girl with Native American blood to the non-Indian couple who had adopted her, Matt and Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina. Now the case will head back to South Carolina family courts, which will determine where she will live and who will raise her. The girl, named Veronica, has been living with her biological father, Dusten Brown, in Nowata, Oklahoma, since December of 2011, but spent the first 27 months of her life with the Capobiancos.

The decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl* is both bad policy and bad law. The Court, in overturning a decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court, held that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) did not prevent Matt and Melanie Capobianco from adopting Dusten Brown's daughter Veronica, because--although

Returning a child to her father is the right decision

Jane

Finally, a voice of sanity in a contested adoption case. South Carolina law professor Marcia Zug defends the decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court last month to return two-year old Veronica to her father, Dusten Brown, cancelling the adoption to Melanie and Matt Capobianco in a article in Slate.

Zug's August 23 article in Slate, "Two year old 'Baby Veronica' was ripped from the only home's she ever known. The court made the right decision"* is a welcome change from the media blizzard chastising the South Carolina Court. The popular refrains "ripped from the only family she has ever known and "what about the best interests of the child"? repeated endlessly in this and similar cases are simply wrong.