“Baby Veronica” adoption finalized, but fight not over yet

In a follow-up to last month’s post about this national story that may have drawn the attention of many Maryland readers, a court in another state has cleared “Baby Veronica” to return to her adoptive parents’ home on the heels of the United States Supreme Court’s decision finalizing the adoption.

In another twist to this case, Baby Veronica’s biological father now finds himself facing criminal charges after he failed to appear with Veronica before the state court hearing the adoption case. The man is currently at liberty on bond, and Baby Veronica remains with the biological family despite the court’s order finalizing the adoption. The biological family has filed its own custody cases in their home state.

As many of our readers probably know, the biological father of Baby Veronica, who initially gave up his parental rights and did not have anything to do with the child until he found out she was being adopted, invoked the federal Indian Child Welfare Act and had argued successfully that under that law, he ought to have custody of the child.

The United States Supreme Court disagreed with the biological father, saying that the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply to his case. The Supreme Court returned the case to the state courts to decide the adoption. While the state court has now decided the adoption, Veronica remains with her biological family. Saying that they just want to have the girl that they raised for the first two years of her life back, the adoptive parents are trying to get help returning the girl to them.

While hopefully not all adoption cases will be this dramatic, a Maryland adoption lawyer or a Howard County adoption lawyer can be of valuable assistance particularly if relationships begin to sour.