UNDATED (CNN) -- The little girl once known as "Baby Veronica" is now back with her adoptive parents. The 4-year-old Cherokee girl was handed over Monday night from her biological father after the Oklahoma Supreme Court lifted an emergency stay.
That was just six weeks ago. Matt and Melanie Capobianco are dismayed and heart-broken that their adopted daughter, Veronica, was still not home.
On Monday night, the years-long custody battle coming to an end when Veronica's biological father, Dusten Brown, handed her over to her adoptive parents after a state Supreme Court ruled that it could not intervene in the case.
The Brown family watched from the front window of their Oklahoma home as a deputy and marshal led her away.
In photos provided to CNN by the Capobiancos, Veronica is seemingly all smiles during a visit by her adoptive parents over the last few weeks.
It has been a complex ordeal for both sides. Veronica, born a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was placed in the Capobiancos home at birth in 2009. Just a few months later her biological father changed his mind and sought custody under the Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law that protects native American children from being separated from their families. Brown was awarded custody in December 2011.
The two families have been in a nationally publicized legal battle over Veronica ever since.
For the last two years, Veronica was living in the Cherokee Nation with her biological father. The court's ruling cleared the way for the Capobiancos to take Veronica back to South Carolina where they raised her for the first two years of her life.
A spokeswoman for the Capobiancos says, "Veronica is safely in the arms of her parents and has been reunited with her family. Our prayers are with everyone involved this evening. There is no happy ending in this travesty, only closure."
The case made it all the way to this nation's highest court which ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply to this case.
Brown was ordered to return Veronica back to her adoptive parents, but he refused to give up without a fight.
Brown now has no visitation rights, but his attorney is hopes that Dusten will remain a part of Veronica's life. For the Capobiancos, it's a bitter sweet ending to a four-year ordeal.
Original source: Top Stories - Google News
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