Baby Veronica is Cherokee. Whether her father wanted custody or not is irrelevant. Every American Indian tribe sets their own requirement for how to become a citizen. Some tribes have narrow requirements (such as blood quantum) to become a citizen. It is possible a person does not meet tribal requirements but can meet the Bureau of Indian Affairs requirements in order to be recognized. Baby Veronica is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma because, like all citizens of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, her family lineage is traceable and dates to the Dawes Rolls. (The Dawes Rolls is a census of sorts ordered by the U.S. Congress in 1893.) Present-day citizenship is not based on blood quantum, race, geographic location, or anything else, but in having a document-able relative on the Dawes. Like Americans in general, there are Cherokees of all “races,” and are diverse in culture and appearance.Get the Story:
Jennifer Gapetz: Attention Media: Baby Veronica Is Cherokee (Indian Country Today 6/25) Supreme Court Decision:
Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (June 25, 2013) Oral Argument Transcript:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (April 16, 2013) South Carolina Supreme Court Decision:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (July 26, 2012) Related Stories:
Supreme Court rules against Cherokee father in ICWA dispute (6/25)
Cherokee Chief: Baby girl should remain with biological father (6/25)
NCAI remains hopeful after ruling in Supreme Court ICWA case (6/25)
Turtle Talk: Initial impressions of Supreme Court's ICWA ruling (6/25)
Opinion: We fought the Cherokee Nation to keep adopted child (6/25)
Supreme Court set to rule in Indian Child Welfare Act case (6/24)
NPR: Supreme Court to rule in Indian Child Welfare Act case (6/24)
Join the Conversation
