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Chief: Cherokee Nation "Did Everything Possible" To Keep Veronica

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker
Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker says the nation "did everything possible" to stop a 4-year-old Cherokee girl from being transferred to her adoptive parents in South Carolina.

Baker released a statement Wednesday about the custody transfer of 4-year-old Veronica. The Cherokee Nation and Veronica's biological father, tribal member Dusten Brown, had been fighting with the toddler's adoptive parents to keep Veronica in Oklahoma.

On Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court lifted a stay keeping the girl in Oklahoma and she was handed to the South Carolina couple shortly afterward.

Baker says the Nation used every legal avenue available to keep Veronica with her biological father. The chief says the girl is always welcome in the Cherokee Nation.

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