ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision against Tununak that allowed an Alaska Native infant girl from the western Alaska village to be adopted by non-Native parents.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the higher court agreed in a split decision with an earlier Superior Court ruling that the baby’s well-being trumped legal preferences under federal law designed to keep children with Native American communities when possible.
In its Sept. 12 action, the state Supreme Court said the lower court correctly allowed a non-Native Anchorage couple to adopt the girl because an improved member of her biological family did not formally file to adopt her.
Justices Daniel Winfree and Craig Stowers disagreed and said that was not reason enough to override the Native preference.
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