Utah high court to hear adoption case

The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments next month by Navajo Nation officials who want to undo a Salt Lake couple's adoption of two children.

Ricardo and Suzi Ramos adopted the children, now 3 and 9, in 2008. Two weeks after it was approved, the Navajo Nation appealed.

Tribal officials say the children — born to a Navajo woman and a Latino man who both had their parental rights terminated — should be returned to the reservation so a tribal court can decide who should care for them.

They say state officials violated the Indian Child Welfare Act by failing to give the Navajo Nation adequate notice of the adoption plans.

The Ramos family's attorney, Wesley Hutchins, argues the Navajo Nation is raising concerns too late in the process.

The Ramos family moved to Utah five years ago and began participating in the state's foster care program.

In December 2006, an 11-month-old girl named Ella was placed in their care. Her brother, 7-year-old Anthony, joined the family about a week later.

Hutchins said that after the state Department of Child and Family Services became involved, the biological parents' rights were terminated in 2007.

The Ramos family said neither parent participated in court proceedings to get the children placed.

The Ramoses began adoption proceedings for Ella and Anthony in early 2008. The Navajo Nation filed a petition with the Utah Court of Appeals, which rejected the motion, and the adoption was approved by a judge in February of that year.

Moab attorney Keith Fitzgerald, who is representing the Navajo Nation in the case, said in court filings that the children's grandmother tried several times to have them placed with her.

The tribe's court filings also say the state of Utah failed to find an American Indian home for the children or transfer the case to tribal authorities. The Navajo Nation filing said the state "condoned inappropriate cultural separation of the children from their extended family in the Nation … and sought to impair the unique value of the Navajo culture."

Hutchins, the Ramos family attorney, said tribal officials should have raised concerns earlier.

"There was just a long period of inactivity," he said.

The Ramos family, meanwhile, has been working to provide a culturally sensitive environment for the children.

"I can't imagine our life without them or their life without us," Suzi Ramos said.

The Utah Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the case June 1.