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Thursday, January 8, 1998

Choctaw family wants custody battle moved to tribal court

DALLAS (AP) -- A custody battle between a Dallas widow and her Oklahoma in-laws has taken a complicated turn, with the in-laws asking a judge to turn the dispute over to an American Indian tribal court in Oklahoma.

Attorneys for Katherine Crank of Eufaula, Okla., mother-in-law of the Paula Crank and grandmother to her 7- and 10-year-old daughters, asked a state judge in Dallas last week to turn the case over to a Choctaw Nation court in Oklahoma.

Visiting state District Judge William Martin will hear arguments on the venue change at a Jan. 27 hearing in Dallas.

At issue is whether the two girls should continue living with their paternal grandmother in Oklahoma, where they have lived since August 1996. Their father, Walter Crank, died of a heart attack in 1994 at age 36.

The grandmother is full-blooded Choctaw; her daughter-in-law is Caucasian.

Paul R. Shunatona, the grandmother's Dallas attorney and past president of the Texas Indian Bar Association, cites the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted by Congress 20 years ago to help tribes maintain population and their cultural heritage.

He said his client and her family practice their traditions regularly and think the children would be better off growing up with them.

"Clearly, the act applies in this case," Shunatona said. "These are not folks who are just jumping in to invoke the act willy-nilly."

Attorneys for the children's mother say her in-laws are invoking the welfare act only now, two years into the child-custody case, to stave off imminent defeat.

Carol Wilson of Dallas, one of Paula Crank's attorneys, accuses Katherine Crank and her lawyer of "forum shopping," or seeking a judge more sympathetic to their arguments.

"In a state court, you have to prove that parent is unfit," Ms. Wilson said. Just because the girls would be more exposed to Choctaw culture in Oklahoma doesn't make the family there better guardians than their mother, she said.

However, Shunatona says he cited the law at the outset.

The relatives have had managing conservatorship of the children since they and the girls alleged that they had been molested in the girls' Dallas home. Their mother has been allowed supervised visitation.

Court records show state investigators could not substantiate the sexual abuse charges during two separate investigations, one of which noted inconsistencies in the children's stories. However, the children's court-appointed attorney said she thinks the children were abused and will recommend that their case be given to the Choctaw Nation court.

"These children are Choctaw, and they have been there almost two years with their grandmother," said Lynn Cherry, who originally sought a restraining order to keep the children in Oklahoma. "I think the children deserve to be in a safe environment, and that's with their grandmother."

But Ms. Wilson said the Oklahoma relatives know they can no longer hide behind the sexual abuse allegations they used as a legal wedge to keep the children with them.