Forever Home

A Native woman fought for years to gain custody of her granddaughter. Now the case is before the Supreme Court and could have consequences far beyond child welfare.

- Julia Lurie

"Can you tell the court a little bit about what she was like a baby?"

It was December 2018, and Robyn Bradshaw sat on the witness stand in the Hennepin County Juvenile Justice Center in Minneapolis, fighting for custody of her granddaughter. The night before, Bradshaw had attended a support ceremony with other members of her tribe, the White Earth Band of Ojibwa, to give her strength through the hearing. But as she answered questions from her lawyer, Bradshaw's breath was short and her heart raced. The face of her granddaughter, a quick-witted, energetic 7-year-old with big brown eyes and thick black curls, flashed in her mind. So, too, did the thought that had resurfaced countless times over the year: I cannot lose her again.

The girl, who goes by P.S. in court records, was born on a summer day in 2011. P.S. and her mother, Suzanne, moved in with Bradshaw, who cared for the baby while Suzanne worked as a bus driver and bank teller. P.S. turned into a lively toddler who shrieked as she bounced in the crib and chased her grandmother around the kitchen. She loved to swim and play with her cousins who lived nearby. For more than three years, according to court documents Bradshaw later filed, "P.S. was raised in a loving and stable home with Ms. Bradshaw and P.S.'s mother as active, fulltime caregivers."