. >> she's known as baby veronica, and she was at the center of a high-profile custody battle. her adoptive parents are white; her father is native american and has been fighting for her alongside his tribe. the case was tried in the united states supreme court. at the heart of the case is the indian child welfare act, or icwa, which mandates that every effort be made to keep native children with their relatives or tribe. congress passed icwa in 1978 in response to an alarmingly high number of native children being removed from their homes and placed with non-native families - the tie to their cultures and communities severed in the process.

. >> she's known as baby veronica, and she was at the center of a high-profile custody battle. her adoptive parents are white; her father is native american and has been fighting for her alongside his tribe. the case was tried in the united states supreme court. at the heart of the case is the indian child welfare act, or icwa, which mandates that every effort be made to keep native children with their relatives or tribe. congress passed icwa in 1978 in response to an alagl

>> she's known as baby veronica, and she was at the center of a high-profile custody battle. her adoptive parents are white; her father is native american and has been fighting for her alongside his tribe. the case was tried in the united states supreme court. at the heart of the case is the indian child welfare act, or icwa, which mandates that every effort be made to keep native children with their relatives or tribe. congress passed icwa in 1978 in response to an alarmingly high number of native children being removed from their homes and placed with non-native families - the tie to their cultures and communities severed in the process. 35 years later, the fundamental protections of the law are still being fought for. >> the requirements of that act apply from the minute indian parents and indian kids walk into the courtroom and it's just not happening. here in south dakota, native children are only 13 percent of the children in the state but more than 50 percent of those in foster care. and the majority are placed with non-native families, in group homes or institutions.

nbcwashington.com, for a photo gallery of the royal family, including a look at prince george's baby pictures. >>> veronica joins us now. lots of clouds since the sun came up. or didn't. >> right. >> and not much rain. but that's coming. >> a little bit of rain is coming. but like groundhog day, where you -- that will be us really -- >> do that again. slow motion. >> sound effects and all. >> the next 24 hours. woop! we're going to get a little rain in here. so is there a high probability of a little bit of rain. also a pretty high chance too that we're going to have those gray skies continue. here's what's going on. all you've got to do is look at radar and see who has had the rain today and it really has been just areas around dc off to the east and south. southern maryland. leonardtown wet, waldorf, maryland, wet. same thing east of frex fredericksburg too. and annapolis, more rain. all of this making its way slowly to the north-northeast so rain in the back door. bethesda and areas around woodbridge and right down quantico, so some wet roads for the evening for anyone going out. there's a snapshot of a

baby is fighting for his life. he's just 1 year old, but already facing health complications caused by mother. his mother veronicaalked for more than four hours to get him to this health center. two weeks of treatment have not helped him. he's getting weaker. he's admitted to this remote clinic with five other children suffering from severe malnutrition. but others in the village are not so lucky. >> translator: we don't have enough food and because of the fighting, there is no road for traders to bring food into the village. there's so many other sick and malnourished children in my village. >> reporter: the united nations children's fund unicef has already warned that up to 50,000 children could die of malnutrition by the end of the year if they do not get help. doctors here say many of the most vulnerable cannot even reach the clinic. >> there's others, i think they cannot make it here. they carry their children to the center. >> reporter: aid agencies are in a rush against time to try to deliver tons of food and medical supplies to those displaced by the fighting in south sudan, but it is not an easy task. >>