CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A court ruling sending a Native American girl back to Oklahoma from her adoptive South Carolina family has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the 2-year-old should be returned to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee tribe.

But in a 142-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for the South Carolina couple say courts in a dozen states are divided on the interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

They want the high court to clarify whether a non-custodial parent can use the act to block an adoption undertaken legally by a non-Indian parent under state law.

A state Family Court judge awarded custody of the child to the biological father last year and she was taken to Oklahoma.