A judge ordered the child out of the Clifford's home and into the care of P's grandmother.

"So here we are, forced into a trial simply because of the Indian Child Welfare Act," said Mark Fiddler, one of the attorneys representing the Cliffords.

He's focusing in on that federal law during this trial.

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It requires counties to first attempt to place an Native American foster child within their tribe.

The Cliffords attorneys argue that is not in the child's best interest and therefore clashes with Minnesota state law.

"And yes, there are statutes on relatives and there are statutes on siblings but the overriding factor is what is best for this child and that gets completely usurped by ICWA," said Rachel Osband, the Clifford's other attorney.

White Earth tribal attorney Joe Plumer disagrees, telling 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, "having the connection and the child raised in the grandmother's care does meet the child's best interests."

He says there were problems initially identifying P as a tribal member due to flawed information sent to the tribe from Hennepin County, adding that's how P ended up in the Clifford's care.

"She spent six months in a shelter and at no point had the tribe come forward and said this is our kid," said Osband. "They were asked twice and they said no."

P is now seven years old. She's not yet old enough for an attorney to fight for what she wants in court.

Instead, the judge will do her best to determine that during this five day trial.