The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. Previously, Leslie Heimov of the Children's Law Center of California said: 'The law is very clear that siblings should be kept together whenever they can be, and they should be placed together even if they were not initially together. The California Court of Appeals originally ruled in August of 2014 that Lexi could stay with the Pages and they could continue to fight the Utah family for custody of the child. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. She has woken up in their home every Christmas morning she can remember, and she has grown up over the past four years with three siblings who are her best friends and playmates. Her name is Lexi," the petition said. "The law is very clear that siblings should be kept together whenever they can be, and they should be placed together even if they were not initially together," Heimov told the Los Angeles Daily News (http://bit.ly/1pYtXlg ). Her . Last March, she was taken from her foster home near Los Angeles, and a state appeals court in July upheld the girl's removal from the Page home. More than 20 states have joined hundreds of tribes, advocacy groups and the federal agency that oversees Indian affairs in urging an appellate judge to uphold the law. "There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Images of foster father Rusty Page clutching 6-year-old Lexi left an indelible mark when the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services arrived to take her away from Page and his wife's Valencia home in March. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. "While the past 10 days have been complete anguish for our family, there's no way our pain can compare to the confusion and disorientation that Lexi is experiencing," Rusty Page said. Regardless of tribal membership, Lexi should be allowed to live with her family, just as all children in any deprived case should.. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. and The case was decided in the California court system three separate times, with three different trial court judges ruling in favor of Lexi's relatives in Utah. Lexi cried and clutched a stuffed bear on Monday as Rusty Page carried her out of his home near Los Angeles and Los Angeles County social workers whisked her away in a waiting car. Lawmakers found that Native American families were broken up at disproportionately high rates, and that cultural ignorance and biases within the child welfare system were largely to blame. Six-year-old Lexi was removed from the home of the family she has been living with for four years because of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her extended family have had monthly visits and Skyped at least once a week prior to her relocation. Her father, who had a criminal history, never lived on a Choctaw reservation and didnt have any social, political, or cultural ties to the tribe, according to the court documents. The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower court's decision to remove the girl. Those factors included Lexi's relationship with her extended family and half-siblings, their capacity to help her reconnect with her tribal roots, and the Pages' "relative reluctance or resistance" to foster Lexi's relationship with her extended family or encourage exploration of her Choctaw cultural identity, the judges wrote in their ruling. "How is it that a screaming child, saying, 'I want to stay, I'm scared,' how is it in her best interest to pull her from the girl she was before that doorbell rang?" Lexi entered foster care because her biological parents had substance abuse problems and a criminal record, and the relatives in Utah are related to her through her step-grandfather. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. The law was designed to help Native American families remain intact. "It coerces state agencies and courts to carry out unconstitutional and illegal federal policy, and it makes child custody decisions based on racial preferences," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said. Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. The Pages were always aware of this goal. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com Associated Press, Parents whose foster daughter, six, was ripped from them because she is part Native American and they are white, appeal case to Californias Supreme Court as they hit out at 'an outrageous abuse of power', EXCLUSIVE: Biological father of six-year-old girl torn from foster parents because she is part Native American is a violent drug criminal who bragged of 'white supremacist friends', EXCLUSIVE - 'Please do the right thing and send our daughter home': Heartbroken white foster parents of girl, six, seized for being 1/64th Native American plead with new 'family' to return her to the only home she's ever known, 'Food isn't worth eating. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. Lexi, who is 1/64 Choctaw, was taken from her foster home north of Los Angeles in a tearful parting in March and placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. The law has led to some emotional, high-profile cases, including one in 2016 in which a court ordered that a young Choctaw girl named Lexi be removed from a California foster family and placed with her fathers extended family in Utah. Read More What Are the Best Alternatives to Eventbrite? This button displays the currently selected search type. Please enter valid email address to continue. Even if they were the best family in the world, he says, its not who Lexi views as family.. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. In the days since Lexi was removed from the Southern California home, her foster parents have continued to fight the decision. Don't let me go. Rusty and Summer Page of Santa Clarita, California, had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a Los Angeles juvenile courts ruling that there was no good cause to depart from the placement preferences in the Indian Child Welfare Act. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. You want the child to stay with relatives, especially when Native American questions are at hand, whenever possible. In their petition, the Pages argued that the lower court misapplied the standard of review for good cause to depart from ICWA, but also that ICWA should not apply to children who had never been part of an American Indian family. We appreciate the concern for Lexi and want to assure everyone she is in a safe, loving home with her relatives and her biological sisters. "The issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. Foster care is a much-needed temporary service provided for children until the child can be returned to the care of his or her family. The law allows states to deviate from placement preferences when there is "good cause." She is watching them drive off. Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement Monday that the high court's decision is a "crushing blow." We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although foster care is supposed to be temporary, the Pages wanted to adopt Lexi and for years fought efforts under the federal act to place the girl with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. Magazines, Digital In a statement, they said this case is not about politics. A king among men, he. Maldonado and her husband have an adopted son from a neighboring tribe. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems. The Pages issued a press release saying To say we are heartbroken is an understatement While this is certainly a crushing blow, it will not stop us from fighting for Lexis rights and the rights of other children unnecessarily hurt by the Indian Child Welfare Act., The Choctaw Nation issued a press release saying it was pleased that this lengthy and unnecessary litigation has been brought to an end by the U.S. Supreme Court. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. They were able to adopt the boy in January 2018 after the placement fell through. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. The boy's parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights, and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. It was enacted in 1978 because of the high removal rate of Indian children from their traditional homes and essentially from Indian culture as a whole. By George F. Will. Unlike other cases in Grey's Anatomy where the actors left due to behind-the-scenes problems, Chyler Leigh decided it was time to close Lexie's arc as she wanted to spend more time with her family. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. Further complicating the matter is that no two adoption cases are alike, which can make legal rulings meant to apply broadly particularly fraught. At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 1978 federal law meant to keep American Indian children within their tribe whenever possible. LOS ANGELES -- A California appeals court affirmed on Friday a lower court's decision to remove a six-year-old girl with Native American ancestry from her foster family of four years and reunite her with relatives in Utah. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' Maddie cant fathom it, and she asks us why, and the fact of the matter is that I cant tell her why, because I cant fathom it.. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. ", The Associated Press contributed to this report, Elizabeth Holmes has 2nd child as she tries to avoid prison, New Topgolf facility opens next to Montebello Golf Course, Man stopped at Pa. airport with explosive concealed in checked luggage. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. The Pages and their attorneys believe the ICWA forced the countys hand, requiring them to take Lexi away from a loving home with foster parents and siblings she considers family. Where is Lexi page now? Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. IE 11 is not supported. It means that Indian kids will not have the same stability that non-Indian kids have. The Pages say they have repeatedly tried to adopt Lexi since she came to live with them when she was two-years-old. However, Lexi also had extended family members who sought to adopt her once it was clear that a reunion with her birth father was not possible. The wrenching dispute echoes themes of the 2013 Baby Veronica case, in which an adoptive family sued for custody of a young Cherokee girl after her biological father renounced paternal rights. what happened to lexi choctaw 2021. invisible stranding in knitting. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. Correction: The original version of this story misstated which of Lexis relatives in Utah are members of the Choctaw Nation. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. / CBS/AP. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. A Santa Clarita family appealed to California's highest court to keep a 6-year-old foster child who was removed from their home and sent to live with relatives in Utah. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. The law has led to some emotional, high-profile cases, including one in 2016 in which a court ordered that a young Choctaw girl named Lexi be removed from a California foster family and placed with her father's extended family in Utah. The Pages were always aware of this goal. The Removal Act that President Andrew Jackson pressed through Congress becomes a reality as the Choctaw are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (which is now known as Oklahoma). The case was one of dozens of cases involving foster families have gone to court around the country after the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. Earlier this week I shared the story of a California family that risked losing their six-year-old foster daughter Lexi simply because the girl is 1/64 Choctaw. They have maintained a relationship with her, visiting her in California, making regular SKYPE calls, and Lexi has also been on extended visits to Utah. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. Family members said Monday they were disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving their former foster daughter, a girl with Native American ancestry, who was ordered removed from their California home and reunited with relatives in Utah. "How is it that a screaming child, saying, 'I want to stay, I'm scared,' how is it in her best interest to pull her from the girl she was before that doorbell rang?" The Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal organization, brought a proposed class-action lawsuit challenging ICWA directly in 2015. The expansion of Anglo-American settlement into the Trans-Appalachian west led to the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, forcing all eastern tribal nations to move to new homelands west of the Mississippi River in the Indian Territory. Family . The law has led to some emotional, high-profile cases, including one in 2016 in which a court ordered that a young Choctaw girl named Lexi be removed from a California foster family and placed with her father's extended family in Utah. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. In an official statement (via TVLine), Leigh shared she made the decision that season 8 was going to be her last, and along with Rhimes, they worked to "give Lexie's story appropriate . The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. Lexi is a 6-year-old girl from California who has spent the the majority of her life in a loving home a home that she wanted to be her forever home. "Only because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, (and) people following it, he has a community," she said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Lawmakers found that Native American families were broken up at disproportionately high rates, and that cultural ignorance and biases within the child welfare system were largely to blame. We appreciate the concern for Lexi and want to assure everyone she is in a safe, loving home with her relatives and her biological sisters. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". First published on March 12, 2019 / 8:06 AM. Lexi's safety and wellbeing are the Choctaw Nation's paramount concern. The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. Reading ICWA to demand this tragic result is inconsistent with Lexi's constitutional right to stability and permanence-- a right recognized by the California Supreme Court more than twenty years ago. The National Indian Child Welfare Association argues that the decision to re-place Lexi was the right one because "the purpose of foster care is to provide temporary care for children not to fast-track the creation of new families when there is extended family available who want to care for the child.". This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. By. Images of the girl being carried away from her foster home drew widespread attention. AccuWeather: AM showers before a mild afternoon, Teammate facing charges in crash that killed local UGA player, Teens in stolen car crash into school bus on way to field trip in NJ. But a decision earlier this month ordered the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LA DCFS) to place Lexi with the Utah family in accordance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, the department said in response to inquiries about Lexi's case. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. What happened yesterday should never happen . The Pages had cared for the girl, known in court as Lexi, for four years and wanted to adopt her. We are appealing the decision, and we have asked the state Supreme Court to step in and halt this hasty change in custody before it causes irreparable harm. "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened to Lexi should have never occurred," said Lauren Axline, a former foster care worked who handled Lexi's case in the past. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". She was taken by the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita and placed with relatives of her father in Utah. Summer Page runs out of her home after social workers took her foster child way. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. The Utah family had never met Lexi at that time; and the tribe agreed there was good cause to depart from ICWA's placement preferences. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The case was one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. Lexi is also one sixty-fourth Choctaw, and last week she became the latest flash point in a long-running dispute over child welfare and Native American tribal identity. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. But thats not an absolute. The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. They fought for you, supporters screamed at the car, as officers prepared to pull away. Her family will provide her a safe, stable and nurturing home to grow up with her sisters and to have contact with her extensive extended family. They have maintained a relationship with her, visiting her in California, making regular SKYPE calls, and Lexi has also been on extended visits to Utah. Lexi cried and clutched a stuffed bear on Monday as Rusty Page carried her out of his home near Los Angeles and Los Angeles County social workers whisked her away in a waiting car. "Fundamentally, the issue here is that the Indian Child Welfare Act subordinates individualized considerations of a child's best interest in favor of a blunt assumption that being placed with a tribe is going to be better for the tribe, and that's just demonstrably untrue," he said. A federal judge in Texas ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act is unconstitutional, saying it is racially motivated and violates the equal protection clause. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. A 6-year-old girl was removed from the California home of the foster family she has lived with for four years because she has a tiny sliver of Native American heritage despite resistance from her foster parents and their tens of thousands of supporters. 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