I sat them all down on our couch, and said Daddy needs to tell you something, and Lexi turned pale white and started hysterically crying, and our older daughter started screaming at the top of her lungs, he said. Last month, her kindergarten class gave her an award for being the most caring student. The tribe and parents or Indian custodian of the Indian child have an unqualified right to intervene in a case involving foster care placement or the termination of parental rights . Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. 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. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child.". ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". They also agreed that the Pages did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. Summer Page runs out of her home after social workers took her foster child way. A happy, thriving six-year-old girl was forcibly removed from the people she knows as her parents because of a terribly misguided interpretation of a federal law that was designed to keep families together, not tear them apart. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. The Pros and Cons of Staying in a Business Hotel, The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Crabs and Lobsters Delivered Right to Your Door, Golden Rule Quotes Meaning and Their Implementation. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. Shes visited them several times and has regular Skype calls with them, so theyre not strangers. Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire "the best for this Choctaw child. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. The ICWA piece created a vehicle for all of the appeals, she said. July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM The Pages' lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, said she plans to take the case as far as the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the case of a Santa Clarita family fighting to regain custody of a 6-year-old foster girl. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Thomas Blakely, a Choctaw Indian teenager, lives with his family in Idabel, Okla., one of many poor, rural communities within the sprawling . According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . The Pages argued that changing the girls placement after four years would be difficult for her, given her rocky emotional adjustment when she first came to them, but the lower court ultimately disagreed. Sleep is overrated. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Summer and Rusty Page say they "will never ever stop fighting for Lexi," their 6-year-old foster daughter who was taken from their Santa Clarita home and placed with relatives in Utah under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. ICWA gives tribal governments a strong voice concerning child custody proceedings that involve Indian children, by allocating tribes exclusive jurisdiction over the case when a child is a ward of the tribe. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. In March, Lexi cried and clutched a stuffed bear as Rusty Page carried her out of his home and Los Angeles County social workers whisked her away in a waiting car. The law was designed to help Native American families remain intact. The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. Please enter valid email address to continue. / CBS/AP. 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. Lexi clutched a teddy bear and cried as she was taken from the Pages' home on March 21 as neighbors prayed and sang hymns in support of the family. 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. what happened to lexi choctaw 2021. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. She was taken by the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita and placed with relatives of her father in Utah. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital The Pages had cared for the girl, known in court as Lexi, for four years and wanted to adopt her. and "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. 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. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. 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. Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. The states say the law is discriminatory, and the federal government has no right to tell states how to regulate child welfare cases. When the federal law was enacted, studies showed up to one-third of Native American children were being taken from their homes by private and state agencies, including church-run programs, and placed with mostly white families or in boarding schools. Removal 1830-1862. Magazines, Digital ICWA gives a higher preference to family members seeking to adopt, as does California law. But this case shines a bright light on the ways in which the law in its current form is routinely being misinterpreted, with devastating consequences for families and children. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. ", "The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. Relatives are relatives.. 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. But this case shines a bright light on the ways in which the law in its current form is routinely being misinterpreted, with devastating consequences for families and children. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. A happy, thriving six-year-old girl was forcibly removed from the people she knows as her parents because of a terribly misguided interpretation of a federal law that was designed to keep families together, not tear them apart. Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. ", The National Indian Child Welfare Association said in a statement that the Pages were aware for years that the girl was an American Indian but chose to "drag out litigation as long as possible, creating instability for the child. They are not strangers. But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . Even if they were the best family in the world, he says, its not who Lexi views as family.. 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. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. Their attorney argued the lower court made an error by failing to take into account Lexi's bond with her foster parents and siblings. Circuit Court of Appeals. The California court appointed a marriage and family therapist to perform a child custody evaluation to assess the mental health and parenting practices of both parties. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. The Pages were always aware of this goal. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. Many in tears @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/lM1iWZiChk, The Pages lawyer said in a statement Sunday that they had been willing to offer the Utah family visitation rights, but they never responded to offers of compromise.. In a statement, they said this case is not about politics. And applying ICWA to children who had no prior connection to any tribe raises grave equal protection concerns, as the US Supreme Court recognized in 2013, in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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 bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. 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. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. Lexi clutched a teddy bear and cried as she was taken from the Pages' home on March 21 as neighbors prayed and sang hymns in support of the family. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. "Early this morning, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear our case," the Pages wrote in a statement on the SaveOurLexi Facebook page. This button displays the currently selected search type. Although foster care is supposed to be temporary, the Pages want to adopt Lexi and for years have fought efforts under the federal act to place the girl with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. The Removal Act affects Choctaw first. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . You want the child to stay with relatives, especially when Native American questions are at hand, whenever possible. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. "There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. 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 Five Tribes purchased new lands in present-day Oklahoma, but some relocated . Like many of her teammates, Lexi had left Navarro College by the time Daytona 2021 took place. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. But placement with family is always our priority. ###. Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. 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. "To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.". One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. Still, Lexis story is reigniting tensions over the purpose of the ICWA and thorny questions over its role in determining the best interests of Indian children. Her relatives said in a statement they hope the ruling brings closure and "Lexi is at last allowed to live a peaceful childhood in our home with her sister.". Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. To Lexi this family is her everything her mommy, daddy and brother and sisters. By Monday afternoon, more than 40,000 people had signed the petition. In 2015, the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued guidance on implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act - clarifying that tribes alone are responsible for determining who is a member. Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. The legal fight has gone on for years. "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. Read More The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. 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. Her former foster parents, Rusty and Summer Page, asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling that ordered them to surrender Lexi. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who has lived with them since she was 2. What happened yesterday should never happen . There is a healthy debate going on in this country about whether the Indian Child Welfare Act is on balance a good thing, or not, as a policy matter. "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?" She underwent her first surgery just last night but has been unable to sleep well because of the pain and the trauma. But thats not an absolute. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. 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. At issue is the Indian . Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. Lower courts found the Pages had not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. 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. "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Don't let me go. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. and By. The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. They are taking her! The case was one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. The Page family loves you.. 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.". . These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. The foster parents spoke out Thursday morning during a news conference in front of the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, just a day after the California Supreme Court refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi, who is part Choctaw. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. She is watching them drive off. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. Live footage on our Facebook page. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Thousandsnearly one-third of the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and disease on the more than 500-mile journey. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. What Are the Best Alternatives to Eventbrite? After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. Correction: The original version of this story misstated which of Lexis relatives in Utah are members of the Choctaw Nation. There is a healthy debate going on in this country about whether the Indian Child Welfare Act is on balance a good thing, or not, as a policy matter. Lexi can remain where she. The foster family understood this. The experts along with Lexi's long-time individual therapists, her social worker and her attorney, all agree it is in her best interest to be with her relatives. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. , updated ", The National Indian Child Welfare Association said in a statement that the Pages were aware for years that the girl was an American Indian but chose to "drag out litigation as long as possible, creating instability for the child. About a dozen states have similar laws, some of which expand the definition, said Sarah Kastelic, director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. They fought for you, supporters screamed at the car, as officers prepared to pull away. 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 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. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. There is still considerable disagreement over the application of the law and whether it serves children's best interest, said Ralph Richard Banks, a professor at Stanford Law School. Many of those gathered had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday, when the officers were originally expected to arrive. Dave Grohl Hauls Big BBQ Smoker to LA Shelter to Feed People Amid Storm, 5 Freeway Closed North of LA Due to Snow and Poor Visibility, Avalanche Blocks Road in Mount Baldy Area After Cold Storm Drops Several Feet of Snow, 2 Arrested in Stabbing Death of Father on Downtown LA Street, March 1983: The Day a Rare Tornado Rampaged Through Los Angeles. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The more than 500-mile journey the ICWA piece created a vehicle for all of the Policy... 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