While it is unclear what she is up to now in terms of her career, Lexi has enjoyed traveling quite a bit in the meantime. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. They are taking her! By Posted ekologisk jord storsck In felskning parkeringssensor volvo. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. Regardless of tribal membership, Lexi should be allowed to live with her family, just as all children in any deprived case should.. Our hearts are broken and we are trying to make sense of everything that has happened with our three other children who witnessed their sister Lexi forcefully ripped away from our family by strangers," the Page family said in a statement Monday night. Matthew McGill represents the Brackeens, two other couples from Nevada and Minnesota, and a birth mother in the case. That law "seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families," according to its own language. The Removal Act affects Choctaw first. "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?" Live footage on our Facebook page. They were able to adopt the boy in January 2018 after the placement fell through. Opinion. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. The Minnesota couple, the Cliffords, wanted to adopt a girl who lived with them after being in various foster homes for two years. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. 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. In the days since Lexi was removed from the Southern California home, her foster parents have continued to fight the decision. But he believes that shouldnt matter here. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. "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?" Please respect the privacy of Lexi and her family. "The Pages were always aware that the goal was to place Lexi with her family, and her permanent placement has been delayed due to the Pages opposition to the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Choctaw Nation echoed in a statement. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 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. 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. Don't let me go. 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. . Because Lexi is 1.5% Native American, the Choctaw Tribe was able to completely tear apart Lexi's life due to an egregious misapplication of the Indian Child Welfare Act. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. 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. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child.". 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. All rights reserved. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Many Native American families have stories about loved ones who disappeared and never returned. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. I'm scared. They are her sisters. Lexi lived four of her first six years with a non-Native American California foster family, but because she . That case has key differences from the fight over Lexi: Baby Veronica was legally adopted through a private agency, while foster care is a more limited form of guardianship. 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. But thats not an absolute. 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The Pages said they had not spoken with Lexi since she was removed from their home and continue to asked her relatives in Utah to allow communication. 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. IE 11 is not supported. 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. 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. One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. Lexi's safety and wellbeing are the Choctaw Nation's paramount concern. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. They are not interested in anything except full custody, and they are not thinking about this little girls best interests, the lawyers statement said. July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM The result here is all the more senseless because placing Lexi with her non-Indian extended family members does nothing to further ICWA's purpose of keeping children connected to their tribes. 1 talking about this. 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. 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. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. 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. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. Lexi had sobbed as she was taken away, begging her father: 'Don't let them take me away.'. In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . and Read More The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems, and placed in foster care. The Pages were always aware of this goal. Hernandez isn't Native American, but the biological father is from Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, Texas. However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law didn't apply in a South Carolina case involving a young girl named Veronica because her Cherokee father was absent from part of her life. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs sought to clarify the term in 2016 by saying state courts shouldn't consider socio-economic status, or ordinary bonding or attachment to host families, among other things. ", 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. 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. 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. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. In the meantime, our clients hope that the family in Utah will follow through on their promise to keep Lexi in contact with her family in Los Angeles. The girl, Lexi, was taken away from foster parents Rusty and Summer Page on March 21, 2015, after about four years living with the family. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. Group that started #KeepLexiHome is still outside praying/singing. The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. She did make the mat for Daytona 2020 but unfortunately never got to perform one final time as the . All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' Lexi's case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. They are not strangers. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. 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. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. She is watching them drive off. 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. , updated What happened yesterday should never happen . The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. In adoptions of such children, the law requires states to notify tribes and seek placement with the child's extended family, members of the child's tribe or other Native American families. "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. Associated Press 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. Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. Its a crusade to them. One of the Pages attorneys, Lori Alvino McGill, also represented the adoptive family in the Baby Veronica case. 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. Thousandsnearly one-third of the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and disease on the more than 500-mile journey. Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. 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. 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