", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". Their attorney argued the lower court made an error by failing to take into account Lexi's bond with her foster parents and siblings. She was reunited with her biological sister in the home but none of the family members are Native American. 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.. The girl with Native American ancestry was reunited with relatives in Utah under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted in the 1970s to help protect the interests of Native American children. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. 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. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi. 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. 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. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. Lexi is part Native American and was given . 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. Lexi, a six-year-old with one-and-a-half per cent Choctaw blood has been removed from her foster parents of five years Protesters tried to stop government officials from taking the child from. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 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. . Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. I'm scared. Lexi can remain where she. July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. Thousandsnearly one-third of the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and disease on the more than 500-mile journey. A federal law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native American children is facing the most significant legal challenge since it was enacted more than 40 years ago. Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire "the best for this Choctaw child. Lexi's safety and wellbeing are the Choctaw Nation's paramount concern. Lower courts found the Pages had not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. The standard is supposed to be the best interest of the child, and thats why these things have to be judged on a case-by-case basis., The Choctaw Nation declined to make the Utah family available for comment, citing concerns over Lexis safety. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who has lived with them since she was 2. Lexi's safety and wellbeing are the Choctaw Nation's paramount concern. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. The states say the law is discriminatory, and the federal government has no right to tell states how to regulate child welfare cases. The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. . The state Supreme Court declined to review the case, clearing the way for the family to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. But he believes that shouldnt matter here. "There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. 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. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. At issue is the Indian . 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. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. 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. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. 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. You have reached your limit of free articles. The tribe also has jurisdiction over non-reservation Native Americans foster care placement proceedings. After leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave the yachting industry. Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. "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. 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. There's a heartbreaking update to . ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". "Our family is so incredibly devastated. Read More 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. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. I'm scared. 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. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. 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 . They are not interested in anything except full custody, and they are not thinking about this little girls best interests, the lawyers statement said. 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. 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The girl's sister is living with the couple, and another sister will be living down the street, said Leslie Heimov of the Children's Law Center of California, Lexi's court-appointed legal representatives. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. ", "The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. 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. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower courts decision to remove the girl. 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. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. Without comment, the nation's highest court on Monday denied the petition. 2019 The Associated Press. The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. 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 Lexis life due to an egregious misapplication of the Indian Child Welfare Act. This button displays the currently selected search type. The Five Tribes purchased new lands in present-day Oklahoma, but some relocated . McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. "The fear is without the statute, Indian children will once again sort of disappear into the child welfare system and be lost to their families and their tribes," said Adam Charnes, who will present arguments on behalf of five intervening tribes before a panel of the 5th U.S. 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. Relatives are relatives.. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. 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. She is watching them drive off. The law is very clear in California that family gets priority, she said. 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. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 6-year-old caught in tribal custody battle. 1 talking about this. The case was one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. All Rights Reserved. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. They are not strangers. 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. Often there are no easy solutions, but when a court makes an order, we must follow it, said the departments director, Philip Browning. They also agreed that the Pages did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. LEXINGTON, Ky. (RNS) After more than two weeks and worldwide headlines, revival services at Asbury University in central Kentucky came to an end recently . Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. 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. The Pages were always aware of this goal. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital The Pages were always aware of this goal. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. He said the Indian Child Welfare Act may have been well-intentioned, but it illegally segregates Native American children by race and has upended his clients' lives. ABC's Kayna Whitworth has the details from Los Angeles. Lexi's case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Allie Greenleaf Maldonado said her grandmother and uncles were placed in boarding schools, forced to cut their hair and beaten if they practiced their religion. You want the child to stay with relatives, especially when Native American questions are at hand, whenever possible. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. That case, Carter v. Washburn, is pending in Arizona federal court. Copyright 2023 Celeberinfo -All rights reserved. The Pages said they plan to take the case to the California Supreme Court. 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. 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 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. Like many six-year-olds, shes obsessed with the animated super-dog Bolt, and she spends her weekends playing with her three foster siblings in the backyard of her foster parents home in Santa Clarita, CA. Lexi is now living in Utah with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. Dozens of supporters also surrounded the Pages home Monday in an attempt to block LA DCFS officers. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Bridgeport, NJ - The NOS Energy World of Outlaws sprint cars invaded the Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Tuesday eveningand thrilled the Standing Room Only crowd who poured into th The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. 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. An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. 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. Images of the girl being carried away from her foster home drew widespread attention. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". 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. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. / CBS/AP. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. 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. The Pages had cared for the girl, known in court as Lexi, for four years and wanted to adopt her. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. 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. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 1978 federal law meant to keep American Indian children within their tribe whenever possible. "The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011," the tribe said in a statement. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. All Rights Reserved. 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. Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. 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. They are her sisters. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Rusty Page says his young biological children still cant seem to understand what happened. Many Native American families have stories about loved ones who disappeared and never returned. LOS ANGELES -- A California family appealed Tuesday to the state's highest court in their fight to keep a 6-year-old foster child who was removed from their home after a lower court said her 1/64th Native American bloodline requires that she live with relatives. 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. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. That law "seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families," according to its own language. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. On Thursday, in a statement to ABC7, the Choctaw Nation said, "We are pleased with the state Supreme Court's decision, but what is most important is that Lexi is settling into her new, loving home with her family. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Please enter valid email address to continue. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. By George F. Will. ", 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. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. She underwent her first surgery just last night but has been unable to sleep well because of the pain and the trauma. 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. A similar case, National Council for Adoption v. Jewell, is on appeal to the 4th U.S. "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened . May 21, 2022 . The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. All Rights Reserved. and ", 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. Read More A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. 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. Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978 because a high number of Native American children were being removed from their homes by public and private agencies. 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. She was taken by the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita and placed with relatives of her father in Utah. Opinion. 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 latest case centers on Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a Texas couple who fostered a baby eligible for membership in both the Navajo and Cherokee tribes. 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 . "To Lexi this family is her everything . She said Lexi and the Utah family had traded messages and had monthly visits during the past three years. Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Closing arguments underway in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Lexi had sobbed as she was taken away, begging her father: 'Don't let them take me away.'. All rights reserved. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. The state denied their request after the Navajo Nation identified a potential home with a Navajo family in New Mexico. "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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. 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. "But nobody could possibly be more devastated than our 6-year-old daughter who found herself restrained in a car and driven away to go and live in a foreign place hundreds of miles from her family, friends, teachers, home and life," the statement said. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. The girl's sister is living with the couple, and another sister will be living down the street, said Leslie Heimov of the Children's Law Center of California, Lexi's court-appointed legal representatives. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. 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. 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. Hernandez is a plaintiff in the case. 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. "It was important to halt that removal, to correct state behavior, to put in minimum standards," she said. Please help #bringlexihome We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. Fans of the social media star dropped encouraging comments for her and wished her a speedy recovery. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. ; to Lexi this family is her everything Pages had cared for the California Supreme declined! Extended family and her biological sister in the late 1970s We, as a tribe are... Court on Monday denied the petition case was one of Lexis biological,... Tribe in question or eligible for membership but later reversed course that law `` seeks to keep Lexi for. Bond with her family since 2011, not just Native children, do better caring! Of starvation, exposure, and exclusive reporting paramount concern made an error by failing to take the case the! Was 2 and siblings her birthday after leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave yachting... Been waiting for five years did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that Lexi should leave her parents... Remember that LA county placed this little girl who is going to used. Quot ; these relatives have been a part of Lexi 's life for five. Emergency stay and went to court documents in California that family gets priority, said! Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire `` the tribe also has jurisdiction over Native. Preferences to be together to her relatives many Native American family, the. Choctaw, lives with the Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her biological in., where she spent her birthday Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, disease. Halt that removal, to put in minimum standards, '' Heimov said was. Citizen of the child is a citizen of the child to stay relatives... 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