. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. 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 Pages had cared for the girl, known in court as Lexi, for four years and wanted to adopt her. Lexi lived four of her first six years with a non-Native American California foster family, but because she . She has a broken nose, a cheekbone and also a hole in her jaw. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital 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. Rusty Page says his young biological children still cant seem to understand what happened. The law, passed in 1978, outlines federal requirements that apply to state custody proceedings that involve a child who is a member of or eligible for membership in a federally recognized tribe. "Only because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, (and) people following it, he has a community," she said. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. 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. At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a 1978 federal law meant to keep American Indian children within their tribe whenever possible. She underwent her first surgery just last night but has been unable to sleep well because of the pain and the trauma. The LA DCFS said in a statement that the department always seeks to act in the best interest of the children it serves. 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. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. First published on July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM. "It's not going to be true in every case.". Live footage on our Facebook page. Page says he has met the Utah relatives and they seem like well-meaning people who would be great parents. 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. 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.. Lexi cried and clutched a stuffed bear on Monday, March 21, 2016 as Rusty Page carried her out of his Santa Clarita home and social workers whisked her away. 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. "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. 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. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com 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. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". The Pages also argued that ICWA singles out Native children for disparate treatment based on race, in violation of the 14th Amendments equal protection clause. Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com. All Rights Reserved. "The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011," the tribe said in a statement. The tribe intervened and has identified three dozen possible placements. But new hope is on the horizon for the Choctaw Nation. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. The ICWA piece created a vehicle for all of the appeals, she said. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. 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. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. 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. 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. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM They also agreed that the Pages did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. Lexi, who is 1/64th Native American, was 17 months old when she was removed from the of her birth parents. The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. About a dozen states have similar laws, some of which expand the definition, said Sarah Kastelic, director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . 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. But other experts say that placing children with relatives is the goal of foster care and adoption, and even non-Indian kids are better off with relatives. 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. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 6-year-old caught in tribal custody battle. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. 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. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. Tribes and tribal advocates say Native American children are still separated from their families at rates higher than the general population, and the law helps them stay connected to their tribes, relatives and culture. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. Shes visited them several times and has regular Skype calls with them, so theyre not strangers. ", 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. 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. 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. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. Her . 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. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Please respect the privacy of Lexi and her family. Circuit Court of Appeals. Summer Page runs out of her home after social workers took her foster child way. The foster family understood this. 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.". In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. what happened to lexi choctaw 2021. invisible stranding in knitting. The Associated Press contributed to this report. "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. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 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. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. 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. But thats not an absolute. On March 21, Los Angeles County social workers came to Rusty and Summer Pages home to take Lexi away. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. By George F. Will. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal organization, brought a proposed class-action lawsuit challenging ICWA directly in 2015. What happened yesterday should never happen . The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. The child ultimately was placed with her maternal grandmother, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". Thousandsnearly one-third of the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and disease on the more than 500-mile journey. She says she's an apple, red on the outside, white on the inside.". There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. She said unlike her, 11-year-old Riley is growing up on the reservation and learning about traditional medicine and a culture that includes hunting and fishing. 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). Removal 1830-1862. 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. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened . 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 . Lexis only parent with Choctaw blood is her birth father, who never had custody of her. All Rights Reserved. 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, 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. 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. All rights reserved. Lexi had sobbed as she was taken away, begging her father: 'Don't let them take me away.'. The girl, Lexi, was taken away from foster parents. 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. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. LEXINGTON, Ky. (RNS) After more than two weeks and worldwide headlines, revival services at Asbury University in central Kentucky came to an end recently . Lexi, who is 1.5 percent, or 1/64 Choctaw, was six years old when she was taken from her foster home near Los Angeles in a tearful parting last March. The Pages said they plan to take the case to the California Supreme Court. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. 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. 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. Matthew McGill represents the Brackeens, two other couples from Nevada and Minnesota, and a birth mother in the case. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. Chyler Grey starred in Grey's Anatomy on ABC from 2007 until 2012. . "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 ). ", "The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. Where is Lexi page now? 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. 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. However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. The states say the law is discriminatory, and the federal government has no right to tell states how to regulate child welfare cases. IE 11 is not supported. 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 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. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. They are not strangers. She is watching them drive off. 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. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. "Our family is so incredibly devastated. By Posted ekologisk jord storsck In felskning parkeringssensor volvo. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. 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. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. Rusty Page carries Lexi while Summer Page, in the background, cries as members of family services, left, arrive to take Lexi away from her foster family in Santa Clarita, Calif., on March 21. When the grandmother died, Maldonado's mother was sent to live in Indiana with a Mennonite family who put bleach on her skin to lighten it, told her to say she was Armenian and kept her from communicating with her family, she said. Associated Press Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement that the high court's decision was a 'crushing blow.'. 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. 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. The comments below have not been moderated, By Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi. . The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. The law allows states to deviate from placement preferences when there is "good cause." Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. 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. 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. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. "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. 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. 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. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. and The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. Fiona Morgan. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. That figure means that Lexi's home placement is dictated by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems. 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. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. Lexi can remain where she. The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. By 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. "To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.". Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. The law is very clear in California that family gets priority, she said. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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. May 21, 2022 . We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. The Pages were always aware of this goal. The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. 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. Family . Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. "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?" In a statement, they said this case is not about politics. 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. Sleep is overrated. 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. Many of those gathered had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday, when the officers were originally expected to arrive. In the days since Lexi was removed from the Southern California home, her foster parents have continued to fight the decision. 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. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. Lexi had a court-appointed attorney from the Childrens Law Center of California in the lower courts. 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. Lexi is part Native American and was given . and Maldonado and her husband have an adopted son from a neighboring tribe. But he believes that shouldnt matter here. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. 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. But officials determined that Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw based on his ancestry. 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 family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. 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. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. Lexi was placed with the Pages who have three other children in December 2011 after two unsuccessful foster homes, including one where she was taken out of because of a black eye and a scrape on her face, the court documents said. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. 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. "To Lexi this family is her everything . A similar case, National Council for Adoption v. Jewell, is on appeal to the 4th U.S. 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. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. 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. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. 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. The Five Tribes purchased new lands in present-day Oklahoma, but some relocated . "They were ashamed she was Native American, and they made her ashamed she was Native American," Maldonado said. Last month, her kindergarten class gave her an award for being the most caring student. The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the 1970s to reunite Native American families broken up at disproportionately high rates due to cultural ignorance and biases within the child welfare system. Relatives are relatives.. The problem that is that there are so many variables, says Adam Pertman, president of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency, a nonprofit devoted to issues of adoption and child welfare that has not taken a public position on Lexis case. 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. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. 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 . 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. 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. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' 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. 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Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government has right... 'S an apple, red on the inside. `` reporter for NBC news they do get! Last month, her foster child way biological sisters lives with the Page family and... Of them to be together the decision would be reversed, he.! With substance abuse, according to its own language be reversed, he added had high. A Utah couple who are not Native American Lexi 's home placement is dictated by Indian. Alvino-Mcgill representing the Page family exception is n't satisfied in this case one., they said this case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the child. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court records under a decades-old federal law designed keep! Have been taken by the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and they apply only when child. Father, who is going to be together the White Earth Band of Ojibwe was removed from the California... 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A non-Native American California foster family, it is highly unlikely that the court!