The girl, Lexi, was taken away from foster parents. "To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.". 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. The Pages have appealed the case to the California Supreme Court. You want the child to stay with relatives, especially when Native American questions are at hand, whenever possible. But thats not an absolute. 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. / CBS/AP. The expansion of Anglo-American settlement into the Trans-Appalachian west led to the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, forcing all eastern tribal nations to move to new homelands west of the Mississippi River in the Indian Territory. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. Those factors included Lexi's relationship with her extended family and half-siblings, their capacity to help her reconnect with her tribal roots, and the Pages' "relative reluctance or resistance" to foster Lexi's relationship with her extended family or encourage exploration of her Choctaw cultural identity, the judges wrote in their ruling. ICWA gives a higher preference to family members seeking to adopt, as does California law. The foster family understood this. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. Sleep is overrated. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. 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. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. She is watching them drive off. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. Removal 1830-1862. The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather. 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 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. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. 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. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' 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 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. 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. "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 bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi. 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. 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. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. February 28, 2023. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. Lexi, who is part Choctaw, was 17 months old when she was removed from custody of her mother. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The custody battle over a 6-year-old girl heated up on Friday, as a state appeals court heard arguments from both sides. The Indian Child Welfare Act defines Indian children as enrollees or potential enrollees who have a biological parent who is a member of any of the country's 573 federally recognized tribes. Don't let me go. Copyright 2023 Celeberinfo -All rights reserved. Images of the girl being carried away from her foster home drew widespread attention. The Minnesota couple, the Cliffords, wanted to adopt a girl who lived with them after being in various foster homes for two years. 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.. An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. 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 bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. She was taken by the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita and placed with relatives of her father in Utah. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. Even if they were the best family in the world, he says, its not who Lexi views as family.. Before enactment, as many as 25 to 35 percent of all Indian children were being removed from their Indian homes and placed in non-Indian homes, with presumably the absence of Indian culture. Lexi can remain where she. The emotional scene played out on a Facebook live stream watched by more that 1,000 people which showed a teary child, wearing a pink shirt and grasping a teddy bear while Rusty Page carried her out of the home and loaded into a black sedan as his wife wailed I love you Lexi from the driveway. The child's case falls under the purview of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted in the 1970s to help keep American Indian children with American Indian families. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. Distraught and weeping, Page shared his foster daughter's parting words with CBS Los Angeles: "Don't let them take me. By Posted ekologisk jord storsck In felskning parkeringssensor volvo. Shes visited them several times and has regular Skype calls with them, so theyre not strangers. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. "Our family is so incredibly devastated. "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. Lexi's foster dad, Rusty, sobs after she is driven away March 21, 2016 in Santa Clarita, Calif. Schools on Native American reservations in state of disrepair, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Further complicating the matter is that no two adoption cases are alike, which can make legal rulings meant to apply broadly particularly fraught. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Previously, Leslie Heimov of the Children's Law Center of California said: 'The law is very clear that siblings should be kept together whenever they can be, and they should be placed together even if they were not initially together. what happened to lexi choctaw 2021. 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. 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. First published on July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. 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. 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. 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. What Are the Best Alternatives to Eventbrite? Where is Lexi page now? The Indian Child Welfare Act is meant to help tribes keep children in tribal homes where they can learn about their culture. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. You have reached your limit of free articles. 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. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. "The issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. 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. Lexi lived four of her first six years with a non-Native American California foster family, but because she . , updated The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. In the days since Lexi was removed from the Southern California home, her foster parents have continued to fight the decision. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. The tribe intervened and has identified three dozen possible placements. Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement Monday that the high court's decision is a "crushing blow." The Removal Act affects Choctaw first. "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. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. Thomas Blakely, a Choctaw Indian teenager, lives with his family in Idabel, Okla., one of many poor, rural communities within the sprawling . The appeal to return Lexi to the Pages is still before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. ", "The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. 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. But officials determined that Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw based on his ancestry. and 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. Her former foster parents, Rusty and Summer Page, asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling that ordered them to surrender Lexi. 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. Leslie Starr Heimov, executive director of the Center, told the ABA Journal last year that the Pages would have been unlikely to get custody even if ICWA had not applied to the case. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. The Removal Act that President Andrew Jackson pressed through Congress becomes a reality as the Choctaw are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (which is now known as Oklahoma). The foster family understood this. The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. Read More There's a heartbreaking update to . She was reunited with her biological sister in the home but none of the family members are Native American. Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire "the best for this Choctaw child. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Supreme Court ruled that portions of the ICWA did not apply to non-custodial biological fathers, and Veronica was returned to the family that had adopted her. Please enter valid email address to continue. "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 ). "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". 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. The states say the law is discriminatory, and the federal government has no right to tell states how to regulate child welfare cases. 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. 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. 19:37 GMT 09 Jan 2017 . We believe that following the Choctaw Nations values is in Lexis best interest.". We told her we loved her and were fighting for her and well never stop fighting for her., Then, as can be seen in a video that soon went viral, he handed-over a crying Lexi as her foster mother Summer Page and three siblings sobbed in front of the house. However, a three-judge panel in Los Angeles found the lower court made the right decision and correctly considered the bond Lexi developed with the Pages as well as other factors related to her best interests. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Opinion. 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. 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. Many of those gathered had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday, when the officers were originally expected to arrive. The comments below have not been moderated, By 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. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. Fans of the social media star dropped encouraging comments for her and wished her a speedy recovery. In 2011, extended family in Utah became aware that Lexi was with a foster family and expressed interest in adopting her, according to the documents. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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. 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. Please help #bringlexihome 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. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower courts decision to remove the girl. Maldonado and her husband have an adopted son from a neighboring tribe. "Despite the news from the California Supreme Court yesterday, we remain hopeful that the very court we stand in front of this morning will do the right thing just as it has done twice already.". ABC's Kayna Whitworth has the details from Los Angeles. 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. The law is very clear in California that family gets priority, she said. Theyre using this to attack tribal sovereignty, attack Indian people, and attack the Indian Child Welfare act, he says. 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. One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. 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 king among men, he. That figure means that Lexi's home placement is dictated by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. The Librettis in Nevada arranged with a pregnant woman, Altagracia Hernandez, to adopt her unborn child. 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. Our family is so incredibly devastated, Rusty Page said in a video statement. "The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011," the tribe said in a statement. Circuit Court of Appeals. "They were ashamed she was Native American, and they made her ashamed she was Native American," Maldonado said. 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. Matthew McGill represents the Brackeens, two other couples from Nevada and Minnesota, and a birth mother in the case. 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. Its a crusade to them. One of the Pages attorneys, Lori Alvino McGill, also represented the adoptive family in the Baby Veronica case. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a foster familys challenge to the adoption of their former foster daughter under the Indian Child Welfare Act. 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. 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. Correction: The original version of this story misstated which of Lexis relatives in Utah are members of the Choctaw Nation. About a dozen states have similar laws, some of which expand the definition, said Sarah Kastelic, director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD. 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. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi. "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?" Magazines, Digital 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Last March, she was taken from her foster home near Los Angeles, and a state appeals court in July upheld the girl's removal from the Page home. By George F. Will. "It's not going to be true in every case.". What happened to Lexie Grey? One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. This button displays the currently selected search type. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. All Rights Reserved. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. 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. The LA DCFS said in a statement that the department always seeks to act in the best interest of the children it serves. 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. "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. Fletcher contends the Pages lawyers are using Lexis case as a legal weapon to challenge ICWA. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. 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. and 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. What happened yesterday should never happen . 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. 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. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Their attorney argued the lower court made an error by failing to take into account Lexi's bond with her foster parents and siblings. Lexi had a court-appointed attorney from the Childrens Law Center of California in the lower courts. 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. 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 family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. 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. 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. An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. 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. It means if youre a foster family and if you have an Indian child, you should be terrified that your child could be taken at any time, says Mark Fiddler, a Minnesota attorney who represented the adoptive parents in the Baby Veronica case. LEXINGTON, Ky. (RNS) After more than two weeks and worldwide headlines, revival services at Asbury University in central Kentucky came to an end recently . Please enter valid email address to continue. The boy's parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights, and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. They say tribes are a political classification, not a racial one, and overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act would lead to untold damage in tribal communities. 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. "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. By. "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened . Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. Santa Clarita, Calif., March 21, 2016, PEZ Cancels Easter Egg Hunt After Parents Cause Huge 'Mess', How We Can Learn to Live with COVID-19 After Vaccinations. 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. But he believes that shouldnt matter here. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. American, '' maldonado said have said previously they desire `` the best interest of the child is breaking... 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