ICWA is the subject of other legal challenges, as the ABA Journal noted last October. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . Lexi is now living in Utah with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans. "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 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. This existing Indian family doctrine is a subject of conflict in the lower courts, the Pages petition said, and warrants review. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Family . Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement Monday that the high court's decision is a "crushing blow." Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' 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. One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . 1 talking about this. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. Live footage on our Facebook page. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. They are not interested in anything except full custody, and they are not thinking about this little girls best interests, the lawyers statement said. 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. February 28, 2023. One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. 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 Pages also argued that ICWA singles out Native children for disparate treatment based on race, in violation of the 14th Amendments equal protection clause. You have reached your limit of free articles. 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.. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. ", 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 foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. Rusty and Summer Page of Santa Clarita, California, had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a Los Angeles juvenile courts ruling that there was no good cause to depart from the placement preferences in the Indian Child Welfare Act. 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. 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 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. "There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. 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. "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?" These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. In the days after losing their legal battle, the Pages addressed an online petition called Keep Lexi Home to several California and LA DCFS officials. . And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. Our family is so incredibly devastated, Rusty Page said in a video statement. Although foster care is supposed to be temporary, the Pages wanted to adopt Lexi and for years fought efforts under the federal act to place the girl with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. Please help #bringlexihome 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. ABC's Kayna Whitworth has the details from Los Angeles. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". 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 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. Fans of the social media star dropped encouraging comments for her and wished her a speedy recovery. 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. "Only because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, (and) people following it, he has a community," she said. Distraught and weeping, Page shared his foster daughter's parting words with CBS Los Angeles: "Don't let them take me. 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. 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. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. "It was important to halt that removal, to correct state behavior, to put in minimum standards," she said. . 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. 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. The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. 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. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. Regardless of tribal membership, Lexi should be allowed to live with her family, just as all children in any deprived case should.. The state denied their request after the Navajo Nation identified a potential home with a Navajo family in New Mexico. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. "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. 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. Thomas Blakely, a Choctaw Indian teenager, lives with his family in Idabel, Okla., one of many poor, rural communities within the sprawling . Lexi, who is 1/64th Native American, was 17 months old when she was removed from the of her birth parents. The appeal to return Lexi to the Pages is still before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. 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 . 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. "While the past 10 days have been complete anguish for our family, there's no way our pain can compare to the confusion and disorientation that Lexi is experiencing," Rusty Page said. Fletcher contends the Pages lawyers are using Lexis case as a legal weapon to challenge ICWA. 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 . "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. "They were ashamed she was Native American, and they made her ashamed she was Native American," Maldonado said. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. 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. One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. 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. 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. , updated Lexi lived four of her first six years with a non-Native American California foster family, but because she . 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 Page family spoke out during a news conference a day after the California Supreme Court refused to intervene in their custody battle over Lexi. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. What happened to Lexie Grey? 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. 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