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. Many of those gathered had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday, when the officers were originally expected to arrive. "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. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. The attorneys who brought this case to the high court made clear from the beginning that their goal was not only to remove Lexi from her [extended] family, but to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act.. 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. and 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 family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. "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?" Hernandez is a plaintiff in the case. 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. They are her sisters. 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. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 6-year-old caught in tribal custody battle. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Lexis only parent with Choctaw blood is her birth father, who never had custody of her. "The Pages are obviously extremely disappointed with the court's decision, but they believe in our judicial system and remain hopeful that they will ultimately prevail," their attorney, Lori Alvino McGill, said in a statement. There's a heartbreaking update to . 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. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. 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 . Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. Copyright 2023 Celeberinfo -All rights reserved. The Minnesota couple, the Cliffords, wanted to adopt a girl who lived with them after being in various foster homes for two years. LEXINGTON, Ky. (RNS) After more than two weeks and worldwide headlines, revival services at Asbury University in central Kentucky came to an end recently . 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. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi. ", 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. 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 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. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. 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. 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. 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 states say the law is discriminatory, and the federal government has no right to tell states how to regulate child welfare cases. But placement with family is always our priority. ###. Her . 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. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. Lexi can remain where she belongs, with extended family that will raise her and a sister in the Choctaw tradition. 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. The Pages were always aware of this goal. She has a broken nose, a cheekbone and also a hole in her jaw. Here are the world's 25 best beaches and top 10 in the U.S. Elizabeth Holmes has second child, seeks to delay prison, remove a six-year-old girl with Native American ancestry from her foster family, asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling. 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. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. 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. All Rights Reserved. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. They are taking her! ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". 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. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. 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. 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. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower courts decision to remove the girl. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. , updated Without comment, the nation's highest court on Monday denied the petition. 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. She says she's an apple, red on the outside, white on the inside.". The Utah family had never met Lexi at that time; and the tribe agreed there was good cause to depart from ICWA's placement preferences. 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's safety and wellbeing are the Choctaw Nation's paramount concern. The Five Tribes purchased new lands in present-day Oklahoma, but some relocated . The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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 Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 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. Our family is so incredibly devastated, Rusty Page said in a video statement. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. (TR Knight) in a December 2020 episode. We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. The girl, Lexi, was taken away from foster parents. The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 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. 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. The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. That law "seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families," according to its own language. 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. 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. "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. 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. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. Hernandez isn't Native American, but the biological father is from Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, Texas. "The issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. 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. Images of the girl being carried away from her foster home drew widespread attention. 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 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. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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. 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. 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. They were able to adopt the boy in January 2018 after the placement fell through. 2019 The Associated Press. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 0 . What happened yesterday should never happen . BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 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 National Indian Child Welfare Association argues that the decision to re-place Lexi was the right one because "the purpose of foster care is to provide temporary care for children not to fast-track the creation of new families when there is extended family available who want to care for the child.". February 28, 2023. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. 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. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. 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