But thats not an absolute. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. "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 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 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. 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. 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. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. Fiona Morgan. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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 tribe also has jurisdiction over non-reservation Native Americans foster care placement proceedings. 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. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. 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. She said Lexi and the Utah family had traded messages and had monthly visits during the past three years. "The foster family was well aware years ago this girl is an Indian child, whose case is subject to the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act," the National Indian Child Welfare Association said in a statement. Summer Page runs out of her home after social workers took her foster child way. 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. 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. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. Her . 2023 TIME USA, LLC. David Crane / Los Angeles Daily News via AP, had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday. 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. 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.". The following statement reflects the Choctaw Nation's position on the case of Lexi. Unlike other cases in Grey's Anatomy where the actors left due to behind-the-scenes problems, Chyler Leigh decided it was time to close Lexie's arc as she wanted to spend more time with her family. "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. Please respect the privacy of Lexi and her family. Sleep is overrated. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. A federal judge in Texas ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act is unconstitutional, saying it is racially motivated and violates the equal protection clause. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. IE 11 is not supported. Where is Lexi page now? 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. 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. 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. 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. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Please help #bringlexihome They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. Write to Charlotte Alter at [email protected]. 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. We will continue to expeditiously pursue our appeal through the state courts in California, and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. 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. 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 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. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". Where is Lexi page now 2021? 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. Often there are no easy solutions, but when a court makes an order, we must follow it, said the departments director, Philip Browning. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower court's decision to remove the girl. 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 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. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child.". 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. 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. Testimony in Congress showed that was due to ignorance of tribes' values and social norms. "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 ). Lexi, who is 1/64th Native American, was 17 months old when she was removed from the of her birth parents. Page says he has met the Utah relatives and they seem like well-meaning people who would be great parents. However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. 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. All rights reserved. She said Lexi and the Utah family had traded messages and had monthly visits during the past three years. 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 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 ). Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. "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. 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. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. 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. Read More All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. 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. In a statement, they said this case is not about politics. 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. 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. "To this day, she's never come back to the reservation. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. 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. . All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Lexi is part Native American and was given . An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. 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. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. 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. Lexi can remain where she. 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. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". February 28, 2023. 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. Rusty Page told CBS News Radio station KNX-AM. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. 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. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her birth parents. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems, and placed in foster care. But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. By Further complicating the matter is that no two adoption cases are alike, which can make legal rulings meant to apply broadly particularly fraught. "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. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. Even if they were the best family in the world, he says, its not who Lexi views as family.. 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 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. Our family is so incredibly devastated, Rusty Page said in a video statement. Many of those gathered had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday, when the officers were originally expected to arrive. 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. Its a crusade to them. One of the Pages attorneys, Lori Alvino McGill, also represented the adoptive family in the Baby Veronica case. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. 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. The law is very clear in California that family gets priority, she said. Lexi's case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. Her name is Lexi," the petition said. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. 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. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. First published on March 12, 2019 / 8:06 AM. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. 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. After leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave the yachting industry. 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. 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 state Supreme Court declined to review the case, clearing the way for the family to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. Alexa suffered injuries on her face. 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. Magazines, Digital "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. Please enter valid email address to continue. Don't let me go. Their attorney argued the lower court made an error by failing to take into account Lexi's bond with her foster parents and siblings. They are taking her! Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. "The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011," the tribe said in a statement. 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. and The law allows states to deviate from placement preferences when there is "good cause." . "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?" 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. Live footage on our Facebook page. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. She has a broken nose, a cheekbone and also a hole in her jaw. Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . 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 issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. But officials determined that Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw based on his ancestry. 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. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". 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 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 LA DCFS said in a statement that the department always seeks to act in the best interest of the children it serves. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. The law was designed to help Native American families remain intact. 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. 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 loves horses and art. Lexi is now living in Utah with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans. There's a heartbreaking update to . 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