Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances. Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. After leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave the yachting industry. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. 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.. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower courts decision to remove the girl. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD. Lexi, who is 1/64th Native American, was 17 months old when she was removed from the of her birth parents. But officials determined that Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw based on his ancestry. The Pages said they plan to take the case to the California Supreme Court. She is watching them drive off. 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. Rusty Page says his young biological children still cant seem to understand what happened. ", 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. 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 Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. The Minnesota couple, the Cliffords, wanted to adopt a girl who lived with them after being in various foster homes for two years. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. They were able to adopt the boy in January 2018 after the placement fell through. 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.. ", 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. 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. The Pages have appealed the case to the California Supreme Court. Please enter valid email address to continue. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. 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. 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. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. 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 new hope is on the horizon for the Choctaw Nation. Rusty Page told KNX-AM radio. ICWA gives a higher preference to family members seeking to adopt, as does California law. 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. 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. The ICWA piece created a vehicle for all of the appeals, she said. Distraught and weeping, Page shared his foster daughter's parting words with CBS Los Angeles: "Don't let them take me. 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. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. "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. Dozens of supporters also surrounded the Pages home Monday in an attempt to block LA DCFS officers. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Lexi lived four of her first six years with a non-Native American California foster family, but because she . "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. Lexi had a court-appointed attorney from the Childrens Law Center of California in the lower courts. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. 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. Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. What happened to Lexie Grey? Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. 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 . and "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?" July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. 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. "It was important to halt that removal, to correct state behavior, to put in minimum standards," she said. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. The Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal organization, brought a proposed class-action lawsuit challenging ICWA directly in 2015. The Pages said they will keep fighting for changes to the law 'and the rights of other children unnecessarily hurt by the Indian Child Welfare Act.'. 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. Lexi can remain where she. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital 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. Lexi's case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. The relatives are not Native American but Lexi was reunited with biological sister. However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. Alexa suffered injuries on her face. A federal judge in Texas ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act is unconstitutional, saying it is racially motivated and violates the equal protection clause. 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. "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. Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement Monday that the high court's decision is a "crushing blow." Often there are no easy solutions, but when a court makes an order, we must follow it, said the departments director, Philip Browning. 2019 The Associated Press. Group that started #KeepLexiHome is still outside praying/singing. But placement with family is always our priority. ###. Fiona Morgan. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. In the days since Lexi was removed from the Southern California home, her foster parents have continued to fight the decision. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire "the best for this Choctaw child. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. 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. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. 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. 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. Where is Lexi page now? 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