That case, Carter v. Washburn, is pending in Arizona federal court. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 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. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. Her . 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. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. Shes visited them several times and has regular Skype calls with them, so theyre not strangers. Lexi, who is part Choctaw, was 17 months old when she was removed from custody of her mother. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the case of a Santa Clarita family fighting to regain custody of a 6-year-old foster girl. The Choctaw Nation issued a press release saying it was "pleased that this lengthy and unnecessary litigation has been brought to an end by the U.S. Supreme Court. By George F. Will. They are not interested in anything except full custody, and they are not thinking about this little girls best interests, the lawyers statement 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," Heimov told the Los Angeles Daily News (http://bit.ly/1pYtXlg ). But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . 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. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. A king among men, he. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. 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. 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 case brought dozens of people to the Pages' Santa Clarita neighborhood to demonstrate against plans to move Lexi. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the case of a Santa Clarita family fighting to regain custody of a 6-year-old foster girl. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. 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. "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'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. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 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. "There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. 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. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. . For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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 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. 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. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. "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. "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. 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. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". Chris Evans doxxed his own dick Tweet may have been deleted By accidentally leaking his own nude, Chris Evans gave us one of the only relatable celebrity moments of 2020. The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. Read More 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. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided. 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. 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. By She has a broken nose, a cheekbone and also a hole in her jaw. About a dozen states have similar laws, some of which expand the definition, said Sarah Kastelic, director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. 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 foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. 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. 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. Page says he has met the Utah relatives and they seem like well-meaning people who would be great parents. Circuit Court of Appeals. Even if they were the best family in the world, he says, its not who Lexi views as family.. 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. 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. One of her biological sisters lives with the family in Utah, and another lives down the street. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana joined in suing the federal government over the Indian Child Welfare Act in 2017. Rusty Page says his young biological children still cant seem to understand what happened. 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. 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. Images of foster father Rusty Page clutching 6-year-old Lexi left an indelible mark when the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services arrived to take her away from Page and his wife's Valencia home in March. Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. Associated Press The foster family understood this. What happened to Lexie Grey? What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . 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. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Theyre using this to attack tribal sovereignty, attack Indian people, and attack the Indian Child Welfare act, he says. 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. 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. They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. First published on March 12, 2019 / 8:06 AM. Alexa suffered injuries on her face. "Rather the issue is whether the child is a citizen of the tribe in question or eligible for citizenship.". Her father, who had a criminal history, never lived on a Choctaw reservation and didnt have any social, political, or cultural ties to the tribe, according to the court documents. 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. The Librettis in Nevada arranged with a pregnant woman, Altagracia Hernandez, to adopt her unborn child. 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. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. Lower courts found the Pages had not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. 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. 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. 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. "To Lexi this family is her everything . Please enter valid email address to continue. The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. 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. Don't let me go. What happened yesterday should never happen . The law is very clear in California that family gets priority, she said. 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. She was taken by the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita and placed with relatives of her father in Utah. A federal judge in Texas ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act is unconstitutional, saying it is racially motivated and violates the equal protection clause. 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. All children, not just Native children, do better with caring relatives. The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather. The case was one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. After several trials and appeals, a judge ruled that Lexi should leave her foster family and be placed with distant relatives in Utah. "Early this morning, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear our case," the Pages wrote in a statement on the SaveOurLexi Facebook page. Lexi had a court-appointed attorney from the Childrens Law Center of California in the lower courts. Matthew McGill represents the Brackeens, two other couples from Nevada and Minnesota, and a birth mother in the case. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. 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. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. 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. That case has key differences from the fight over Lexi: Baby Veronica was legally adopted through a private agency, while foster care is a more limited form of guardianship. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. 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. The law was designed to help Native American families remain intact. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. This button displays the currently selected search type. 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. 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 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. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. However, a court found that the Pages have not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. Magazines, Digital The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Please help #bringlexihome The Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal organization, brought a proposed class-action lawsuit challenging ICWA directly in 2015. Opinion. "It coerces state agencies and courts to carry out unconstitutional and illegal federal policy, and it makes child custody decisions based on racial preferences," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said. 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