what happened to lexi choctaw 2020

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 taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. 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. Dozens of supporters also surrounded the Pages home Monday in an attempt to block LA DCFS officers. In their petition, the Pages argued that the lower court misapplied the standard of review for good cause to depart from ICWA, but also that ICWA should not apply to children who had never been part of an American Indian family. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. 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. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Many Native American families have stories about loved ones who disappeared and never returned. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. 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. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. This existing Indian family doctrine is a subject of conflict in the lower courts, the Pages petition said, and warrants review. Singel is a member of a tribe in Michigan. "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. 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. 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. I'm scared. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. 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. 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 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. 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 Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 6-year-old caught in tribal custody battle. Lexi, who is part Choctaw, was 17 months old when she was removed from custody of her mother. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. 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. Her relatives said in a statement they hope the ruling brings closure and "Lexi is at last allowed to live a peaceful childhood in our home with her sister.". Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said previously they desire "the best for this Choctaw child. 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. Every time Zoe, whos the youngest, hears the doorbell she says Lexis home, he says. The boy is now 3, and the couple is seeking to adopt his younger half-sister. May 21, 2022 . 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 keep Native American families together. Chyler Grey starred in Grey's Anatomy on ABC from 2007 until 2012. . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. ICWA is the subject of other legal challenges, as the ABA Journal noted last October. Page says he has met the Utah relatives and they seem like well-meaning people who would be great parents. On March 21, Los Angeles County social workers came to Rusty and Summer Pages home to take Lexi away. 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. ", 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. 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. 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. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. Where is Lexi page now? 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. But a decision earlier this month ordered the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LA DCFS) to place Lexi with the Utah family in accordance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, the department said in response to inquiries about Lexi's case. 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. 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. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. The latest case centers on Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a Texas couple who fostered a baby eligible for membership in both the Navajo and Cherokee tribes. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. "Only because of the Indian Child Welfare Act, (and) people following it, he has a community," she said. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. I'm scared. To Lexi this family is her everything her mommy, daddy and brother and sisters. By Monday afternoon, more than 40,000 people had signed the petition. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. Hernandez is a plaintiff in the case. About a dozen states have similar laws, some of which expand the definition, said Sarah Kastelic, director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Often there are no easy solutions, but when a court makes an order, we must follow it, said the departments director, Philip Browning. They are not strangers. Lexi can remain where she. The Pages argued that changing the girls placement after four years would be difficult for her, given her rocky emotional adjustment when she first came to them, but the lower court ultimately disagreed. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. David Crane / Los Angeles Daily News via AP, had been camped out in the street singing and praying since Sunday. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. 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. Thousandsnearly one-third of the Choctaw Nationdie of starvation, exposure, and disease on the more than 500-mile journey. 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. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com 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. Read More What happened yesterday should never happen . 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. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child.". Lexi is now living in Utah with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans. 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. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. 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. Fletcher contends the Pages lawyers are using Lexis case as a legal weapon to challenge ICWA. 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. 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. 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. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Where is Lexi page now 2021? According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . 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. 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 legal fight has gone on for years. "The issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. She was reunited with her biological sister in the home but none of the family members are Native American. The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. Leslie Starr Heimov, executive director of the Center, told the ABA Journal last year that the Pages would have been unlikely to get custody even if ICWA had not applied to the case. July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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 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.'. Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. At issue is the Indian . The foster parents spoke out Thursday morning during a news conference in front of the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, just a day after the California Supreme Court refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi, who is part Choctaw. Lexi had sobbed as she was taken away, begging her father: 'Don't let them take me away.'. 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.. 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. Lexi cried and clutched a stuffed bear on Monday, March 21, 2016 as Rusty Page carried her out of his Santa Clarita home and social workers whisked her away. 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. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. A foster home is supposed to be temporary, says Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center at Michigan State University. Group that started #KeepLexiHome is still outside praying/singing. 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. 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.. 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. 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. They say tribes are a political classification, not a racial one, and overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act would lead to untold damage in tribal communities. They arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered family... From the only family that she has a loving relationship with them since the age of 2 and considers her..., through her step-grandfather by Monday afternoon, more than 500-mile journey of with! Second-Class citizens, by law the long-term best interest of this child ``! This article part of Lexi & # x27 ; s life for almost five years stories. 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