He said the Indian Child Welfare Act may have been well-intentioned, but it illegally segregates Native American children by race and has upended his clients' lives. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Group that started #KeepLexiHome is still outside praying/singing. The California court appointed a marriage and family therapist to perform a child custody evaluation to assess the mental health and parenting practices of both parties. 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. The Supreme Court made no comment when it denied certiorari in the case Monday (PDF). If the good-cause exception isn't satisfied in this case, it is difficult to imagine when it ever would be. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". February 28, 2023. Distraught and weeping, Page shared his foster daughter's parting words with CBS Los Angeles: "Don't let them take me. 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 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. ", Page said he responded: "I have to because the county of L.A. said I have to.". Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The California court appointed a marriage and family therapist to perform a child custody evaluation to assess the mental health and parenting practices of both parties. After leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave the yachting industry. 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. 07:28 GMT 10 Jan 2017. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. All rights reserved. Removal 1830-1862. 2019 The Associated Press. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. , updated AccuWeather: AM showers before a mild afternoon, Teammate facing charges in crash that killed local UGA player, Teens in stolen car crash into school bus on way to field trip in NJ. She says she's an apple, red on the outside, white on the inside.". Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. "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. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. 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 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. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. Her mother had substance abuse problems, and her father had a criminal history, according to court records. 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. Like many of her teammates, Lexi had left Navarro College by the time Daytona 2021 took place. The Librettis in Nevada arranged with a pregnant woman, Altagracia Hernandez, to adopt her unborn child. When the federal law was enacted, studies showed up to one-third of Native American children were being taken from their homes by private and state agencies, including church-run programs, and placed with mostly white families or in boarding schools. The Pages argued that Lexi has lived with them since the age of 2 and considers them her family. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. 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.'. That case, Carter v. Washburn, is pending in Arizona federal court. 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 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. 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. There's a heartbreaking update to . We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. Further complicating the matter is that no two adoption cases are alike, which can make legal rulings meant to apply broadly particularly fraught. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. It's all about what can we do to get Lexi home': Heartbroken white foster parents of girl, six, seized for being 1/64th Native American beg new 'family' to return her, INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT - POLICIES AND REGULATIONS, King Charles hosts von der Leyen at Windsor Castle, Police: Urgent search for Constance Marten's missing baby, Shocking video shows machete fight in broad daylight, Putin spy plane before being 'destroyed by pro-Ukraine Belarus group', Gabor Mat: No Jewish state without oppressing local population, Amplified jet stream could lead to 'disruptive snow in places', Pupils take to TikTok as they stage protest at Shenfield High School, Putin orders intelligence service to find 'scum' who oppose him, Moment supermarket cashier is attacked at work in New York, Police search allotment sheds for Constance Marten's missing baby, Huge urgent police search for missing baby of Constance Marten, Dashcam captures moment two cars collide on a roundabout. They are not interested in anything except full custody, and they are not thinking about this little girls best interests, the lawyers statement said. Regardless of tribal membership, Lexi should be allowed to live with her family, just as all children in any deprived case should.. She did make the mat for Daytona 2020 but unfortunately never got to perform one final time as the . "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened . They are not strangers. The state Supreme Court declined to review the case, clearing the way for the family to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. 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. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs sought to clarify the term in 2016 by saying state courts shouldn't consider socio-economic status, or ordinary bonding or attachment to host families, among other things. 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. The boy's parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights, and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. Last March, she was taken from her foster home near Los Angeles, and a state appeals court in July upheld the girl's removal from the Page home. But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . She underwent her first surgery just last night but has been unable to sleep well because of the pain and the trauma. The foster family understood this. Please respect the privacy of Lexi and her family. 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 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. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, U.S. officials clashed over asylum restriction before Biden proposed it, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid, Transcript: CIA director William Burns on "Face the Nation," Feb. 26, 2023. 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. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drug-abuse problems. Lexi's case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. 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. Thomas Blakely, a Choctaw Indian teenager, lives with his family in Idabel, Okla., one of many poor, rural communities within the sprawling . 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. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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 issue is not what degree of Choctaw ancestry a child has," Singel said. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. First published on July 8, 2016 / 10:41 PM. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Fletcher contends the Pages lawyers are using Lexis case as a legal weapon to challenge ICWA. 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. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. 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. Lexi was ripped away from the only family she has ever known because of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). 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