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. "It was important to halt that removal, to correct state behavior, to put in minimum standards," she said. The Pages have three children and want to adopt Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw on her birth father's side. "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 ). 1 talking about this. These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. 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. 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 understood this. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. The Pages issued a press release saying To say we are heartbroken is an understatement While this is certainly a crushing blow, it will not stop us from fighting for Lexis rights and the rights of other children unnecessarily hurt by the Indian Child Welfare Act., 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. 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. Our hearts are broken and we are trying to make sense of everything that has happened with our three other children who witnessed their sister Lexi forcefully ripped away from our family by strangers," the Page family said in a statement Monday night. The Minnesota couple, the Cliffords, wanted to adopt a girl who lived with them after being in various foster homes for two years. In a statement to TV Line in June 2012, Leigh revealed . . 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. 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. All Rights Reserved. The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Family members said Monday they were disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving their former foster daughter, a girl with Native American ancestry, who was ordered removed from their California home and reunited with relatives in Utah. Lexi loves horses and art. Her name is Lexi, the petition said. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. 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. Placement with family is the gold-standard of any child-custody case, not just a case involving tribal children. 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. She said Lexi and the Utah family had traded messages and had monthly visits during the past three years. 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. ", The Choctaw Nation said it "desires the best for this Choctaw child.". Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. 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. Last month, her kindergarten class gave her an award for being the most caring student. The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. and Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 6-year-old caught in tribal custody battle. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. "These relatives have been a part of Lexi's life for almost five years. Wenona Singel, a law professor at Michigan State University, said membership requirements vary among tribes, with some being more restrictive than others. Theyre using this to attack tribal sovereignty, attack Indian people, and attack the Indian Child Welfare act, he says. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. 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 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. A similar case, National Council for Adoption v. Jewell, is on appeal to the 4th U.S. 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. Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com 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. 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. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. Distraught and weeping, Page shared his foster daughter's parting words with CBS Los Angeles: "Don't let them take me. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital They are not strangers. 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. Maddie cant fathom it, and she asks us why, and the fact of the matter is that I cant tell her why, because I cant fathom it.. Our clients have been the only consistent source of love, nurturing, parenting, and protection she has received her entire life. What happened yesterday should never happen . 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. 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. They fought for you, supporters screamed at the car, as officers prepared to pull away. 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. Kastelic also said there was a misconception that Native American families were unfit or too poor to care for their children. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' The Pages had cared for the girl, known in court as Lexi, for four years and wanted to adopt her. She was reunited with her biological sister in the home but none of the family members are Native American. An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. The case brought dozens of people to the Pages' Santa Clarita neighborhood to demonstrate against plans to move Lexi. The state denied their request after the Navajo Nation identified a potential home with a Navajo family in New Mexico. 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 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. 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. They do not get the same best-interest-of-the-child standard that applies to all other children. 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. 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 boy's parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights, and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. 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. In a statement, they said this case is not about politics. 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. In an official statement (via TVLine), Leigh shared she made the decision that season 8 was going to be her last, and along with Rhimes, they worked to "give Lexie's story appropriate . Forrest Hanson For Dailymail.com 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. Many steps have been taken by the Choctaw Nation to ensure the best placement of Lexi. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. 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. Sleep is overrated. 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