"There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. 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. 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. 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. Oak Lawn police officer charged after teen's violent arrest, ABC7 Chicago says farewell to Meteorologist Phil Schwarz, Kitchen Possible empowers kids in Chicago. The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. The Pages also argued that ICWA singles out Native children for disparate treatment based on race, in violation of the 14th Amendments equal protection clause. February 28, 2023. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Summer and Rusty Page say they "will never ever stop fighting for Lexi," their 6-year-old foster daughter who was taken from their Santa Clarita home and placed with relatives in Utah under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. Please respect the privacy of Lexi and her family. Correction: The original version of this story misstated which of Lexis relatives in Utah are members of the Choctaw Nation. Summer Page runs out of her home after social workers took her foster child way. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. Rusty and Summer Page said in a statement that the high court's decision was a 'crushing blow.'. The Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal organization, brought a proposed class-action lawsuit challenging ICWA directly in 2015. 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.. 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. The appeal to return Lexi to the Pages is still before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. 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 Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011. 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 . 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. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. 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. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. "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. They also agreed that the Pages did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 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. 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. 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. Lexis only parent with Choctaw blood is her birth father, who never had custody of her. A crowd of friends and neighbors wept, prayed or sang hymns. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower court's decision to remove the girl. More than 20 states have joined hundreds of tribes, advocacy groups and the federal agency that oversees Indian affairs in urging an appellate judge to uphold the law. 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. "To Lexi this family is her everything . The childs birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. Page says he has met the Utah relatives and they seem like well-meaning people who would be great parents. BY LORELEI LAIRD January 11, 2017 www.abajournal.com. 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. Those factors included Lexi's relationship with her extended family and half-siblings, their capacity to help her reconnect with her tribal roots, and the Pages' "relative reluctance or resistance" to foster Lexi's relationship with her extended family or encourage exploration of her Choctaw cultural identity, the judges wrote in their ruling. The boy's parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights, and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. 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. Tribes and tribal advocates say Native American children are still separated from their families at rates higher than the general population, and the law helps them stay connected to their tribes, relatives and culture. "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. Once a child is placed with a Native American family, it is highly unlikely that the decision would be reversed, he added. 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. 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. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. Circuit Court of Appeals. 19:37 GMT 09 Jan 2017 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. Still, Lexis story is reigniting tensions over the purpose of the ICWA and thorny questions over its role in determining the best interests of Indian children. What happened yesterday should never happen . "She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. 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. The foster family filed appeals three times to keep Lexi, delaying the reuniting of Lexi with her relatives. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. Reading ICWA to demand this tragic result is inconsistent with Lexi's constitutional right to stability and permanence-- a right recognized by the California Supreme Court more than twenty years ago. Opinion. Since then, Lexi has celebrated four birthdays with the Page family. / CBS/AP. All rights reserved, Two Hospitalized in Critical Condition, Including 3-Year-Old Child, in Fire at Long Beach Home, There Goes My Hero.' The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather. 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what happened to lexi choctaw 2020