Because Lexi is part native-american the Department of Children and Family Services may remove her from her current home and place her with a native american family. 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. — -- A Santa Clarita, California, family is living its worst nightmare. From the age of 9 months until almost 3, Laurynn was in a North Dakota ministers foster care. The world-wide cri de cur seems to be of 1/64th (1.5%) not "being enough" to be Choctaw despite the fact that Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma no . We will continue to pursue the appeal, and we will press on the U.S. Supreme Court if that becomes necessary, Ms. Alvino McGill said. They planted corn (maize), beans, and pumpkins; fished; gathered nuts and wild fruits; and hunted deer and bear. This gross legal error led to a substantial delay in the case & once again showed the bias for ICWA in the childrens court. Lexi was taken from herfoster home inSanta Clarita, Calif., where supporters had been camped out praying, singing hymns and protesting with signs that readKeep Lexi Home and Save Lexi.. Each higher court ruling is sent back down (i.e. The little girl has a tiny bit of Choctaw ancestry just 1.5 percent and under federal law the Choctaw Nation can decide her fate. Lexi, whose birth family is part Choctaw,has lived with Summer and Rusty Page in their home in Santa Clarita, Calif., since she was 2 years old, but the court decided that it would be in her best interest to place her with relatives in Utah where she could be near her native American extended family. Here is what was stated in the COA document: " The tribe consented to the girl's placement with a non-Indian foster family to facilitate efforts to reunify the girl with her father.". "Lexis safety and well-being are the Choctaw Nations paramount concern," the statement added. The Choctaw Trail of Tears was the attempted ethnic cleansing and relocation by the United States government of the Choctaw Nation from their country, referred to now as the Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana), to lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory in the 1830s by the United States government. Droves of protesters and reporters stood by helplessly as the family's screams continued to echo out into the street. Patiently and prayerfully waiting to hear if the California Supreme Court will hear Lexi's case. Lexi is now with her extended family and her biological sister in Utah. "The bottom line is that children subject to ICWA are second-class citizens, by law. By September 2012, he declined further reunification services. They are not strangers in any way, shape or form. Rusty Page was somber and quiet as he held his foster child for perhaps the final time. 'As a matter of simple human decency, we implore the county not to prematurely take Lexi from her home,' Rusty said between sobs as he read from a statement. The Choctaw dialect is very similar to that of the Chickasaw, and there is evidence that they are a branch of the latter tribe. Images of foster father Rusty Page clutching 6-year-old Lexi left an indelible mark when the L.A. County The intent behind the ICWA is to make sure that Native American children are kept not only within the family but within the tribe and within the culture, ABC News senior legal analyst Sunny Hostin explained. Heres why. The History of Choctaw tribe. A Choctaw Miko (chief) was quoted by the Arkansas Gazette . The tribe added that the child had been in contact with her extended family for years prior to being placed with them. After the French defeat in the French and Indian War (175463), some Choctaw land was ceded to the United States and some tribal members began moving west across the Mississippi. 'Despite our pleas to the county, we received word the county has every intention of taking Lexi today. Graham and lena Kelly, Lexis foster aunt and uncle, break down in the street after family services came to take Lexi away from her foster family. A formal letter was sent to DCFS that never made its way to the tribe. Were about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, You are bigger and more capable than you realize. During the fall and winter of 1831-32, more than six thousand Choctaw arrived in what was soon to be known as "the Indian Territory." They settled primarily around Boggy Depot in the western part of their new lands, Doaksville in the southeast, and Skullyville in the northeast. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Act's placement preferences applied. Their most important community ritual was the Busk, or Green Corn, festival, a first-fruits and new-fire rite celebrated at midsummer. On Friday, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear a challenge to the law that made this possible the Indian Child Welfare Act, which endangers many young Native Americans. In the mid-18th century, there were 20,000 Choctaw living in 60 or 70 settlements along the Pearl, Chickasawhay, and Pascagoula rivers. The Pages had explored that heritage before Lexi was placed with them, and they made an effort to teach Lexi Choctaw language and stories. "Lexi, what has happened to you is wrong but be assured that mommy and daddy are fighting for you and will continue to fight for you as long as it takes," Rusty Page added. Choctaw, North American Indian tribe of Muskogean linguistic stock that traditionally lived in what is now southeastern Mississippi. The chef told the stew that no one on the boat likes her, and she hit back that his parents "should've . 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. hus till salu lextorp, trollhttan; sevrdheter vsternorrland; steelseries arctis 9x keeps turning off. Lexi, 6, has lived with the Page . Native American children with Native American families. Under the watchful eye of various cell phone cameras, social workers stood outside the front door of the home while the family prepared for the girl's departure. Social workers removed Lexi from the home Monday afternoon, before the Pages filed for relief in the California Supreme Court,McGill said. The Choctaw knew of this case from the get go. The horrible crash happened Monday afternoon just after 3:30 p.m. in an area of rural Collinsville near North Bluff Road. Rescue them. Oklahoma had removed him from his mothers custody after he suffered a fractured skull and severe bruising between his testicles and rectum. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. L.A.-based American rock band Steel Panther recently said goodbye to long-time member and bassist Lexxi Foxx. Published by at May 28, 2022. The Pages' legal team also argued that Congress did not intend ICWA's placement preferences to be used to remove a child from a loving home in these circumstances and that they were designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Come Friday, however, the Supreme Court should be shocked into hearing the arguments against the federal government usurpation, through the ICWA, of the states responsibility for protecting children in jeopardy, regardless of their biological ancestry. decades of broken traditions and communities. But the clash between a caring family, and a cultural community, is heightened in this case because the family Lexi is being sent to is not nativeAmerican: they are related to her father by marriage. Order Now. Minneapolis's innovative attempt to help homeless kids, Don't arrest teen prostitutes, LA County says. (Submitted by Chris Daken) Chris Daken is taken aback by the outpouring of attention . Copyright 2016 Save Our Lexi, All Rights Reserved. The family's attorneys argued before the state court of appeals to reverse a lower court ruling that removed the 6-year-old, but no decision was made. This violated, among other principles, those of federalism: Congress thereby reduced the right of states to enforce laws on child welfare. you are agreeing to our, One month free trial to theMonitorDaily, How these HBCU presidents fixed their colleges financial futures. The brutal racial politics of the Indian Child Welfare Act, Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates. The Pages have filed an appeal in the California Supreme Court. ICWA gives a higher preference to family members . Foster parents Rusty and Summer Page vowed to get the girl back, saying they love their daughter and have . Real news, real hope. Antonio was a casualty of the ICWAs form of identity politics the allocation of legal status and group entitlements based on biology. It's about as artsy fartsy and pretentious as a sculpture of a urinal, and yet somehow it works. Once the episode of Below Deck Mediterranean where Lexi Wilson got fired aired on Peacock, the former stew took to Instagram in a since-deleted post to call out the show's production. She has a loving relationship with them,shesaid. The very people that are supposed to be advocates for kids are hurting them.. In South Dakota, for instance, 90 percent are in non-nativehomes, and often removed from their families for questionable reasons, according to an NPR investigation. NanihWaiya is said to be a sacred hill of the ancient tribes. The DCF was set to remove Lexi at 10am on Sunday, but postponed is due to the protesters. This ritual was performed by spiritually powerful men and women known as bone-gatherers or bone-pickers, with the departeds family members in attendance. This has become a legal issue but its also a family reunification issue and a sibling issue, said Heimov, whose center is representing the girl. Lexi's foster siblings screamed 'no' over and over, crying hysterically as their sister was taken. I come outside to cry and go back inside to play in the backyard with them,' he said. The Choctaw Nation, far from their seemingly harmless statement earlier in the week, stated that they advocated for Lexi's placement with the Utah family.. DCFS spokeswoman Amara Suarez said they try to prepare both families as well as the child for such a move to another state, including visitations. Attorneys for the Choctaw Nation did not want to speak to Eyewitness News on camera and maintained that Lexi is with loving family in Utah. A happy, thriving six-year-old girl was forcibly removed from the people she knows as her parents because of a terribly misguided interpretation of a federal law that was designed to keep families together, not tear them apart. Group entitlements based on biology 6, has lived with the departeds family members in.! 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