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Lexi, who is 1.5 % Choctaw, has been living in Santa Clarita with Rusty and Summer Page, but is now being taken to relatives in Utah after a court ruling on the Indian Child Welfare Act and an emotional goodbye to her foster family. The 1978 federal law was designed to keep Native American families together, attempting to stop large numbers of children with tribal heritage from being taken away and given to non-Native American households.
The Choctaw tribe agreed to send her into the foster care system to “facilitate efforts to reunify the girl with her father.” Her mother, who is not Native American, had substance abuse issues. Her father, an enrolled Choctaw member, has a criminal history and attempts to have him reunite with his daughter failed. She spent time with two other families before being placed with the Pages, who have three other young children and have tried to adopt her.
originally posted by: Nyiah
From what I understand, the foster family has been stonewalling reunification with the extended family who's been fighting to get her back for years. I really have no sympathy for people who deign to keep a child from family who love & want them because they can.
originally posted by: Boscowashisnamo
originally posted by: Nyiah
From what I understand, the foster family has been stonewalling reunification with the extended family who's been fighting to get her back for years. I really have no sympathy for people who deign to keep a child from family who love & want them because they can.
Is that why unification tried with the biological on multiple occasions "failed". What's in Lexi's best interest? Where was the "love" and "want" from the biological parent's family in the first place? Why didn't family members step up with their "love". Did you even read the linked articles?
originally posted by: Nyiah
originally posted by: Boscowashisnamo
originally posted by: Nyiah
From what I understand, the foster family has been stonewalling reunification with the extended family who's been fighting to get her back for years. I really have no sympathy for people who deign to keep a child from family who love & want them because they can.
Is that why unification tried with the biological on multiple occasions "failed". What's in Lexi's best interest? Where was the "love" and "want" from the biological parent's family in the first place? Why didn't family members step up with their "love". Did you even read the linked articles?
Again, from what I understand, reunification with the biological parents didn't succeed. Afterward, extended family had to jump through the system hoops to be considered for placement with family, while she was in foster care already. Then these blowhards initiated trying to adopt her, which is the equivalent of throwing a wrench in the process of placing with family. Whether or not that wrench had more to do with general procedure, or Native laws, I don't know. All I know is what I've read, and it stinks from the foster family's end. In the end, they really did try to adopt her before anyone could do anything about it.
BTW, Lexi is 1.5% Choctaw.
From what I heard on the news Lexi is being placed with extended family that aren't blood relatives, but related through marriage and that they're not Choctaw or any other tribe of Native American. While, her foster mother is of Native American blood, I'm not sure which tribe. I have a hard time understanding how this qualifies under the Indian Child Welfare Act.
originally posted by: windword
a reply to: Boscowashisnamo
BTW, Lexi is 1.5% Choctaw.
From what I heard on the news Lexi is being placed with extended family that aren't blood relatives, but related through marriage and that they're not Choctaw or any other tribe of Native American. While, her foster mother is of Native American blood, I'm not sure which tribe.
I have a hard time understanding how this qualifies under 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.
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.
She said Lexi and the Utah family had traded messages and had monthly visits during the past three years.
"She has a loving relationship with them," Heimov said. "They are not strangers in any way, shape or form."