Girl taken from foster home because ethnicity.

[nightflight]

Social workers seized a hysterical six-year-old girl from the home of her white foster family on Monday because she is part Native American.

The child, Lexi, sobbed, clinging to her foster father Rusty Page as he reluctantly fought through a crowd to hand the child over to the Department of Children and Families in Santa Clarita.

In a disturbing video from KTLA, Lexi screamed, begging Rusty, 'don't let them take me away', as she was removed from her family.

As Lexi was placed in the back of a black car with government workers, her foster mother Summer Page burst from the home screaming 'I love you, Lexi'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-1-5-cent-Native-American-family-white.html

Why would she be allowed to stay with these people so long if there was a conflict with the law??

 

[seashale76]

I recall this happening to a friend's family back in the 80s in Atlanta. They were white, they wanted to adopt their black foster child, and they weren't allowed to do so.

 

[Tallguy88]

1.5% native blood? Good grief, even I've got more in me than that. That means she had a great great great great grandparent who was full blood Indian. And they took her away from the White family she knows and placed her with another white family she doesn't know? And that's somehow going to teach her to respect and value her Native heritage?

It's such a messed up system.

 

[JustOneWay]

Taken from a foster home to be placed with actual relatives, who are not native American....

In a statement, the National Indian Child Welfare Association said the Pages were aware for years that the girl was an American Indian but chose to “drag out litigation as long as possible, creating instability for the child.”

http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/150148/


This is an issue of the relatives have been pushing for custody.

“Her family in Utah have been waiting to receive her for over three years, during that time they have traveled to California monthly and she has visited their home as well,” the attorney said in a statement.

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/6-...knows-and-given-to-native-american-relatives/

 

[HannahT]

Yes, this story is confusing. The bio father's family has been trying to gain custody for a while.

 

[keith99]

It is also worth noting that the girl will now be in the same home as her sister. That seemed all important to some here before. I'm betting it will not be this time.

 

[Tallguy88]

These are always messy situations. Makes me glad I don't work at DHS. I don't want to get shot trying to take someone's kid.

 

[seashale76]

The only family she has ever known was the family she was just taken away from. This was not done in the best interests of the child.

 

[The_Laconic_Dead]

Yea they just screwed this kid up real good. I can understand the different sides of this.

But at the end of the day, it's about what's best for this kid. Let's be honest, it's not that hard to make them.

This kid should be with the foster family.

 

[rambot]

I think it's weird how decisions are made to this regard. Frankly, it can be SOOOO worker dependent. I know a family fostering to adopt in a VERY similar situation. They got to adopt their son. I heard of another family (in another province; made the news and all), in another province where they chose to move the child.

Attachment issues (which are real) come from situations EXACTLY like this. Poor, poor decision.

 

[dgiharris]

Talk about a horrifically complex issue.

I believe that if the father was the one who wanted to adopt the daughter than yeah, 100% he gets custody. Yes, he had a history but if he "cleaned up his act" and could provide a stable household then yeah, he gets custody.

however, that is not the case. Apparently it is a family through marriage to him in some roundabout way that wanted custody. The fact that her sister lives with that family should not be a significant factor.

The only way the State is every going to change its mind in these matters is if people exercise their 2nd amendment right and actually spill blood. Sorry, gathering in groups and vigils and singing Kum-by-ya is just not enough.

I have come to the belief the the "primary" purpose of law is order, it is NOT justice. Sure, if a law "can" be just and maintain order then it does, but if it has to choose one over the other it will side with order everytime. Thus, the only way you can change the law in this regard is to create so much disorder that the other choice is more orderly. In this case, if these families are willing to fight back with weaponry then the State will rethink its policy on this matter. i know, that sounds all NRA Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid... but I think there is a lot of truth to that...

If the kid was with this family since 2yrs old, and the kid is now 6, seriously, how can you argue it will "not" cause significant harm...

I feel as if the family's lawyers dropped the ball somehow. How could you not find an expert witness to testify that tearing a 6yr old away from the only family she has ever known would cause serious harm????

 

[Cearbhall]

There really needs to be a cutoff for the Act. Obviously there's a history behind it and it serves an important purpose, but 1.5% Native American is a ridiculous justification for removing a 6-year-old from her stable home.

I plan to adopt, and I don't know if I would ever do it by fostering a child first. The system is so messed up.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

I get the part about wanting to place the girl with relatives, and that the foster parents may have dragged out litigation.

But the fact that a law was invoked because sometime, somewhere back in the deep dark past this girl had a native american relation is beyond stupid.

 

[keith99]

The only family she has ever known was the family she was just taken away from. This was not done in the best interests of the child.

That is what they are saying, it is a lie, they got her when she was 2 years old and before that she was with another family. Once I catch one side of a story in an outright lie I tend to discount the rest of their spin.

If it had not been for the foster family fighting the placement with relatives there would have been no trauma and the child would have spent more time with others than with them before being reunited with relatives.

“Her family in Utah have been waiting to receive her for over three years, during that time they have traveled to California monthly and she has visited their home as well,” the attorney said in a statement.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

This family should have kept quite. I bet they're are going to get black balled.

That is what they are saying, it is a lie, they got her when she was 2 years old and before that she was with another family. Once I catch one side of a story in an outright lie I tend to discount the rest of their spin.

If it had not been for the foster family fighting the placement with relatives there would have been no trauma and the child would have spent more time with others than with them before being reunited with relatives.

I read about that. Them fighting for 3 years shouldn't have been allowed.

 

[keith99]

This family should have kept quite. I bet they're are going to get black balled.
I read about that. Them fighting for 3 years shouldn't have been allowed.

My understanding is that the foster family was then and is still now trying to drag things out. If it was done quickly the same people complaining now would be complaining about rushing into a decision.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

My understanding is that the foster family was then and is still now trying to drag things out. If it was done quickly the same people complaining now would be complaining about rushing into a decision.

Once the county gave the okay for the girl to live with the people in Utah. She should have been moved. The people in Utah had a sibling and had their house approved. I'm not getting how a foster parent was allowed to fight for this.

 

[One Voice Among Many1]

Speaking as a Native American, who was removed from her native birth family as a child to be placed in a foster home with a white family and then later adopted into a white family, thus losing my entire native identity and culture to be assimilated, I support this move by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and I stand by the decision to return Lexi to her biological family. The Pages, the foster family in question, has dragged out this case for five years, knowing all along that the biological relatives of Lexi have been seeking to adopt her. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was placed into effect to keep this very incident from happening and it has prevailed in this case. The Pages are not the only family Lexi has known, because she has had prior contact with her biological relatives, including her biological sisters. Therefore, any biased accusations by the certain media outlets or by individuals claiming that the Pages are the only family Lexi has ever known is untrue and very dishonest. The truth is, the theft of native children being forcibly or arbitrarily removed from their biological families and placed into homes with white families has been going on for far too long in this country.

Broken: Choctaw Father in California Thwarted in Custody Battle With Foster Couple

 

[PsychoeDial]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-1-5-cent-Native-American-family-white.html

Why would she be allowed to stay with these people so long if there was a conflict with the law??

The child was reported as being 1.5% native American. Wait till she gets in with those tribal members who invoke the racist box against her as regards blood quantum. 1.5% is as minimal as it gets.

What is government abuse is that this obscene law wasn't invoked years ago before the child was placed with this family. Now that she's settled in the government crows sweep in and rip her life apart.

When she's graduated high school she should put forth for every Ivy League college there is and demand the full benefits given native Americans! Go for every benefit she can get and invoke that very thing that ripped her young life apart here.

It's disgusting what's happened to this little girl.
God be with her and her family.

 

[keith99]

The child was reported as being 1.5% native American. Wait till she gets in with those tribal members who invoke the racist box against her as regards blood quantum. 1.5% is as minimal as it gets.

What is government abuse is that this obscene law wasn't invoked years ago before the child was placed with this family. Now that she's settled in the government crows sweep in and rip her life apart.

When she's graduated high school she should put forth for every Ivy League college there is and demand the full benefits given native Americans! Go for every benefit she can get and invoke that very thing that ripped her young life apart here.

It's disgusting what's happened to this little girl.
God be with her and her family.

Yes it is disgusting and it looks like the very people you are siding with are responsible for it. Responsible to the bitter end including the traumatic situation that gave them to news coverage they wanted to play the victim. They did everything they could to be sure it was an emotional parting to play to public opinion. They did this, no one else.