The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families.
This is the unfortunate law that the Page family fell subject too. Rusty and Summer Page from Santa Clarita, California recently had their foster daughter taken away from them because she is 1.56 % Choctaw Native American.
The parents began fostering now 6-year-old Lexi in 2011 after she was placed in two unsuccessful foster homes, including one where she was taken out because of a black eye and a scrape on her face.
In 2011, an “extended” family member of Lexi’s became aware that she was with a foster family and expressed interest in adopting her. Documents said that Lexi was related to the couple through her step-grandfather.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LA DCFS) decided to place Lexi with the Utah family ‘in accordance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.’ Lexi has since been removed from the California home she has lived in for four years simply because she has a tiny sliver of Native American heritage.
The emotional scene played out on a live Facebook stream on March 21, 2016, and was watched by thousands of people.
The video showed a teary-eyed child, wearing a pink t-shirt and holding a teddy bear while Rusty Page carried her out of their home and into a black sedan as his wife yelled, “I love you Lexi” from the driveway.
Lexi told her father, “Don’t let them take me. I’m scared. I’m scared. Don’t let me go.” Rusty Page replied, “And I have to because the county of LA said I had to.”
In the following days, the Pages started an online petition called “Keep Lexi Home.”
“There is a 6-year-old little girl who is going to be ripped away from the only family that she has ever known. Her name is Lexi,” the petition said. “To Lexi this family is her everything — her mommy, daddy and brother and sisters.”
Since then, more than 90,000 people have signed the petition.
Lexi’s lawyer said the family is preparing to further challenge the decision at the California Supreme Court.
Watch this emotional and gut-wrenching footage of social services taking Lexi away from her family on Monday:
The family issued a statement on their Facebook page that night:
Please sign Lexi’s petition to help bring her home to her foster family and SHARE her story with your friends and family on Facebook!
[Featured Image Credit: David Crane- AP]
6-Year-Old Is Torn Away From Foster Family Because She Is Part Native American is an article from: LifeDaily