Posted on 03/22/2016 11:51:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A 6-year-old girl was removed from the California home of the foster family she has lived with for four years because she has a tiny sliver of Native American heritage — despite resistance from her foster parents and their tens of thousands of supporters.
Rusty and Summer Page of Santa Clarita, California, have long fought to gain custody of Lexi, 6, who is 1.56 percent Choctaw Native American. That figure means that Lexi's home placement is dictated by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
That law "seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian families," according to its own language.
The child's birth parents struggled with substance abuse, according to court documents. Her father, who had a criminal history, never lived on a Choctaw reservation and didn't have any social, political, or cultural ties to the tribe, according to the court documents. But officials determined that Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw based on his ancestry.
Lexi was placed with the Pages — who have three other children — in December 2011 after two unsuccessful foster homes, including one where she was taken out of because of a black eye and a scrape on her face, the court documents said.
In 2011, "extended" family in Utah became aware that Lexi was with a foster family and expressed "interest in adopting" her, according to the documents. The documents said that Lexi is related to the Utah couple, who are not Native American, through her step-grandfather.
The California Court of Appeals originally ruled in August of 2014 that Lexi could stay with the Pages and they could continue to fight the Utah family for custody of the child.
But a decision earlier this month ordered the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services to place Lexi with the Utah family
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Heartbreaking
Madness. Cultural destroyers running amok in this country.
The ironic part is that the girl will probably grow up to loathe 1/64 of herself...
Isn’t there something in an amendment to our Constitution about laying claim to and taking possession of humans for purposes of ownership?
The injuns are about due for a reminder that they’re conquered peoples.
Horrible.
The Indian Child and Welfare Act of 1978 should be repealed or modified. Until such time, I would advise all potential adoptive and foster parents to spend extra money on a lawyer versed in this Act to make sure it would not apply to any child you are considering adopting/fostering. The law is merciless and arbitrary and leaves judges with almost no discretion.
The 1/16 Choktaw blood in me thinks that this is ludicrous.
Terrible probability is that she won’t even give herself a chance to grow up.
Booze, drugs, life on the streets. Short life at that.
There are few things on this Earth, that I hate more than Custody Courts.
Let me get this straight. Ripe a six year old child away from the only family they have ever known and send her out to be with people they don’t know for the good of the child.
Yep, must be da gubermint.
I have been reading about this and it is cruelty and insanity to the max. You go to any tribe and claim you are a member due to being 1/64th Indian and you will be laughed out of the room. Casino tribes will try to keep you out if you are only 1/16-1/8 Indian....really depends on the situation..
Sorry, I can’t tell from that photo, because I can’t see if the girl has those “high cheekbones”.
This is the inevitable result of an insane policy.
The idea of “sovereign” nations inside of another nation is madness. It cannot work. Having different sets of laws for different people based on their ancestors is stupid.
Yeah, that’s a helpful post.
I am 1/16 Mohawk, not enough to qualify for tribal membership. Besides, I am much more Polish/Lithuanian.
Yep, you’ve already got one strike against you in life if you are being raised by foster parents usually, but raised by a foster family on a reservation? That’s probably strikes two and three.
I find this interesting. Especially coming at a time when some tribes are “Delisting” some members because they only have 1/32 Indian blood. I believe it has something to do with the chunks of money coming their way from the casinos.
Unreal!
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