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“The longtime foster family of a 6-year-old part-Native American girl who was taken from their home because of her heritage filed an appeal Tuesday with the California court in an effort to get her back.
Rusty and Summer Page have been fighting for years to gain custody of Lexi, who they have fostered for four years.
But Lexi is 1/64th Choctaw Native American, and after a long legal back-and-forth Children’s Court of L.A. County ruled Friday that she would be placed with relatives in Utah in accordance with the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
The law, according to its own language, seeks to keep children of Native American heritage with Native American tribes and their members.”
– NBC News, California Family Files Appeal to Keep Girl Who is 1/64 Native American.
“The protesters had gathered near the Santa Clarita home by the hundreds, praying aloud for the little girl and her longtime foster parents inside.
They sang “Amazing Grace” and asked God to intervene to keep the 6-year-old girl with her foster family.
But on Monday afternoon, Los Angeles County social workers arrived at the home to carry out a court order that the girl be relocated to live with her extended family members in Utah.
Because the girl is part Choctaw, the federal Indian Child Welfare Act — intended to limit the breakup of Native American families through adoption or foster care placement — applies to her case, the Oklahoma-based Choctaw Nation said in a statement.”
– LA Times, Santa Clarita foster parents appeal to state Supreme Court in tribal custody battle .
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
