The ruling regarding the Choctaw six-year-old girl being removed from her foster home in Santa Clarita will reportedly not be overturned by the California Supreme Court. She will be living with her blood relatives in Utah due to the ruling.
According to ABC News, the girl, who only had a partial Choctaw lineage named Lexi, was taken away by the Los Angeles County social workers last March 21. Dozens of people showed up outside the home of the foster family as they supported the child and the people who have been taking care of her. Attorneys for her foster parents, Rusty and Summer Page, have asked the state Supreme Court to review the case as they hope to regain custody over Lexi.
The high court has rejected the petition and let the standing of the 2014 ruling push through. The girl will be sent to the Choctaw Nation under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The law was passed back in the 70s to help protect the interests of Native American children.
Officials of the Choctaw Nation said they just want the best for the child, adding that the tribe's "values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important" to them. They ended their statement saying they will continue to work toward the long-term best interests of Lexi, My News L.A. reported.
Lexi's father is said to be part Choctaw and she is 1/64th Native American. She was only 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her parents as her mother had substance abuse problems while her father had a criminal history.
The case has been going on for years and lower courts found that the Pages were not able to prove that Lexi will be suffering emotional harm during the transfer, The Seattle Times reported. The Pages already have three children but still want to adopt Lexi, who has been living with them since she was two years old.
One of the lawyers of the Pages, Lori Alvino McGill, said they are willing to take the case as far as the U.S. Supreme Court.
