Choctaw Child's Blood Relatives Prevail in Court Fight with Foster Family

SANTA CLARITA, CA - The state Supreme Court refused today to overturn a lower court ruling that authorized the removal of a 6-year-old girl of partial Choctaw lineage from her foster home in Santa Clarita so she can live with blood relatives in Utah.

Attorneys for Rusty and Summer Page had asked the state Supreme Court to intervene in the case in hopes of regaining custody of Lexi, who was taken away by Los Angeles County social workers on March 21 as dozens of protesters looked on, many singing, crying or shouting words of support at the weeping child.

RELATED: Dramatic Showdown: Child Taken from Foster Family to Be Placed with Choctaw Nation Blood Relatives

The state's high court, without comment, rejected the petition, letting stand a 2014 ruling that the girl be sent to the Choctaw Nation under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The law was enacted in the 1970s to help protect the interests of Native American children.

Officials with the Choctaw Nation have said they desire "the best for this Choctaw child."

"The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child."

City News Service