Post by jeaniebueller on Mar 22, 2016 14:45:03 GMT -5
I saw this story earlier. I have a lot of criticisms with ICWA (in that in many cases, the child has little connection with the tribe, yet the tribe gets a very large say in how the case proceeds), but I am trying to figure out the procedural history here. The court is supposed to immediately give the tribe notice and allow the tribe to intervene and give placement preference. I wonder why this was allowed to drag on for this length of time? Its a tragic situation and so heartbreaking.
They took her away from non-Native Americans and put her in new home with non-Native Americans. Make that make sense for me because I was already side-eyeing this and this took it to a new level
They took her away from non-Native Americans and put her in new home with non-Native Americans. Make that make sense for me because I was already side-eyeing this and this took it to a new level
I guess it's a white couple that are related to her father by marriage.
They took her away from non-Native Americans and put her in new home with non-Native Americans. Make that make sense for me because I was already side-eyeing this and this took it to a new level
I guess it's a white couple that are related to her father by marriage.
They are apparently the parents of her father's non-Native wife (so, her step-grandparents).
ETA not her step grandparents, her step-grandfather's niece. :?
This is local-ish, so it's been heavily covered by the news.
The cries from her siblings as she's being taken out are heartwrenching.
I'm so sad for the foster family and hope that they will prevail. I can understand the reasoning behind ICWA having been passed, but this type of scenario is absurd.
Post by jeaniebueller on Mar 22, 2016 14:50:38 GMT -5
According to another article, the new family is a relative of the father (who has native American ancestry) and they also have placement of the girl's biological sister.
Again though, I can't figure out why this case has been dragged out for this length of time. How is a child in foster care for 4 years without being adopted?
This is a beyond fucked up interpretation of the ICWA. I am so sad for all of them, but most of all for the little girl in the middle of it all who will suffer the most. These cases need to be decided definitively in months, not years.
I understand the rationale behind ICWA, with the forced removal of Native American/First Nation children, blind adoptions of NA children by white families, forcible rapes of whites on Native Americans up until the mid-1960s (my grandson's paternal grandfather is the product of one and it was not all that uncommon, sadly) and so many ways the tribes were decimated over the past two centuries, but at some point there has to be some case-by-case basis, or "blood drop" rule. This child is 98.5% NOT Native American. When her blood is that diluted, by that many generations of non-tribal blood, and when she has been raised by a non-native family who loves her and is torn from that family and placed in another non-native family, there is something wrong.
You shouldn't be able to use ICWA as a roundabout method when your parental rights have been terminated, which I assume has happened since they're not arguing his paternal rights but his Native American blood rights.
I don't know that much about ICWA but I can see its value in principle. If that's the practice that takes a 6-year-old child from the only home and parents she can remember, it seems that the practice is flawed.
And not only her, but can you imagine how her siblings are going to feel, wondering every day if someone is going to come and rip them from their parents arms?
I understand the rationale behind ICWA, with the forced removal of Native American/First Nation children, blind adoptions of NA children by white families, forcible rapes of whites on Native Americans up until the mid-1960s (my grandson's paternal grandfather is the product of one and it was not all that uncommon, sadly) and so many ways the tribes were decimated over the past two centuries, but at some point there has to be some case-by-case basis, or "blood drop" rule. This child is 98.5% NOT Native American. When her blood is that diluted, by that many generations of non-tribal blood, and when she has been raised by a non-native family who loves her and is torn from that family and placed in another non-native family, there is something wrong.
You shouldn't be able to use ICWA as a roundabout method when your parental rights have been terminated, which I assume has happened since they're not arguing his paternal rights but his Native American blood rights.
I think the ICWA had good intentions and was very much necessary at a point in our history, but now, it seems like it is being distorted and used to the detriment of the very children it was intended to protect.
I don't understand this statement though. So, the Pages were OK enough of a white family to foster an NA child, but they should have "known better" than to try to love the child and want to adopt the child? What?
In a statement, the National Indian Child Welfare Association said the Pages were aware for years that the girl was an American Indian but chose to 'drag out litigation as long as possible, creating instability for the child'.
Probably means that they were told she would be removed a long time ago and why and instead of conceding so she could get stability they took it to the courts.
I don't know that much about ICWA but I can see its value in principle. If that's the practice that takes a 6-year-old child from the only home and parents she can remember, it seems that the practice is flawed.
And not only her, but can you imagine how her siblings are going to feel, wondering every day if someone is going to come and rip them from their parents arms?
Yeah, what was that bullshit about the parents being ordered NOT to tell the other kids what was going to happen?! I guess their welfare doesn't matter. SMH
I am going to add that imo, the tribe is not interested in the best interest of Lexi. They are interested in the best interest of the tribe as a whole. Adding another person to the tribe is beneficial to the tribe as a whole, not to her.
Lexi's best interest would be to live with the parents who know and love her, not being placed in a home with people she's related to only tangentially and who also don't have ties to the tribe. The best interest would be to stay in the home where she is loved and as part of the adoption proceedings require, for the interest of the TRIBE, that Lexi have visitation with tribal members and be taught the culture of the Choctaw nation. If she is interested in retaining that 1.5 PERCENT of her heritage, so be it. But it should not be forced when 98.5% of her is not Choctaw.
Speaking from experience, foster placement and removal from the home is destructive, no matter how well-intentioned.
I just want to know where these fuckers were when she needed a home in the first place.
Well, it can be complicated. Sometimes the parents don't disclose family members until it's apparent the child isn't going home with them. And it sounds like this has been in the works for awhile so it's possible they have been willing and available this whole time the placement issue was being litigated. Especially since it sounds like they have placement of a sister. It's a tough case.
Again though, I can't figure out why this case has been dragged out for this length of time. How is a child in foster care for 4 years without being adopted?
It happens.
My foster child's birth certificate can't be located, so who knows when we will be able to adopt him.