LOS ANGELES (CN) - A California court of appeals delivered a fresh blow to a foster family seeking custody of a 6-year-old Native American girl, finding it in her best interest to live with her extended family in Utah.
Images of foster father Rusty Page clutching 6-year-old Lexi left an indelible mark when the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services arrived to take her away from Page and his wife's Valencia home in March. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world.
But California's Second Appellate District said the Pages knew that Lexi, referred to as Alexandria P, could end up with family members under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
The July 8 ruling states that evidence shows the foster parents interfered with Lexi's individual therapy sessions and visits from family members, and that it is in her best interest to move to Utah where she can bond with two of her siblings.
Rusty Page said in an interview that he and his wife Summer Page were anticipating the ruling, but hoped a higher court would take another look at the intent of the Indian Child Welfare Act to help children who have been separated from their families.
"If you look back to the surrounding events of enacting of ICWA, the people who enacted it had no intention of it applying to kids like Lexi," Page said.
He said the courts should return the federal law to its "original intent, which was to prevent the breakup of Indian families."
Page said the court had "mixed the facts up," and that contrary to the court's findings, he and his wife encouraged Lexi to explore her tribal roots, and set up Skype calls with her Utah extended family twice a week.
The Pages struggled with a therapist from United American Indian Involvement, who insisted on individual therapy sessions to a "point that was traumatizing" to Lexi, Page said.
Page's attorney Lori Alvino McGill said there had been no court order for individual therapy until later on.
"It's been overblown, like the Pages did something in their own interest, but really, they were at all times just looking out for Lexi's best interests," McGill said in a telephone interview.
The attorney said the Pages complied with visitation orders but wanted to make sure the orders were sensitive to the child's needs.
"That was sort of twisted and used against them in court," said McGill, who is with Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz.
The ruling is the third time the appeals court has considered the closely watched case.
Previously, it ruled that a Los Angeles County dependency court had failed to use a correct standard in weighing whether there was good cause for Lexi to live with her relatives in Utah.
But in his July 8 ruling, Judge Sandy Kriegler said the lower court had fixed its earlier errors and that the Pages did not "prove by clear and convincing evidence" that it is in the child's best interests to remain with them.
He affirmed the ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rudolph Diaz.
