Courts Rule In CA Foster Child Case

It's been a while, fellow humans.  I'll admit, I did take a bit of a break to work on other projects.  I needed a break from the more serious stuff going on in the adoption world and wanted to continue working on a novel I'd been working on since late 2013.  It's difficult enough working on one or the other when working full time, so attempting to maintain the blog as well as continue work on the novel in between a 40+ hour work week had become more of a chore than I was willing to take on.  Something had to be sacrificed, if only briefly.  

I come to you all with good news from CA.  For those who are familiar with the case of Foster Family Page and the little foster child, Lexi, you know that the former foster family had been fighting an uphill battle to reclaim little Lexi after managing to legally hold her hostage for 3 yrs in an effort to fight reunification and placement efforts with family.  When the day came for Lexi to be removed from their home, they'd arranged a massive media circus complete with screaming and wailing people.  The idea was to pull at public sympathy, watching as the foster woman and her children screamed in the driveway.  Watching as friends of the foster family and neighbors all screamed and carried on as the child was carried to the waiting car.  For some, it triggered outrage at social services for snatching that little girl from the "only home she knew" and for others, the outrage was aimed at the family and their supporters.  Outrage at how callous they could be in exposing the little girl to such a spectacle.

On their public Facebook page, they make constant claims of how she didn't want to go, didn't know the extended family she was being taken to, was traumatized by her removal from her "true family".  The interesting thing is the fact that the court documents they'd provided painted a very different picture.  It contradicted their claims.  In my first mention of this case, I provided a link to one of the original court opinions.  You can find the opinion here: Appellate Opinion 2014. 

Lexi was removed from the dysfunctional foster family in March 2016.  Moved to the family she knew and knew she would be going to for a long time.  Remember, the Pages were well aware that if reunification fell through with her father, she would go to extended family that already had custody of some of her siblings.  The family she should have gone to nearly 3 yrs ago had the foster family not dug their talons in and tried to hold her hostage.  They'd purposely held onto her as long as they could in the hopes the courts would rule a forced best interest, a common ploy used by wanna be adoptive homes.  In this case, because Lexi was a ward of the state, there were state and federal laws in play that have placement preferences in place.  Reunification with parents is a first and if that falls through, extended family is the next option.  This is common in just about any foster care situation.  If children cannot be returned to parents, next of kin is given preference over strangers, even if those strangers were fostering the child for a period of time.

The Pages attempted to appeal the decision and were shot down a few times.  They were even rejected by the CA Supreme Court.  There was a recent appellate court hearing and the opinion just became available.  It's a lengthy read, but worth it.  It paints a very very different picture of the foster family.  

Appellate Opinion 2016

There were some troubling observations highlighted in section B of the published opinion.  Of course, the admin who runs the Save Lexi Facebook page (supporters of the foster parents) and many of their die hard supporters completely ignore the information released regarding how the Pages handled being foster parents.

*refused to allow a second day of visitation with extended family because the social worker was late returning her to their home.

*interfered with her one on one therapy and insisted it happen at their home to allow them to be involved and to monitor her.

*balked at week long visits with extended family, claiming that their own children were not allowed overnight visits at that age.

*frequently claimed child was anxious and difficult after visitations with extended fam and claimed child did not want contact to continue, contrary to what the therapist, social workers and GAL observed

*were hesitant at assisting child in exploring her native roots, refusing to participate in a smudging ceremony, discouraging child from participating and objects made by child found their way to the trash

*their idea of exploring child's native roots was painting a wall Navajo blue.

So there it is.  The Page family deemed themselves superior and made every effort they could to interfere with the child being transitioned to her extended family in Utah.  They interfered with visitations, attempted to make claims that the extended family caused her anxiety, interfered with her therapy sessions and refused to assist the child in exploring her culture.  This is just what is documented in the opinion.  And even the professionals involved made it clear that the Pages had failed to perform their duty as foster parents by these actions.  Clear efforts were made by Rusty and Summer to isolate Lexi and push themselves onto her as her "only family".

I've heard through sources that the media coverage and opinion documents only chronicle a fraction of the Pages dysfunction in how they handled Lexi.  Granted, this is third hand info, so there is no way to validate its accuracy.  I've heard through trusted sources that she was actually happy to be taken from their home and tore that tight braid from her hair the moment she stepped foot in Utah.  It has been hinted that the Page home had been an unhealthy environment for her.  In the comment thread of a recent WND article, there is a commenter stating that cameras were all over the home and the child was videotaped frequently to monitor her.  This allegation somewhat mirrors the issue the therapist had with gaining one on one access to Lexi.  The Pages balked at individual therapy outside of their home because they wanted to be involved to monitor her and interfered frequently during group sessions.  Other allegation by this same commenter are that Lexi was not allowed to play with certain neighborhood children because those children were "going to hell" and that the Pages tried desperately to minimize Lexi's relationship with her siblings in Utah.  

The appellate opinion alone highlights the Pages failure to be adequate foster parents once they realized the child would be removed from their home and this information, along with what I've heard through other sources and the commenter in the WND article, paint a very dark and disturbing picture of this family who touted themselves as saviors to this little foster child.  I wonder what that child is telling those around her now.

Of course, the Pages and their supporters are wailing and praying and pushing to take this case to the United States Supreme Court.  Some are even pointing out that the big win in 2013 (Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl) should be the shoe in they need to get Lexi back into their clutches, even though Adoptive Couple was addressed in early hearings and the courts determined it did not apply to this case.  Some have suggested private investigators be hired to stalk and monitor how the child is faring in Utah.  A few have outright suggested they just go to Utah and snatch her back. 

What took me and others by surprise was the fact that some of their supporters actually took the time to read the documents and started pointing out the misleading misinformation the Pages presented.  With the truth published in the most recent appellate opinion, those who took the time to read felt the Pages had lied to them and the child should be left alone.  It was good to see some of them waking up and seeing the bullshit for what it was.  As for the rest of them still blindly towing the party line....well, you can't fix stupid.