We have noticed many things being repeated in the press and on social media about this case which are extremely presumptuous, and in many cases, simply not true. There are many on social media with very radical and extremely narrow viewpoints. Some are against adoption completely. Some foresee no circumstances at all under which a child should be placed with non-relatives, or where there might be good cause to depart from the ICWA placement preferences. Some turn this into an all or nothing debate over the ICWA. Many of these arguments are vastly oversimplified and are based on blind adherence to general viewpoints, and miss the mark regarding what is truly important in this case.

  At the end of the day, what truly matters in this case is what is best for an individual child named Lexi, a child with unique life circumstances and particular details surrounding her case. What are her best interests? How is her physical, emotional, and social welfare being protected and preserved? And in this specific case, is there good cause to depart from the placement preferences under the ICWA?

  We wish for people to realize that if you have never met any of the parties involved in a case and have never seen all of the applicable court orders and evidence on record, then you should take caution in speaking prematurely and presumptuously on what you think you “know”. On both sides of this case, opinions and assumptions are all too often passed around as “fact”. This produces a cascading effect of ignorance and misunderstanding, and as a result, distorts public perception in ways that are not healthy nor helpful.

  The Pages are not evil people on some sort of political vendetta. They are merely people who grew to love a girl unconditionally when no one else would love her. And she grew to love them, when no one else would care for her. The Utah family also are not evil people. Choctaw Native Americans are not evil people. And we wish that everyone, on both sides of this debate, would frame their discussions in ways that are more constructive and informative.

With that said, there are many arguments being made, that are based on very misguided and uninformed perspectives, resulting from a lack of knowledge about the applicable laws in general and the details of this case in particular. We wish to bring as much clarity as possible to these claims, based on the very limited amount of information that is publicly available.

  Proverbs 18:17 (ESV) – “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

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Questions – Click on each question below for the facts:

• Wasn’t Lexi “not adoptable”?
• Aren’t the Pages foster parents & not adoptive?
• Isn’t Lexi living with her biological siblings?
• Wouldn’t it have been easier and/or better if they had just let her leave when they were supposed to? Why did they delay when they knew her family wanted her?
• Why haven’t the Pages sent all her things?
• Didn’t the Pages violate Lexi’s confidentiality & didn’t they start the media attention?
• Isn’t the goal of child welfare to be reunited with family?
• Didn’t they know when Lexi was placed with them that it was temporary and she was going to be put with relatives after a short while?
• Doesn’t the biological father have a right to decide where his child should be placed, especially since his rights are not terminated?
• Aren’t the Pages profiting off the situation?
• Aren’t the Pages doing this because of their own attachment to Lexi?
• Aren’t the judges faulting the Pages for the current situation by saying they didn’t object to hearing dates?
• Haven’t the Pages tried to forcibly adopt another child from foster care?
• Why did the Pages teach Lexi to call them Mom and Dad?