LOS ANGELES—Review for the case of a Santa Clarita family fighting to retain custody of a six-year-old foster girl was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, January 9.

Summer and Rusty Page had custody of Lexi, who was taken from their home on March 21, 2015. Lexi, who is of Choctaw Native American ancestry, lived with the family for 4 years. She was moved to be with distant family in Utah under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The federal Act was passed in the 1970s in order to help protect Native American children.

In a statement given Monday, Rusty and Summer Page indicated they wanted to adopt Lexi and the US Supreme Court’s decision was a “crushing blow.”

“Early this morning, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear our case,” the Pages wrote in a statement on the SaveOurLexi Facebook page. “To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.”

Lexi had been taken from her biological mother, who had a drug abuse problem, when she was 17 months old. Her biological father has a criminal history. When she was taken from the Pages last March, the foster family moved to a California state appeals court to gain custody, but was denied.

When the California Supreme Court denied to review the custody case, the Pages were able to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved. The U.S. Supreme Court gave no comment on the decision.

The Pages said Monday they will keep fighting for changes to the law “and the rights of other children unnecessarily hurt by the Indian Child Welfare Act.”

The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978, in an effort to keep Native American children with their Native American families. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans.

Lisa Reed, Public Relations Executive Director for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma said the following in a statement: “The Choctaw Nation desires 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.”

Lexi and the Pages’ case is one of many affected by the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law came to pass once it was found that an unusually high number of Native American families were broken up because of cultural prejudices within the child welfare system.