Experts: DCF stretching law to keep girl from Cuban dad

Experts: DCF stretching law to keep girl from Cuban dad
Posted on Fri, Aug. 10, 2007

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/brea...ry/199659.html

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER


Details of the state's case against a father seeking to take his
daughter back to Cuba emerged for the first time Friday in a Miami
courtroom, where the fate of the 4-year-old in the middle of an
international custody dispute will be decided.

Blue-eyed, redheaded and precocious, the little girl came to Miami with
her pre-teen half brother in 2005 after their mother won the right to
emigrate. By that December, the children had been sheltered by the
Department of Children & Families when the mother tried to commit suicide.

The children have been living with foster parents, a wealthy
Cuban-American family in Coral Gables, for more than a year. The foster
parents are fighting to maintain custody of a little girl they say has
become a part of their family. She calls her foster father papi. He
calls her mi amor (my love).

In a petition filed in Miami's juvenile court -- the details of which
were disclosed in a court hearing Friday morning -- DCF is arguing that
the girl's birth father, a farmer in Cuba, failed to protect her by not
devising a ''safety plan'' to protect the little girl in the United
States if her mother became incapacitated or ill.

DCF attorneys say in the petition that the father essentially abandoned
his daughter by not sending her money, birthday cards, presents or
letters after she left the island. Under Florida law, a father may be
declared unfit if he abandons his child.

The DCF petition also says the little girl would be harmed if forced to
leave her older brother, now 12, who protected and cared for her when
their mother was neglectful. A lawyer for the girl's foster parents, who
have adopted her brother, is asking Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen to allow
the sibling to participate in the court case.

DCF lawyers have said the biological father, a malanga and plantain
farmer from Cabaiguan in central Cuba, should be stripped of custody
because he failed to take responsibility for his child.

''The department did not create the situation with this child,'' said
Jason Dimitris, DCF's chief of staff and the state's chief litigator in
the case. ``The father created the situation, and the department had to
respond.''

FATHER'S LAWYER

In court Friday, Ira Kurzban, a prominent immigration attorney who
represents the birth father, described the course of the case as ``Alice
in Wonderland.''

Kurzban dismissed the state's claim that his client should have
financially supported his daughter as unrealistic: ''I have never heard
of a case where a person sends money from Cuba to Florida,'' he said.

Felix Masud-Piloto, a Cuba scholar who is director of DePaul
University's Center for Latino Research in Chicago, told The Miami
Herald that it would be nearly impossible for the father to have sent money.

''No one sends money from Cuba to Miami. That's insane,'' he said ``And
you have a hell of a problem trying to get money from here to Cuba. Any
money transaction involving Cuba is problematic.''

Kurzban took his biggest shot at the state's claim that the father would
cause ''permanent psychological damage'' by separating his daughter from
her half-brother. He said the allegation that the girl's right to be
with her half-brother trumps her father's right to raise her is
unprecedented.

''Now they have added a totally new theory of dependency,'' Kurzban told
the judge.

''I've wondered about that,'' replied Cohen, who in an earlier hearing
called the state's case ``light''.

EXPERT OPINIONS

Some experts in child-welfare law say they, too, fear the state's case
against the birth father could blaze new legal ground if accepted.

Paul DeMuro, the former commissioner for Children & Youth in
Pennsylvania, and a 35-year child-welfare administrator and consultant,
said the claim the state is making on behalf of the girl's brother is
extraordinary: ``I've never heard of anything like that.''

Richard Gelles, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's School of
Social Work and a 40-year veteran of child welfare who has written 25
books and consulted for Florida child-welfare administrators, told The
Miami Herald in a phone interview that the state's position does not
square with long-standing state and federal child-welfare law. He
predicted the judge would be reversed on appeal if she decides in favor
of the state.

''They are trumping up a perfectly absurd mechanism to trample on [the
father's] rights,'' he said. ``It's a deliberate attempt to ignore what
would normally be parental rights.''





CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...