Miami-Dade, FL : Lost record shakes up custody case, 4-year-old Cubangirl at the center of an international custody dispute....

Lost record shakes up custody case
CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE

http://www.theolympian.com/national/...ry/199801.html

Three days before a controversial trial over the fate of a 4-year-old
girl at the center of an international custody dispute, an attorney for
the Department of Children & Families dropped a bombshell Friday: They
have no records to show that the girl's mother ever agreed to give up
custody of the child.

For months, DCF and attorneys for the girl's birth father and foster
father have planned for a trial in which the state will seek to prove
that Rafael Izquierdo, the girl's Cuban father, is unfit to raise her.
The trial is expected to begin Monday.

But at a hastily called emergency hearing Friday morning before Circuit
Judge Jeri B. Cohen, DCF attorneys acknowledged they have no documents
to prove the girl's mother, Elena Perez, agreed to give up custody. The
girl now lives with Joe and Maria Cubas, a Cuban-American family in
Coral Gables.

The news infuriated Cohen, said sources who participated in the hearing,
which was held in secret despite an order by the Third District Court of
Appeal that proceedings in the case be open to the public. Cohen
declined to discuss the development with a reporter.

The judge presided over the emergency hearing from her North Miami-Dade
home, because she had vacated her courtroom Friday so that another judge
could meet with the parties to try to reach a compromise.

The new wrinkle shrouds the case in uncertainty.

If DCF can find no record that the mother agreed to relinquish custody
of the girl, Perez may be entitled to a trial in which child welfare
attorneys must prove she, too, is unfit. Sources say Perez's attorneys
are not prepared to go to trial Monday and may object to the father's
trial going forward.

That's because much, if not most, of the evidence to be presented
against Izquierdo involves actions by the girl's mom. DCF is arguing,
for example, that Izquierdo should have known the child was unsafe with
her mother because Perez was mentally ill, but he allowed his daughter
to emigrate to the United States with her anyway.

Attorneys for Perez do not want DCF presenting evidence against the
mother without her being there to defend herself, sources said.

But the stakes might be higher still: Ira Kurzban, Izquierdo's attorney,
said Friday that under Florida law, the state has no jurisdiction to
keep the girl from either birth parent if Perez has not already been
found unfit. Kurzban said he will ask the judge to return the girl to
Izquierdo on Monday if no records can be found that Perez agreed that
she was unfit to raise her child.

Lacking an official order, sources said, DCF was hoping to produce a
transcript of a court hearing in which Perez surrendered custody. But at
Friday's hearing, DCF attorneys acknowledged they have no been able to
locate that, either.

''If there is no order of dependency [for the mother] I believe the
judge must immediately return the child to her birth father,'' Kurzban
said. ``If this does not happen, we certainly intend to file an
emergency writ with the Third District Court of Appeal.''

Kevin Coyle Colbert, Perez's attorney, who was present during Friday's
emergency hearing, declined to discuss the new development with a
reporter. And a spokesman for DCF in Tallahassee, Al Zimmerman, said the
confidentiality of foster care proceedings precluded him from discussing
the case, as well.

Alan Mishael, attorney for the foster parents, said Friday that DCF's
anxiety over the missing record is unnecessary.

''What was discussed today was a clerical error that we expect the court
to rectify next week,'' Mishael said. ``[The judge] has full authority
to do so, and it will be a matter of course. . . . I'm not losing sleep
over this issue.''

The ''clerical error'' to which Mishael referred: Months ago, amid one
of the most contentious child welfare cases in Miami history, the
juvenile court clerk's office misplaced much of the official record and
has been recreating it ever since.

Mishael insists Perez did agree in court to a finding that she was not
fit to retain custody of the little girl.

''The mother did consent,'' Mishael said. ``I'm confident that the
mother entered a consent. I'm satisfied she entered a consent.''

But Perez insists she did not agree to give up her daughter.

The mother -- who had a romantic relationship with Izquierdo but never
married him -- said she agreed to give up her son, a 13-year-old half
brother of the 4-year-old girl. He was adopted by the Cubas family.

``In the case of the boy, I asked him during the last visit if he wanted
to return [to Cuba]. I told him he had family there, his father, his
grandparents. He said no, he didn't want to return. Then I said, go
ahead, give me the [adoption] papers.''

The daughter's case, she said, is markedly different: ``I never gave up
my daughter.''

Throughout the proceedings, she said, she has felt confused and
isolated. ``I'm up in the air. I haven't had anyone on my side.''

Now she says she only wants to be taken into consideration.

DCF has consistently taken the position that Perez formally agreed to
the state's dependency petition -- meaning Perez's daughter was
dependent on the state because her mother was unfit. And, in a recent
court hearing, Cohen recalled the mother's demeanor this way:

'She basically walked in here and said, 'I don't want my kids, ' ''
Cohen said. ``She let herself be beaten down by life, and she did not
want to fight for her children.''




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 THOUSANDS 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...