Cuban girl's fate left hanging during appeal
Associated PressState attorneys wants a decision on the father's custody overruled.
Published October 17, 2007
MIAMI - A judge postponed a hearing Tuesday in a custody dispute over a 5-year-old Cuban girl while both sides file appeals, and she urged the higher court to review the drawn-out case as quickly as possible.
Last month, Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen ruled that the Cuban father, Rafael Izquierdo, is a fit parent who did not abandon his daughter when her mother brought her to the U.S. in 2005. He wants to take her back to Cuba.
Cohen delayed the hearing on whether the girl would be endangered if she were removed from her foster family and returned to Cuba with Izquierdo, his wife and the child's 7-year-old half sister. Florida child welfare officials are trying to keep her here.
"On my hands and knees I am begging them to hear the issues on an expedited basis for the sake of the child, the families, her brother, for everyone involved," Cohen said. A South Florida couple already has adopted the girl's half brother by another father.
State attorneys filed a notice of appeal Monday. They want to overrule Cohen's decision on Izquierdo's ability as a parent.
The state also contends the girl's well being would be harmed if she was taken from her Miami foster parents.
The father's attorneys say that because Izquierdo is fit, there are no grounds for an endangerment hearing. "Otherwise, we would never take children from good foster parents," Izquierdo attorney Ira Kurzban said outside court.
Also on Tuesday, the Boston-based nonprofit Fathers and Families said it had urged thousands of supporters from around the country to contact Gov. Charlie Crist and state officials, asking them to drop the state's appeal. State officials said they had received some letters but could not immediately say how many.
Meanwhile, Izquierdo told the judge he was concerned that his older daughter was falling behind in her studies in Cuba, where classes began in September.
Izquierdo and his family arrived in the U.S. in May to claim his youngest daughter after spending nearly a year seeking a U.S. visa.
"I don't want her to fail second grade," he said. "I thought everything was going to be a lot faster."
In a rare example of collaboration in the case, all parties agreed to work together to enroll the older girl temporarily in a U.S. school.
Earlier, the lawyer for the younger girl's foster parents complained that the increased time she was spending with her father would affect the decision over her eventual placement. Since last week, she has spent weekdays with her father and weekends with her Cuban-American foster parents, Joe and Maria Cubas.
"The court is preordaining the next hearing by requiring the child to spend five days with her father," attorney Alan Mishael said outside court. Mishael said any improvements in the father-daughter relationship would be used as pretext to "take the child against her wishes to Cuba."
The custody case began after the girl's mother brought her and her half brother to the U.S. legally. The mother later attempted suicide and lost custody. The children went into foster care in late 2005.