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A North Carolina judge's decision brings happiness and shock as a child just starts to get to know her real mother.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 26, 2001
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Seven years after her daughter disappeared, a Hernando County woman will finally be able to bring the child home.
Lazalia "Sissy" Urick, 24, and her fiance can take custody of their daughter, Crystal, after the three spend several days getting to know one another, a Wake County district court judge ruled Wednesday after a closed hearing.
The parents expect to return to Florida on Sunday with 7-year-old Crystal, who was placed in a foster home last week after the woman she knew as her mother was accused of abducting her.
The ruling requires continued mental health services for Crystal during the next few days, and the couple also must seek social services for Crystal when they return to Florida.
"We're happy, very, very happy," Urick said outside the courthouse with Crystal's father, Ernest Barnett, 29. The couple broke up before Crystal was born but reunited two years ago.
The parents had their first visit with Crystal on Wednesday, but they gave no details. Barnett's attorney described the meeting as awkward at first.
"But she became very excited to meet them," said Robert Lane III of Raleigh, who did not sit in on the 11/2-hour meeting. "She even was asking when she was going to get to go to Florida."
The three talked about Crystal's favorite colors and food, about Walt Disney World and Sea World, Lane said. They did not talk about Katherine Romero. Romero, 39, was charged last week with felony child abduction. She will have a preliminary hearing today in which her lawyer will seek to lower her $1-million bail.
Romero was caring for Urick's 6-month-old daughter in 1994 while Urick, who had been living in a van, looked for a place to stay. Romero is accused of hiding Crystal when Urick said she wanted the child back a few weeks later.
Romero's family was shocked by the judge's decision.
"Oh, God, I can't believe this is happening," said Romero's sister-in-law, Angie Ryan. "I hate to think what is going to happen to her (Crystal). Sissy is not a good mother."
Ryan, who lives in Hernando County, said she hopes to get visitation rights and that her family would keep a close eye on Urick and Barnett.
Police say Romero took the girl from her family and fled to Mexico, where Romero obtained a phony birth certificate for Crystal. The family returned to North Carolina several years ago.
Last week, authorities arrested Romero at a Burger King in Raleigh, where she was a manager. They took Crystal into protective custody.
Romero's family and others from Urick's past, including an ex-boyfriend who testified against Urick, said Urick was not fit to care for Crystal because she had given up custody of her other children and that one had drowned in a swimming pool last year.
Authorities in that case found no evidence of neglect and ruled the drowning accidental.
But Judge Anne Salisbury did not focus on Urick's other children, Lane said.
The judge also implied that Urick, who was 17 when her daughter was taken, is no longer the child she was then.
"The judge actually stated that if this had been 1994, and a 17-year-old was trying to get her daughter back, that may be a totally different case than dealing with someone seven years later," Lane said.
Judge Salisbury and social service officials declined to comment after the hearing. The judge will issue a written ruling, but it will be sealed.
Barnett's lawyer, Lane, said the judge noted that Urick had not abandoned Crystal in 1994.
Two weeks after Urick gave power of attorney to Romero in July 1994, she drove to North Carolina to get her daughter.
Court records show that Urick revoked the power of attorney, which does not grant custody, less than a month later.
Lane said he doubts that Romero's family will be allowed to see Crystal before she leaves, or that Romero's Hernando relatives will be allowed to play a role in her life.
Urick and Barnett are eager to spend time with Crystal and bring her back to their home south of Brooksville, Lane said.
- Staff writer Jamie Malernee contributed to this report.