Cuban Dad Gets Girl Over FL's Objection
A hard-fought child custody case pitting a 5-year-old girl’s Cuban father against Florida officials and wealthy foster parents has ended with a ruling upholding the dad’s parental rights.
Although the Florida Department of Children & Families said Rafael Izquierdo abandoned his daughter after her mother brought her to South Florida in 2005, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Cohen found otherwise, reports the Associated Press. Izquierdo, a farmer, “has diligently participated in what must seem to him a mysterious and daunting legal process,” she said. “While geographically, Cuba is only 90 miles from the United States shores, the two countries are philosophically and politically worlds apart.”
Unless a parent is found unfit, it is black letter law that custody of a child shouldn’t be taken from a parent and given to a nonparent. However, Cohen criticized Izquierdo for being “passive” about his daughter and said she wouldn’t immediately take the girl from her foster family. Instead, the judge apparently plans to appoint a mediator to help determine how to handle this issue, according to the Miami Herald.
The girl went into foster care after her mother attempted suicide in December 2005.
Lawyers, reporters and others nearly filled the courtroom today as Cohen read her 47-page ruling, the newspaper says, comparing the courtroom saga to a prime-time telenovela.
“On one side has been Izquierdo, portrayed by his attorneys as an unsophisticated farmer caught up in a politically charged custody case who simply wants to take his daughter back to his home in Cabaiguán, a rural town in central Cuba,” the Herald reports.
“On the other side are Joe and Maria Cubas, a wealthy Coral Gables couple who have cared for the girl and her half-brother for 19 months. The couple says they believe the girl’s best interest is to remain with them, and say separating the siblings would be harmful to both children. They have adopted the girl’s brother, 13.”
