Brother is pivotal in Cuban girl's custody dispute (another Elian case brewing)

[Mika]

Source: Miami Herald

The preteen brother of a 4-year-old girl at the center of an international custody dispute is emerging as a key player in the drama, which has pitted the girl's birth father, a Cuban national, against Florida child-welfare administrators and the boy's adoptive family.

Alan Mishael, the attorney for the Coral Gables family that adopted the 12-year-old boy and wishes to adopt his sister, announced at a court hearing Thursday that he will ask a judge to make the boy a party to the dispute. If that is approved by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen, the boy would be allowed to help in trying to sway the judge's ruling.

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At issue before Cohen is whether the birth father is fit to raise the girl in Cuba, or whether she was abused, neglected or abandoned by him in the past. Unless Cohen determines the girl was mistreated, and is therefore a ''dependent'' of the state, the question of where she will live cannot be addressed in juvenile court.

But the judge has said repeatedly that she does not want the girl to be emotionally traumatized by being ripped from her foster parents, who have cared for her for more than a year.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/183769.html

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The print edition of the story mentions that the girl was placed in the custody of a prominent Cuban exile family (read: hard line anti Castro).

[zbdent]

1. So, where's the Religious Reich who have always said

that a child needs his/her father?

[Mika]

4. Not to mention the US flag burning Cuban exiles (after Elian was rescued). n/t

The prominent exile family has requested that there be no 24/7 vigils chanting "your father is the devil" and such, as they did during the Elian saga. The radical exile community has obliged - for now - depending on the judge's ruling.

[Judi Lynn]

2. The "exiles" made made the same claim of horrible behavior against Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elián's own

father, even though he had been sharing custody very capably with his ex-wife, Elisabet, maintaining a bedroom for the kid, and taking him to school every day.

You can be sure if that little boy, the brother, has already been adopted, the new parents are going to make sure, one way or another, that he will testify convincingly for their side, since THEY are the ones who will be his parents from now on, and he can't afford to anger them now.

There were some underhanded tactics by the state already in this case:

In a hearing last week, Kurzban complained bitterly that Department of Children & Families caseworkers waited four months to even alert the birth father that his daughter was in state care.
(snip)

What a dirty trick. Since the mother had already given up guardianship, having committed suicide, it should have been completely expected the girl's father would be notified immediately. Shameful.

When a group of political extremists in this country can hijack the law to the extent they did with Elián, even involving U.S. Senators and Representatives in their battle, once it got underway, they involve the entire country. This is an issue far larger than just Florida!

[Mika]

3. I think that the parents had joint custody in Cuba.

The mother abandoned the daughter. Just as in the Elian case, jurisdiction resides in Cuba.

But.. this is going on in Miami, where, if there are anti Castro political points to be scored, the legal twisting will be extreme. The biggest difference is that there is no Dorris Meisner nor Janet Reno to enforce justice in this case.

BTW, just as Juan Miguel Gonzales did, the father has come to the USA to claim his daughter.

[ngant17]

5. I think it will be completely predictable

how the custody battle will end. Because of the rightwing influence in government which did not exist 10 years ago under Pres. Clinton.

Note also that one of the more reactionary politicians of the Elian Gonzalez era, former Rep. Bill McCollum (R), is now the AG for Florida. He was in the forefront of trying to keep Elian in Miami against the wishes of his father.

It would be predictable to think that McCollum would now have an axe to grind against the process turning toward the Cuban father, having saw how quickly he lost with the Elian case. It's payback time for this guy.

I suppose many of the old guard of the Republican Party now have the chance to make things happen quite differently than what normal custody law might require in an international custody case involving Cuba.

Will Cuba consider this a kidnapping case?

[Judi Lynn]

6. I was sick with dread that Juan Miguel would decide to go to his drunken uncle's house

to demand his son back, and would be shot by someone the CANF had lying in wait for just that moment, knowing after they killed him, it would have been almost impossible for his next-of-kin in Cuba, his 4 grandparents to get custody.

Wish this father all possible luck. He will surely need it, won't he?

[ngant17]

7. He's certainly a brave man

to walk in the middle of the nest of Cuban emigre terrorist cells of Miami. OTOH, whether brave or coward, you would have to do it if you believed in your rights to custody anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if a Miami cop's gun accidentally discharges or something really contrived, many scenarios are possible for what amounts to justice in that part of the country these days. No one will be prosecuted, and they'll just make the guy into a hero and name a Miami street after him.