It looks like we have another Elian?

[trumad]

Details of the state's case against a father seeking to take his daughter back to Cuba emerged for the first time Friday in a Miami courtroom, where the fate of the 4-year-old in the middle of an international custody dispute will be decided.

Blue-eyed, redheaded and precocious, the little girl came to Miami with her pre-teen half brother in 2005 after their mother won the right to emigrate. By that December, the children had been sheltered by the Department of Children & Families when the mother tried to commit suicide.

The children have been living with foster parents, a wealthy Cuban-American family in Coral Gables, for more than a year. The foster parents are fighting to maintain custody of a little girl they say has become a part of their family. She calls her foster father papi. He calls her mi amor (my love).

In a petition filed in Miami's juvenile court -- the details of which were disclosed in a court hearing Friday morning -- DCF is arguing that the girl's birth father, a farmer in Cuba, failed to protect her by not devising a ''safety plan'' to protect the little girl in the United States if her mother became incapacitated or ill.

DCF attorneys say in the petition that the father essentially abandoned his daughter by not sending her money, birthday cards, presents or letters after she left the island. Under Florida law, a father may be declared unfit if he abandons his child.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/199659.html

[karlrschneider]

1. another bag of worms, apparently. What ever happened to Elian?

And how old is he now, 13 or so???

[Maat]

2. As a retired social worker ... I'm glad I never had a case like this!

Whew! Dealing with international considerations is a pain in the whazoo.

I'm not sure what will happen here!

[LiberalFighter]

3. Not sending money, birthday cards, etc is not enough to declare abandonment IMO

Devising a safety plan? Where the hell does Florida DCF come up with that? That is the court's function.

The non-custodial parent should automatically have custody when the custodial parent dies or is unable to function as a custodial parent. Unless, the court determines the non-custodial parent is unfit. And the only court that has jurisdiction is the original court where the proceedings were initially determined.

American courts need to speed up the process of denying jurisdictional authority in cases like this.