Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General The "Right" kind or parents.

I don't think it's a slam dunk either, Julia. But it's looking more, rather than less, like one, as a result of the boy's testimony. It seems unlikely that this alleged abuse can be "proven", but in such a case the child's word usually trumps the parents. Especially when one of the parents has a reputation for being "loco" and the other for being absent.

I have no clue why the father is now making all this effort to gain custody. Nor am I greatly concerned with the reason. I just hate to see the child becoming a political football. As far as we know, she has never lived with the father, ever. She has never known a stable family life until her foster home, it would seem.

My neighbors have a foster grandchild with a similar background. Their son and DIL recently adopted her. They're rednecks through and through, Southern Baptists, and I have no doubt they would vote for their dog before they'd vote for a Democrat, but they treat the girl well.

Everything else pales in importance, IMHO.

And I'm sure the Cuban-American couple in Coral Gables did not coach that testimony at all. American Rightwing political fanatics have never been shy about using children as part of their political agenda, and this case will be no different.

Maybe he just loves his daughter.

If the judge does not do the "right" thing from a Rightwing ideology point of view, you can always count on Bush intervening in order to retain the Florida vote.

When have "American Leftwing political fanatics" not used children as part of their agenda? There are few Democrats in national politics who have not said that this program is "for our children" so it MUST be supported.

Speculative.
Flies in the face of the evidence.
Partisan hackery.

I do not know how a child can be adopted without either the consent of the parents or a court order severing the relationship between parent and child. It cannot happen in california, and I do not know if it is possible in Florida or not, and the articles you cite really aren't helpful since they are not written from a legal point of view.

I am sure once the court issues its order in this case, we will learn much more. I have no idea about what is best for the child and have never presumed to comment upon that.

My only point is that we ought to be very wary of the state's power to take children from a parent, even a bad parent. That is a very intrusive power and one that normally conservatives rail against. As I said, it seems to me the main reason why such opinions are not expressed in this case is the nationality of the petitioning father, and I think that is a shame.

The testimony of a child of 13 is received by the court with caution and normally a court will require some corrobarting evidence, although not always if it is convinced the child is testifying without pressure, coaching or coercion.

I practied family law for many years and have represented parents in court fights with the state over such matters. The court is, in this state, bound to defer to the parents unless convincing evidence is shown that their rights are to be terminated.

Placing a child in a foster home is far easier and can rest simply on a finding about the best interests of the child and a showing of abuse.

I think what I have read is inconclusive on those issues, but much more evidence would be given to the judge in the case, so I would defer to her on that point.

I emphasize, my point was about the seeming prejudice in the blogosphere against the father because he lives in Cuba.

Actually, the first thing I smelled was money...as in "wealthy foster parents."

After I put that aside, I wondered if the the situation would be different if, assuming all other details were the same, the mother wanted to bring the child back to Cuba.

Then I returned to the smell of money and I'm still kind of stuck there.

(I do agree with Julia, however, that we don't have enough facts.)

What bothers me about stuff like this is that the press has the opportunity to frame the story, and people base opinion on that.

Had the story been framed as "Cuban father comes to rescue of child" the same story could have generated very different reactions.

I don't claim to know what's right or wrong here - but the manipulation, or at least the potential for it, rubs me very much the wrong way.

Thanks Phil, good post.

Oh. I honestly hadn't caught that. Do you have some examples?