Remember Elian Gonzalez?... Now we have Angel, Isaiah & Adrian.

[SoCalDem]

This is an especially sad story, since all three are American citizens, but they have a ridiculously unreliable American Mother, and a Mexican Father who was deported. The NC judge has ordered them "reunited" with their father who is temporarily staying in a hotel, but who will undoubtedly be sent back to Mexico once he's finished his "parenting classes".

There are no "winners" here,,

I cannot help but feel that NC is just eager to get rid of the lot of them



http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/felipe_montes_reunified_with_his_children_on_trial_basis.html


Felipe Montes, an immigrant father who lost his three children to foster care when he was deported two years ago, was provisionally reunited with his three young children today in a North Carolina court. “The court cannot find that the father is unfit,” County Judge Michael Duncan said from the bench in the Alleghany County courtroom shortly after noon. “The permanent plan is reunification with the father.”

snip

Montes is not yet free to take his three U.S. citizen sons, now 2, 3, and 5, to Mexico. After the ruling in court, the judge told the attorneys in chambers that the reunification would be a “trial placement” in Alleghany County, said Donna Shumate, Montes’s attorney. From December 7th until February 19th, the children are scheduled to live with their father in a local hotel. It’s the same local hotel where Montes and his kids have visited with their father since August when he returned to the country on a rare humanitarian parole from federal immigration authorities. The parole, which was granted after a long application process so that Montes could attend his parental rights hearings, currently expires on December 23rd. Ann Robertson, an immigration attorney hired by the Mexican Consulate to represent Montes, said today she will apply for an extension so that he can remain in the country until the 19th of February.

Colorlines.com broke the Montes story in February. Soon after, the Latino advocacy group Presente.org gathered 20,000 signatures on a petition demanding Alleghany County reunify the boys with their father. In recent weeks, the Alleghany County Department of Social Services reversed it’s position and began recommending the children be returned to their father. If all goes well for Montes during the trial placement, the Judge will close the child welfare case and grant Montes full rights over his children. The father plans to bring his children with him in Tamaulipas, Mexico, where he’s lived since he was deported for driving violations in 2010.

snip

Montes’s children were removed from the custody of his U.S. citizen wife Marie Montes shortly after he was deported. Mrs. Montes, who is now pregnant, is currently incarcerated for parole violations related to driving violations. She has long struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues and could not continue taking care of their children, including a newborn baby, after her husband was deported. The county child welfare department initially refused to place the boys with their father in Mexico, instead, arguing that they should be adopted by foster parents. The foster parents, Brian and Marcie Galyean, who have cared for the two older boys Isaiah and Adrian, and Bob and Patricia Westlund, who have raised Angel since the baby was born, sat quietly in the second row of benches as the judge spoke. Mrs. Galyean and Mrs. Westlund began to cry when the judge ordered the boys move toward reunification. They have previously declined to speak with Colorlines.com and left the court room quickly after the hearing today.

snip

[jberryhill]

1. Children of poor people should be assigned to wealthier people

The problem is that there are so many poor people who can't provide for their children, and so many wealthier people who are willing to raise them.

Clearly we need a "highest bidder" system where children can be relieved of poverty by assigning them to adoptive parents with a greater ability to take care of their material needs.

[Warpy]

2. His extended family in Mexico will likely step in

and the kids might thrive there. With dual citizenship, they can come back when they turn 18 if they choose to.

That's right, dual citizenship. They belong as much to Mexico as they do to the US while they are minors.

I honestly think this could be a winning situation for them, much better than leaving them with a flake of a mother. The tragedy is that they don't know their dad well, so it's going to be a rough transition.

Putting the kids in foster care at all was the mistake. They should have gone to Mexico when their dad was deported.

[SoCalDem]

4. I hope so. I wish we could make an exception for Dad & let him stay

Maybe get him some driving lessons.. and some help with the kids.

The school system in Mexico is not a public system, and with three to pay to educate, if he's from a poor family, those kids may not get much of an education.

I hope that the notoriety of the case will cause someone to step in down there & help him at least educate them well..

Having citizenship at age 18 may not be much benefit to them if they have no skills.

One reason that so many Mexicans try to come here is because they cannot afford to educate their kids.

Having extended family to help. will he a benefit, but if all are dirt-poor, there are just more mouths to feed.

[ToxMarz]

3. Sad story

As are most custody cases. And pretty much everything else that occurs in family court. But that is not what made the Elian Gonzalez case so dramatic. Very different circumstances and the never ending fight against our scary communist neighbors.