Cuban dad meets with rights group (Boston group goes to Miami)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Cuban dad meets with rights group
A Boston-based fathers' rights group joined the cause of a Cuban farmer trying to get custody of his daughter in Miami.
Posted on Thu, Oct. 25, 2007
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE
[email protected]

A national fathers' rights group has taken on the cause of a Cuban dad trying to gain custody of his daughter in South Florida, an effort that included sit-downs with key players in the case Wednesday.

Dr. Ned Holstein, president of the Boston-based nonprofit Fathers & Families, flew to Miami to meet with Rafael Izquierdo, the father of the 5-year-old girl at the center of the dispute.

Holstein also met staff members at the Department of Children & Families on Wednesday afternoon and unsuccessfully sought to have the department drop its efforts to keep the girl in the United States.

''I don't think there's bad faith here,'' said Holstein, who said members and supporters of his group have sent more than 2,000 letters to Gov. Charlie Crist's office and the DCF in recent weeks. ``But I think we're involved in a culture in which a father is considered irrelevant.''

The group has embarked on a public relations campaign that includes frequent updates about the case on its website and the e-mail template to send to supporters, which calls the Izquierdo case ''Elián González II,'' a reference to the young Cuban rafter who was returned home to his father in 2000.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/283526.html