Reply #92: The Herald added a bit of new information to the same story, later in the day:

[Judi Lynn]

Girl's Cuban dad breaks down, pleads for custody
The Cuban father fighting for custody of his 5-year-old daughter pleaded with the judge to be allowed to take the girl back to Cuba with him.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 12, 2007
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[email protected]

~snip~
After Izquierdo completed his testimony, DCF lawyers called to the stand Berta Rodriguez, a children's therapist with Psych Solutions, a private company that began treating the girl in July 2006, about six months after she began living with the Cubas family.

Rodriguez, who met the girl about 15 times, mostly at her school, testified the girl was exhibiting signs she felt rejected and abandoned by her mother, who lost custody to DCF in December 2005 following a suicide attempt.

The girl's caregivers told Rodriguez she was suffering from nightmares, had trouble sleeping, was wetting her bed, was ''clingy'' and exhibited disruptive and defiant behaviors. The girl also had been exhibiting inappropriate behavior toward other children, such as biting them or pulling their hair. ''Overall, there were always these feelings of rejection, of abandonment, of being overwhelmed,'' Rodriguez said.

Under cross-examination by one of Izquierdo's lawyers, Steve Weinger, Rodriguez acknowledged that a psychological evaluation of the girl done before she went to live with the Cubas family showed the girl was already learning how to control her behavior with another family that cared for her before the Cubases.

And, Rodriguez said, she had found no indication that any of the girl's behaviors were attributable to the actions of her father.

''There is nothing in your notes to show that she was abused by her father Rafael, right?'' Weinger asked.

''Not specifically, no,'' Rodriguez said.

``And did you find any evidence that she was abandoned by her father?''

''No,'' Rodriguez said.

``And you had not found anything the father had done that caused harm to her, did you?''

''No,'' Rodriguez said.
(snip/...)

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/234452.html