Tuesday, November 9, 2010

MO Supreme Court Hears Child Adoption Case Taken From Undocumented Mother By Jasper County Judge David C. Dally

Carlos, Encarnacion Bail Romero's son in 2007.

Jasper County judge didn't have legal authority to end parential rights of Encarnacion Bail Romero and to give her son Carlos to the Mosers in 2008, Southern District Court of Appeals ruled.

By H. Nelson Goodson
November 9, 2010

Carthage, Missouri - On Tuesday, the Missouri State Supreme court began to hear the case of Encarnacion Bail Romero of Guatemala whose 7-month-old child was taken away for being undocumented. On October 9, 2008, through an adoption proceeding, which left Romero out from the hearing a Jasper County judge gave Seth and Malinda Moser custody of the child. The Mosers lost the case when Romero appealed in a lower court and then they filed an appeal with the state supreme court.
Another couple who Romero left Carlos with couldn't care for him anymore while Romero was incarcerated. They gave the child to the Mosers, which the lower appeals court ruled was illegal. The Mosers had been the foster parents since October 5, 2007, according to court documents. In 2008, Circuit Court Judge David C. Dally claimed Romero had abandon her child and had little to offer, thus ending her parential rights by taking away her child.
She was kept in custody for two years serving time for an immigration violation, after being arrested at the Barry County poultry company along with 136 undocument immigrants in 2007. Bail had previously been deported, but returned to the U.S. and gave birth to Carlos now four.
In February of 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement waved Romero's deportation in order for her to challenge Judge Dally's decision to end her parential rights. John de Leon, her first attorney from Miami argued she was not informed by Judge Dally of the adoption proceedings in Spanish and lacked legal representation at the time. Romero was able to get an attorney until after the case was decided.
On July 21, 2010 she won on appeal, and the appeals court decided the Jasper County court had no legal authority to give custody to the Mosers. Attorneys William J. Fleischaker, Christopher M. Huck and R. Omar Riojas filed for Romero.
Romero's case is not the only case where children are taken from parents in the nation where judges believe U.S. born children to undocumented parents are better off with adoptive U.S. couples who are more stable.
Why? According to Dally's decision, he believed the only certainty was that Romero would remain incarcerated until she would be deported.
In a private adoption petition proceeding sought by the Mosers, Judge Dally failed to order authorities to present Romero at the hearing who was incarcerated. At the proceedings, he claimed Romero had abandon her child for not being there and not providing any financial support. How could she?, Romero was in custody, couldn't work and records showed she tried to contact Carlos, but had no information how to contact her child. Neither Dally's court had provided Romero with information making it difficult for her to search for Carlos. She eventually received help from other inmates who spoke Spanish to finally locate, get an attorney and file for an appeal on Dally's decision.
Dally granted custody to the Mosers, his reason was that they were financially stable and would provide better care for Romero's child than his own undocumented mother. 
In Nebraska, Maria Luz Cute of Guatemala was awarded parential rights of her U.S. born daughter Angelica and son Daniel after they were taken away and put in a foster home, when she was arrested on April 2005 for lying to an officer. A neighbor called police when it was notice her daughter was sick and she wasn't taken for medical treatment. When police investigated, she told police she was the baby seater for fear of being deported. She was arrested and later deported. In 2008, Cute lost her parential rights, but appealed. The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the decision to take her children.
There are countless cases where state judges decide undocumented parents are unsuitable to care for their children due to there situations.
Parents enter the U.S. illegally to seek a better future for their families and children. It seems, state judges take advantage of the undocumented status and makes it easier for U.S. couples to adopt U.S. born children taken away from their undocumented parents.

Encarnacion Bail Romero July 21, 2010 appeals case at link: http://bit.ly/9JEcC7

Children removed from undocumented parents and put for adoption video http://bit.ly/bSCe5A and Maria Luz Cute news video at http://bit.ly/bmmCGf

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