A Florida judge ruled to send a U.S.-born baby to Haiti, and now the baby’s foster parents are fighting the decision and a local lawmaker is stepping in.
Foster mom Tamara Simmons said Haiti is not a safe place for anyone at this time, especially a baby with medical needs.
“It’s awful, like, this is not right to do this to this baby. He’s a baby,” Simmons said.
She was in tears thinking about what lies ahead for the 10-month-old in Haiti. She and her husband Gerald have been caring for the boy they call Angel since he was born.
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The couple has fostered multiple kids over the past five years and they were all successfully reunified with family.
In Angel’s case, court documents show his mom and dad terminated their parental rights and a grandmother stepped in, saying she could care for the child in Haiti.
“I said, I don’t know, but I believe in reunification, so you should check it out. Haiti isn’t just one area, so she [the state case worker] did and I became very concerned,” Simmons said.
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Simmons said a FaceTime call with a caseworker from the grandmother’s home in Haiti showed no running water or electricity in a country that is currently dealing with gang violence and disease. So, the Simmons decided to do more.
“We agreed that we would apply to adopt him so that there were other options because we were in love with him anyway,” she said.
But Broward County Judge Izquierdo decided to place the baby with his grandmother in Haiti. Court documents say the foster parents made “no objection and raised no concerns regarding the proposed change of placement.”
“In Izquierdo’s defense, he literally didn’t know it wasn’t unopposed because every time I asked to oppose it, they were like, you have to do it at staffing,” Simmons said.
The couple has tried to overturn the decision through the courts, but so far they’ve lost every case.
On Thursday, State Rep. Dotie Joseph wrote a letter to the Department of Children and Families requesting the child stay in the U.S. citing Florida law and saying it is not in the “best interest” of the child to be living in the current conditions in Haiti.
Simmons has packed baby food to prepare for the pending trip but hopes something stops the decision.
“Yes, he is an American citizen, yes we think he should stay in this country, but he at least should stay in his county until the country they are trying to send him to has some stability,” she said.
As of Friday, this is a done deal. It’s unclear if any of these actions will have an impact on the fate of the child.
