FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A foster family said they have been raising a baby since he was a week old, but a judge’s decision to have him deported to Haiti is now threatening to rip them apart.
Speaking with 7News on Thursday, Tamara and Gerald said they had originally planned not to adopt the child. They always wanted to reunite him with family.
That all changed when the Florida Department of Children and Families decided they were going to send the 10-month-old to Haiti.
7News cameras captured the nursery for the boy Tamara and Gerald call Angel, who may be taken at any moment.
“We are up against the government, basically,” said Gerald. “We’re David, they’re Goliath.”
“We’re just regular people. I am a United States veteran,” said Tamara. “I have served my country my entire freaking life, between being a veteran and being a court reporter with the legal system, and now years of taking in foster children.”
Tamara and Gerald have fostered more 10 children over several years.
“These are our children. This is our legacy,” said Tamara.
Angel came to the family when he was a few days old in December. His mother’s rights were eventually terminated.
According to court documents, the infant’s father doesn’t want him.
In August, Broward Circuit Court Judge Jose Izquierdo ruled Angel should be with his maternal grandmother in Haiti.
“They want to take an American citizen child and strip him of his rights and dump him in a third world country that is at war with itself,” said Tamara.
Haiti is a country on chaos on the verge of collapse, where gangs are forcing hospital closures.
Angel has a heart condition, and his grandmother lives in the mountains.
“There’s no plumbing in the home. There’s no water in the home. There’s no electricity in the home,” said Tamara.
Florida State Rep. Dotie Joseph of North Miami said she has reached out to DCF.
“My reaction is, this is absurd,” she said.
Joseph said she wants DCF to take a hard look at the case.
“Whomever they contracted with, that found the situation in Haiti was somehow acceptable, was beyond my comprehension,” she said.
In Broward County, the Department of Children and Families contracts with the nonprofit ChildNet for its foster program.
Izquierdo has also ruled against the input of the child’s guardian ad litem, who is supposed to be Angel’s advocate.
“She vehemently opposes him being sent to Haiti, and the guardian program said, ‘Oh, well, we’re voting to send him,'” said Tamara.
Angel has three other siblings in South Florida who share the same grandmother in Haiti. They have all been adopted.
Izquierdo presided on one of those cases.
It is worth noting that Angel was born in the U.S. and is an American citizen.
“There are no laws to protect an American citizen baby, because no one ever thought they had to write a law,” said Tamara, “and they have no way, there is no way for them to follow up on him.”
Tamara said Angel could be taken at any moment, so she keeps a suitcase full of a month’s worth of formula and food, as she prays for a miracle.
“Here I am. Help me, help me save this baby. I need help. We need help,” she said.
“We’re trying to do the right thing, and we’re trying to save this baby’s life,” said Gerald.
“At the risk of everything that we have,” added Tamara.
This family has spent more than $50,000 in legal fees.
Although a federal judge on Thursday denied the family’s request to halt sending Angel to Haiti, Joseph is seeking assurances from DCF that they will not do so until they have taken a close look at the case. She’s hoping to have more information in the next few days.
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