COURT AWARDS CHILD CUSTODY TO FATHER WHO WAS DEPORTED

It’s frustrating to see the administrative process work an injustice that could have been prevented by the exercise of a little bit of foresight and a degree of compassion. Child custody matters in Michigan and nationwide can encounter complications when one or both parents are deported to their native country during a period when child custody is at issue. Such a move will generally take the deported parent or parents out of the equation.

If, for example, the children are taken from one parent by a local child services agency, the deportation of the other parent may necessitate placing them in the physical custody of foster care parents. That happened in 2010 when a father was unable to fight for custody of his three young sons because he was being deported for having several traffic violations. The deportation prevented him from acting when the mother lost legal custody due to a finding that she was unfit and had neglected the children.

As a result, the children ended up in the physical custody of foster care parents. Recently, however, a court in South Carolina awarded custody to the father after he was given a special ‘humanitarian parole’ to return from Mexico to attend scheduled custody hearings. A lawyer appointed for the children had proposed that the foster parents should be given legal guardianship.

The county department of social services recommended reunification, i.e., that the father get legal custody and be allowed to take them to Mexico. The judge agreed and ordered legal custody in the father. The case received national attention for illustrating the problems that can arise in child custody matters when state and federal agencies have no guidelines or policies regarding the effect of deportation on child custody issues.

Whether in Michigan or elsewhere, a child custody matter will ultimately be decided on the basis of what is in the best interest of the children. In this case, conflicting concerns were weighed and resolved in favor of restoring the natural bond between a father and his young children. The social services agency and the court recognized the superior benefit of the father-child bond to the overall good of the children.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal, “Man granted permanent custody to take his sons home to Mexico,” Michael Hewlett, Feb. 20, 2013