Haitian community appeals to DCF on behalf of US-born baby

A child playsfully pulls another child with a rope at the Hugo Chavez public square, which has been transformed into a refuge for families forced to leave their homes due to clashes between armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Oct.  20, 2022.

A child playsfully pulls another child with a rope at the Hugo Chavez public square, which has been transformed into a refuge for families forced to leave their homes due to clashes between armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022.

AP

Florida state Rep. Dotie Joseph is urging the state’s child welfare agency to keep a 9-month-old US-born baby in South Florida rather than pursue its decision to ship him to Haiti — at least until all proceedings are concluded to determine the baby’s “best interest” for placements.

“Baby Ector is an American citizen, and as such is entitled to due process under the law,” Joseph wrote Thursday to Florida Department of Children & Families Secretary Shevaun Harris.

Her appeal is being joined by Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, which promotes early childhood initiatives. Sant La has Issued and “SOS for Baby Ector!” The center said that while it encourages family reunification, it is important to consider the chaotic conditions currently gripping Haiti.

The boy’s grandmother lives in a rural part of Haiti.

READ MORE: He’s 9 months old and a US citizen. Why does Florida DCF want to send him to Haiti?

“In the case of Baby Ector, we strongly object to the decision to send him to a country embroidered in economic and socio-political crises. The US Embassy in Haiti has ordered the evacuation of all US staff members’ children and families, as well as American citizens,” Sant La said. “They are also being warned not to travel to Haiti due to the ongoing social unrest, gang violence, kidnappings, hospital closures, and food, fuel and drinking water shortages.”

Sant La’s and Joseph’s appeals come five days after the Miami Herald reported that Ector was born in Broward County to a mother with mental health issues and a father not involved in his care. By birthright, he is an American citizen. But in August, Broward Circuit Judge Jose Izquierdo ruled that the child should be removed from the home of his foster parents, Tamara and Gerald Simmons, and sent to live with his maternal grandmother. The grandmother lives in a mountainous region outside of gang-plagued Port-au-Prince, has no steady income and had not made a claim for the child in Florida courts.

DCF, through its contractor ChildNet, sent a social worker to Haiti to seek out the grandmother and do a home study as part of its legal effort to place Ector with her rather than to allow him to be adopted after terminating the parental rights of his mother . DCF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The mother, who suffers from schizophrenia and paranoia, had previously lost custody of three of Ector’s siblings. Those children, who are in contact with each other, were allowed to be adopted. The inconsistency in treatment between Ector and his siblings, and fears for his safety in Haiti amid its worsening humanitarian and security crisis, led the Simmonses to file a federal lawsuit to block his removal. The Broward couple have taken care of Ector almost since his birth and want to adopt him.

In a letter to DCF, Joseph, who is a lawyer, said Florida law is “clear” about what factors should be considered for a “best interest determination for placement” of a child, and when “change in physical custody” is appropriate, and only to a placement that is “safe and stable.”

“The current situation in Haiti is currently neither safe nor stable — an unfortunate fact that is well documented with every major publicly available source,” wrote Joseph, who was born in Haiti and raised in Miami. Her state House district includes parts of Miami, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Biscayne Park, El Portal and Miami Shores.

READ MORE: What kind of humans ship off to collapsing Haiti a frail 9-month-old born in the USA? | Opinion

Joseph noted that she is not advocating “for this or any child to be automatically offered up for adoption when Haiti or any other country facing troubles is at play.” But she urged the child welfare agency to consider the dire situation in Haiti compared to “his current seems safe stable placement.”

Violent armed gangs are regularly blocking roads and are cutting off the supply of fuel and water in the country, Joseph noted. Schools have not been able to open for the school year and hospitals are inaccessible.

“There is a deadly cholera outbreak, and a crisis-level food shortage,” Joseph wrote. “With no steady income or running water, the baby’s grandmother’s ability to provide a ‘safe and stable’ [environment] should be fully examined before sending him away.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2022 10:06 AM.

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Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas.

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