Seeking custody of your child is abuse

Following up some more on the Cuban custody case, we read this:

The man is fighting claims by the Department of Children & Families that he is not a fit parent. The department had accused the man of neglect, abandonment and abuse of the girl. The state alleges the man is abusing his daughter by seeking custody even though she has bonded with the family that has custody of her and wants to adopt her.

Let that sink in.

This, in part, is why dependency defenders do what we do.

Now, for the point of the story:

A Miami-Dade County juvenile court judge on Monday dismissed abuse accusations against a Cuban father seeking custody of his 4-year-old daughter and told child welfare attorneys their allegations that the man abandoned his child are weak...
Ira Kurzban, the attorney for the father, called the department's charge "ridiculous" and said if accepted it "would end the dependency system entirely." Circuit Court Judge Jeri B. Cohen agreed, saying it was the first time she had ever heard of a parent accused of abusing a child because they fought for custody.

With all respect, Your Honor, it is not the first time I have heard of it happening.

The case will continue, however:

The judge's decision leaves two claims remaining in the state's dependency petition against Izquierdo, and the judge left little doubt she is not impressed by one of those -- that Izquierdo abandoned his daughter by allowing her to move to the United States and not sending her birthday cards or money after she arrived.

''With everything you have, even if you pull a rabbit out of a hat, I just don't see how'' the state can prove Izquierdo intended to abandon his daughter, the judge told Department of Children and Families attorney Rebecca Kapusta.

You know, I'm not really a DCF basher. This is important, though, because it is about the practice of law. I am not dredging up some past failure just to do it; this is happening right now:

Signaling her frustration with DCF's legal team, Cohen urged the lawyers to take a second look at their entire case, a theme she has returned to frequently during weekly hearings. ''You need to listen to what I'm telling you,'' she told Kapusta and the two other lawyers representing DCF.

``You need to be intellectually honest with yourselves. . . . Or are you just so locked into something because you are state employees and attorneys, and you can't see the forest for the trees?''

Cohen's suggestion that attorneys reconsider their case marked the second time Monday that the judge criticized the state for its handling of the case. Earlier in the day, Cohen scolded DCF for failing to notice, until the last minute, that they lacked a crucial court order.