Whose Child is This?

Whose Child is This?

This is a story that my friend told me.  A couple (one American and one Mexican) had a 18 month old child.  They lived together and planned to marry, then he was picked up for traffic violations and eventually deported.  She couldn’t live alone and released her parental rights to the state.  The child was placed with foster parents who wanted to adopt her.  The father objected and wanted custody of the child.  The child welfare system is still trying to decide in which country the child belongs.

Today I saw a child whose story is so strange that it doesn’t sound true.  I have written of Ricardo who was deported because of traffic violations.  He had one four year old child by an imperfect woman.  The maternal grandmother in Mexico was terminally ill so mother and child went to be with her.  Mother decided to stay in Mexico but the child who is an American citizen was to be raised by Ricardo.  Then he was deported and is now in Mexico.  However, he became depressed and has employment where he is required to work long hours six days a week for little money.  Neither parent felt that they could raise this child at this time so they sent her to the United States to be with her half sister. Her half sister is 21 and is married with a two year old daughter.  However, after the ticket was bought for the trip to the United States, the brother-in-law was picked up by immigration for traffic violations and Y. was a single parent with many bills.  She decided that she could not take her half sister.  This child is now with another 17 year old half sister who works full time and lives with friends.  This child is now 5 but has not been to pre-school.  The school in Mexico would not take her because she was a U.S. citizen and because of budget cuts, the schools in the U.S. were full when she arrived here.  This child has two countries and no countries, many parents and no parents.