Sep 12, 2007 10:09 am US/Eastern
CBS4 Exclusive Interview With Joe And Maria Cubas
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Joe and Maria Cubas are at the center of an international custody dispute over a five-year-old girl.
Attorneys for the Florida Department of Children and Family Services and the guardian program are asking a Miami judge to order that the 5-year-old remain in the home of Joe and Maria Cubas, the Coral Gables couple who have cared for her the past 18 months. The little girl celebrated her fifth birthday this weekend at the Cubas' home.
The biological father, Rafael Izquierdo, wants to bring the girl back with him to Cuba. She and her half brother were put in foster care after their mother, Eleana Perez, tried to kill herself after arriving in South Florida.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with
CBS4's Ileana Varela, the couple spoke about the case.
"The focus has to remain on the children," said Joe Cubas from his Coral Gables home. "The children have been the two who have suffered the most in this tragic ordeal."
The children are the five-year-old girl at the center of the custody dispute and her 13-year-half brother who has already been adopted by Joe and Maria Cubas.
"They're very stressed. They're hyper and the older child, the 13-year-old, you see a sadness in his eyes," said Maria Cubas. "He's very depressed. He's very sad, very fearful he may lose his sister."
Maria added, "She has a lot of trouble sleeping. She grinds her teeth. She still urinates at night when she sleeps."
At night watching TV, she'll make a comment, 'Mommy, I don't want to be separated from my family. I love my family. I don't want to be returned to Cuba.'
Joe and Maria have two grown daughters of their own, and said they don't want to adopt the little girl. They don't want the biological father, Rafael Izquierdo, to lose his rights. But they do want to become the girl's permanent guardian to make certain that the brother and sister stay together.
Joe explained, "We fought the idea of separation between them. It's torturing them. It's torturing them."
Maria said that the girl told her, "If they take me back to Cuba, I am going to scream and I'm going to kick."
Joe added, "It's very tragic. I don't think you're going to find winners on either side, but the children must -- must be and must come first and their needs."
The couple went on to say that if they get custody, they would be happy to allow Izquierdo to visit his daughter, though Izquierdo has made it clear his intentions are to go back to Cuba and he is unlikely to return.
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