It's gonna get messy: The adoption battle continues

Update, 3:30pm: I just talked to the Shelley Sekula-Gibbs campaign manager, and he said the emailer misunderstood Sekula-Gibbs.  Basically, Shelley and her husband Robert ran into someone involved in the custody battle on Saturday.  Sekula-Gibbs agreed to look into the case, but that's it! She did not agree to help out or get involved in any other way.  The campaign says the emailer's got it wrong, and at Sekula-Gibbs wants no part of this debate.

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Last week, we followed the heart wrenching saga of a custody battle for a little Chinese boy named Raymond Liu. This week, there are new players jumping in. To catch everyone up to date, Raymond was taken by CPS because his birth mother suffered from mental illness, and CPS thought his non-English speaking grandmother could care for him.  Raymond's Aunt and Uncle, who run a Chinese restaurant in Arizona, want to adopt him.  But, so do his foster parents.  Between confusion and language barriers, the case dragged on for 18 months.  Last Friday night, a jury voted 10-2 to give Raymond to his foster parents.  His birth family is devastated, and wants to appeal.  The case is striking because the Chinese community were not widely notified until the third week of trial.  Now, some are playing catch-up.  In a portion of an email (I've cut out the writer) that's been circulating, two former elected officials' names have popped up:

Since the verdict came down and United State Government CPS stole our bay Raymond from his own family and place him in a total stranger's family, I have many conversations with former Texas State Legislator Martha Wong who brought this case to our attention, Debbie Chen(President of OCA-civil rights organization), former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and her husband Robert Gibbs(attorney).

Martha and Debbie will contact both Washington DC and Texas state in regarding to the appeal process and locate a best family attorney for the Liu and Diep family. It will take a lots of manpower and a lots of money to fight the next battle....  Former Congresswoman Gibbs also promised to help us to bring Raymond back to the family.

For those familiar with Wong and Sekula-Gibbs, any battle they want to wage into should get... ahem.. interesting.  Although I'm not sure politicizing this case is the right way to go.  It would appear what the Liu family needs more than anything is good, solid legal representation, and certified translators (not former elected officials).  In any case, at this point, it's a tough battle.  For those who need a little history, just refer to the Anna Mae He case in Tennessee, that one lasted more than six years!

Comments

[KENN W GLAVE]

SUDDENLY THE POLITICAL ANTENNAS OF GIBBS AND WONG GOT HOT AND JUMPED--SSG IS WELL KNOWN FOR DOING DUMB THINGS--I 7 DAYS SHE WAS GOING END THE WAR, LOWER THE DEBT, SOLVE THE HEALTHCARE PROBLEMS--THIS IS SUCH A POLITICAL MOVE BY TWO OF THE OUTS WHO WANT IN.

[Shaletha Joe]

If I have my fact correct, the child has been with the foster parents for quite some time now. I hardly think that this qualifies them to be strangers. They stepped in to nurture and care for this child when it was believed that no one else could. I can understand both parties arguement and position to have the baby to live with them. However, I feel that the child deserves what is best even if that means that he will not be raised by his paternal family.

[sanchez]

Houston is an international city and has plenty of representatives for all nationalities an anyway the bio aunt an uncle they have a resturant in arizona. I find this hard to believe that they did not have reps. race does not have to be issue for this child it does not show any intrest for this child. what message is this sending out for all people that really want peace an unity for all.

[Jean]

I guess when you are unemployed you need to try and find some work and a reason to get into the news for a supposed good reason.

Make sure you take your story to Washington with all the facts of the case - Not just the race card - Otherwise there will be alot of money spent and alot of red faces at the end of the process.

Raymond is now a very happy and content child and it would be very unjust to remove him just because of his DNA.

[Robert]

Ms Wong does not care about what is best for Raymond it is all about scoring points with the Chinese community. The aunt has seen Raymond twice in the 18 months and the uncle has visited Raymond zero times in 18 months sounds like a family the really cares?

[Jean]

Wong is Wong again!!!

[Maggie]

I ask Ms. Wong, Ms.Sekula Gibbs and Miya Shay how many days did they attend the trial? If they did not attend everyday and hear all the testimonies, then they should not get involved because they do not know the whole story or truth as the jury did.

[Erin]

The Chinese community was not notified? Why would they be? Is the black community notified every time a black child is removed from a parent? No, because it's against the law. The family is to notify relatives of the situation and they should have been involved long before that child had 18 months to get attached to the adoptive family. The agency also researches relatives and if any information had been given regarding probable relatives, home studies would have been done. People have to stop playing the race card. It's ridiculous. CPS is very concerned about a child's heritage and does its very best to maintain a child with family if possible. That is not always in a child's best interest however. I worked for CPS for four years and had three little Asian children- for whom over 5 relatives knew were in foster care and up for adoption. NONE of whom were willing to care for them. UNTIL it was too late and the children were in adoptive homes three years later. They just didn't have the backbone to step forward.

[EM]

As a korean adoptee who has had a good life, I believe that the child's best interest would be best served in his biological family. There are family members who are willing to take him in. He can retain his culture and his racial identity. As great of a family as I've had, I wish I had been able to stay in my own culture and country.

[tony]

Hi Meggie! you sounded like you know the stories better then anyone else in the case. And you know what Meggie, I'm not one of those Asian that who don't have a backbone, I think my backbone is very strong, and I am here to do whatever it take to get my nephew back

[KarenB]

It's my understanding that little Raymond Liu was doing just fine in his grandmother's care before CPS removed him in the beginning.

It's also my understanding that the Liu/Diek family contacted CPS from the very beginning about getting custody of the child. They have gone through the approval process for being foster/adoptive parents and the whole nine yards. Apparently, there were some language barriers with the social workers and also the caseworker on the Lui case changed a number of times due to high turnover in that field. Also, because the other relatives lived out of state, that also presented problems.

If Raymond's aunt (who wants to adopt him) only visited 2 times, so what? She lived in a different state, and she had a family there to care for and a business to run.

Raymond clearly belongs with his extended biological family who are competent and want him. He should never have been permitted to remain in foster care so long, and he certainly shouldn't be adopted by a Caucasian family who will raise him with no knowledge of his own culture and no contact with his own family.

[andrew]

KarenB you want more information really??? You appear to have made up your mind - again - not based on facts. If you want to know the facts go to the courthouse and order the transcript and then share it with your friends so they will see how the Liu/Diep family failed- not the system. Your remarks about being raised by a Caucasian are disturbing as were the Dieps beliefs on racial diversity…trend???

To those of you who continue to make culture the ultimate deciding factor...Many of us are first generation Americans but we somehow manage to follow the rules, learn about the American system, and don't use it as a crutch when we fail. I guess failing and lying are to "shamefull" to admit. Keep up your baseless arguments, it makes you sound "so intelligent".

And sweet Christina, I know this is very difficult for such a young girl to understand now...you will in time. But for now "remember to respect your elders"...

[KarenB]

We need to remember that Raymond is a bi-cultural kid who has a right to learn about and appreciate his own heritage. He is currently being raised in a family that knows nothing about Chinese culture. Those who followed the Anna Mae He case saw that the Baker family -- who were fosters to the He girl -- not only failed to raise her to be proud of her Chinese culture, but they actually denigrated it, and made her ashamed to be Chinese and even fearful of Chinese people. They probably didn't do this purposefully, but children pick up on ethnocentric attitudes, and sometimes overhear negative comments made about their birth family and so on.

Raymond also has an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins in America that he has the right to know -- actually, he has the right to LIVE with them, according to CPS guidelines that a child should ALWAYS be placed with relatives (as long as there is not abuse or neglect). CPS failed to do THEIR job in investigating whether there was other family or not.

Perhaps, Andrew, since you are so knowledgeable, you would care to share a few tidbits from the trial that you believe give the foster family the right to take this child from his own family?

[BY A 10 YEAR OLD]

Ok, from my point of view, I see a bunch of adults arguing with a 10 year old kid. You guys are supposedly grown ups, the professionals, the guys with a respectable place in society. Who's going to look up to you now? your grandchildren? pathetic. Now with all the things you can do in life, you choose to spend your entire lives on the internet, posting the same topics over and over again, while waiting for what little oppurtunity you may have to come across you. Once again...pathetic. Don't you have jobs, children, wives and husbands to care for. Go make some money. Feel free to rob a bank. Spread lies and rumors across America, while simultaneously attracting support for terrorism. But why go and attack a child when you are 20, 40, or even 70 years of age! So...what can you possibly achieve through this? Satisfaction? Fun? I wouldnt feel any sympathy for any of you "grown-ups" if you fell straight to hell. No sir, not even a percentage.