TOLEDO, Ore. -- A two-year-old Oregon boy is at the center of a controversial custody ruling that would send him to Mexico to live with his biological grandmother and possibly with his convicted child-rapist father.
Last week, an adoption committee consisting of Oregon Department of Human Services employees and members not affiliated with DHS ruled that Gabriel Allred should live with his grandmother in Mexico, despite the fact that he is an American citizen, DHS said.
The childs foster parents apparently learned that his biological father, Roberto Valiente-Martinez, will live in the home with his mother and young son. Roberto Valiente-Martinez will be deported to Mexico, authorities said. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl and was sentenced to five years in prison, records show.
He has also been convicted on drug charges.
Both the childs biological mother and father lost their parental rights, according to DHS.
Foster parents Steve and Angela Brandt of Toledo, Ore., said they want to adopt Allred. They have appealed the preliminary ruling.
The goal of DHS is to get children out of the foster system as quickly as possible and if they cannot be returned to their parents then by law we must look at other relatives, said Ann Snyder with the DHS Office of Communications.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_100207_news_foster_child_allred_mexico_.12fe494f2.html
Last week, an adoption committee consisting of Oregon Department of Human Services employees and members not affiliated with DHS ruled that Gabriel Allred should live with his grandmother in Mexico, despite the fact that he is an American citizen, DHS said.
The childs foster parents apparently learned that his biological father, Roberto Valiente-Martinez, will live in the home with his mother and young son. Roberto Valiente-Martinez will be deported to Mexico, authorities said. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl and was sentenced to five years in prison, records show.
He has also been convicted on drug charges.
Both the childs biological mother and father lost their parental rights, according to DHS.
Foster parents Steve and Angela Brandt of Toledo, Ore., said they want to adopt Allred. They have appealed the preliminary ruling.
The goal of DHS is to get children out of the foster system as quickly as possible and if they cannot be returned to their parents then by law we must look at other relatives, said Ann Snyder with the DHS Office of Communications.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_100207_news_foster_child_allred_mexico_.12fe494f2.html