Baby Formula

Ponciano's attorney, Clara Romero, is convinced that the lack of progress in the nineteen-month-old case is the result of cultural bias and incompetence on the part of the Denver Department of Human Services and Littman. Although she handles mostly juvenile cases and frequently serves as a guardian ad litem herself in Adams County, Romero took Ponciano's case because she felt that since he's quiet and doesn't speak English, his voice wasn't being heard. So she became his voice -- and a very loud one, at that.

For instance, after caseworker Killen apparently changed her mind and recommended that Rosa be placed with the Gomezes permanently, Romero sent a letter to Jude Liguori, Killen's supervisor and a child-protection administrator with the department. In the July 11 note, she writes, "In reviewing the file and discussing the case with the case worker, Pat Killen, it is blaringly apparent that Ms. Killen's inability to speak Spanish and her lack of experience and knowledge of the Mexican culture has crippled the progress of this case...Ms. Killen has not spoken with the grandparents and does not know the first thing about the beauty, morality and strong family values of colonial central Mexico...Ms. Killen is not pursuing the grandparent placement because the current foster family wants to adopt [Rosa]. The foster family's wishes are not justification for blowing off a relative placement and denying [Rosa] the love and companionship of her large biological family."

Romero says that when she talked to Killen shortly after taking the case from Ponciano's court-appointed attorney, Vivian Burgos, Killen told her, "If Mexico is so great, why is he here?"

"That's the attitude we're dealing with," Romero says, adding that she recently took Rosa to the Mexican Consulate to receive a Mexican birth certificate. Rosa now has dual citizenship.

Jesús Gutierrez, a consular officer at the Mexican Consulate in Denver who is familiar with Ponciano's case, says he sees three or four cases like Ponciano's each year, in which foster parents try to adopt a child born to a Mexican immigrant. The consulate's job, he says, is to protect the rights of Mexican immigrants and to act as an intermediary between the local department of human services and the equivalent agency in Mexico; the consulate provides the American department with information about relatives in Mexico and conducts a home study that shows the family's income, educational background and criminal record, if there is one.

He says judges often place children with their biological relatives in disputes such as these.

"When it comes to making decisions about life standards, money is not everything. It's about family for us. It's not about whether the child will get to go to Harvard. In Mexico they don't have the same standards. Family is the most important thing. With different cultures, it's impossible to compare," Gutierrez says. "But it is important that the family has a proper house and that the child's basic needs are met. If the family is willing to take care of the child, it is very important."

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But standard of living isn't the only issue the Gomezes are raising in their attempt to keep Rosa.

At an April 25 hearing in the case, the Gomezes introduced a report written by child psychologist Gloria Ryder, whom they hired to analyze Rosa's reaction to the visitations with her natural parents. In it Ryder writes, "[Rosa's] parenting time with her biological father, Mr. Ponciano Avina and biological mother, Ms. Priscilla Gonzales, needs to be discontinued immediately. [Rosa] experiences symptoms of anxiety, sleep disturbance, abandonment feelings and disruption each time she has parenting time with Mr. Avina and Ms. Gonzales. Mr. and Mrs. Gomez, [Rosa's] foster parents, report that sometimes when Mr. Raul Escalante, from the Department of Human Services, picks [Rosa] up from their home, she will cry and/or become somewhat agitated. After [Rosa] is returned from her parenting time with Mr. Avina and Ms. Gonzales, she becomes emotionally distressed, cries and exhibits psychological trauma.

"According to Mr. and Mrs. Gomez, after [Rosa] has parenting time with her biological parents, she must go through a process which appears to be relief that she is back with them, anger at them for letting her go, will not sleep through the night and wants to sleep in their bed almost 'glued' to them during the night. It appears that [Rosa] seeks to have her security needs met. Additionally, it appears that [Rosa's] abandonment issues are triggered each time she has visitation with her biological parents...Given [Rosa's] history of three foster care placements in her young life of just being over one year old, it is very important to pay attention to the severity of symptoms that persist."

Ryder wrote her report without ever observing Ponciano with Rosa; she states in her report that she tried to meet with him but that he declined. Ryder told Westword that she could not talk about the case since it involves a juvenile.