Adam Cohen Quotes on Parents (2 Quotes)

That ruling may bode well for Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who has petitioned the court to recognize his exclusive right to speak for Elian in legal matters, and to be left to raise his child in peace. It would certainly have been very unusual for the court to rule against the father because the law presumes that a person's parent is their guardian, and doesn't appoint outside guardians in the normal course of events, ... For the court to appoint a third-party guardian it would usually need an indication that something was badly wrong in the parent-child relationship, such as abuse.

The Miami relatives also failed to persuade the court that no Cuban medical or mental health personnel should have access to the child, an attempt to counteract the father's efforts to create a Cuban environment by bringing in Elian's former kindergarten teacher and a 10-year-old cousin. They will be arriving shortly and joining the boy and his family and four more playmates a parent for each and a pediatrician are expected to follow soon. The court would have found it difficult to rule that Elian could not be examined by mental health professionals from his own country, ... While the Miami relatives are strongly anti-Cuba, Elian's father is not, and in the end it's likely that the court will give him the ultimate say in what happens to his son.