Many
children live with caretakers who are not their biological parents. When the child does not have legal
immigration status there may seem to be no hope to obtain a green card or
citizenship. Now, through the diligent
effort of the law firm of Strickland & Amezola, APC there may be new hope
for these children.
This
new possibility comes from a case involving a young boy born in Mexico who was
left with his uncle and aunt by his biological mother, who had problems with
drugs. The uncle died and the aunt, who
is a United States citizen, brought the child to the United States without any
immigration status and raised him as if she were his biological mother. The San Diego County Superior Court held that
the aunt was legally the child’s mother under California law. This is called a “presumed parent” in
California. Under California law, a
child may have two mothers, two fathers or a parent who has no biological
relationship to them. The child may or
may not have been adopted by the caretaker.
The Hague Convention which makes the immigration of adopted children
very difficult and very costly has no application if a Court finds that a
caretaker is the child’s “presumed parent.”
In
a ground-breaking decision, Attorney Barbara Strickland, on behalf of the firm,
was able to convince Immigration that the California Court holding that the
aunt was the “presumed mother” of the child was valid for immigration
purposes. A petition was filed with
Immigration as if the child was the biological child of the aunt and was
recently approved.
The
caretaker may be the grandparent, older sibling, other relative or the same-sex
partner of the biological parent of the child. The biological parents may have
been unable to care for the child due to drug problems, deportation or other reasons. Sometimes the caretaker may have become
guardians, but in other cases, the biological parent simply left the child with
the caretaker with or without a written letter or power of attorney. The caretaker becomes attached to the child
and the child becomes attached to the caretaker.
This
decision brings new hope for undocumented children who have been cared for a significant
period of time by a United States citizen or legal resident who has assumed the
place of a biological parent. If you
have a similar case, please call the office for a detailed review of your case at (619) 230-1773 or visit
our website for more information at http://myimmigrationatty.com/
By Barbara K. Strickland
