Florida Adopted Twins - Bio Dad Appears

In my recent post about the Florida children adopted out of foster care and one was killed by the adoptive father, I wondered why the children were removed from their parents. Now we know. . .perhaps.



According to the article included with this video, Victor Bustillo is the birth father of these children. In what is most certainly the rarest of circumstances, the mother's parental rights were terminated and he retained custody of the children. In twenty years of hands on participation and observation of these cases, I have never seen this happen.The state always terminates the parental rights of both parents so they can control what happens to the children. Even non-abusive or marginal parents are deprived of their children, often without legitimate cause, except to insure the abusive parents is not permitted access to the children.

This is significant because of what happened after mother's parental rights were terminated. Mr. Bustillo's parental rights were terminated for what appear to be suspicious reasons. The article states the petition to terminate his parental rights cited, ". . . Bustillo was an unfit father because of domestic violence, abandonment and medical neglect."  It also cited a criminal history.

But Bustillo's lament is identical to the laments of millions--yes millions--of parents who find they've lost their children forever, ""I never wanted to give up my parental rights, but they took my kids away. . .I did everything they asked me to do, but they took them away anyway." Most parents do do everything they demanded in the case plan, but remember from another of my earlier posts, the child welfare agency can simply say the plan failed to rehabilitate the parents in order to have the court terminate parental rights.

But it appears to my practiced eye, that there was the possiblity the court would not rule in favor of the agency's petition to terminate Bustillo's parental rights. The agency needed more. "In 2004, Bustillo was arrested and accused of pulling a 10-year-old girl into an apartment and touching her crotch in the presence of a 2-year-old child. The petition says that Bustillo admitted to molesting the girl in a taped confession."

Criminal History was Cited in Petition to Terminate Parental Rights - not an accurate representation
His criminal history include marijuana possession in 1998 which was not prosecuted, and in 1996 which was a misdemeanor.

An arrest for ggravated felony assult in 1996 and closed three weeks later, no conviction.

The felony sexual battery on a minor charge 03/27/2004 was appears to have been pled down to misdemeanor battery and his case closed in 2007. Another in April, 2005 that lists two "child abuse/no harm" that resulted in a conviction and probation with special conditions until 2012. I find it significant that he not listed on the Florida sex offender registry.

What a coincidence. At the time Florida DCF wanted to terminate his parental rights, there is an accusation of sexual molestation of a child that, even though he was eventually convicted, didn't concern the courts or law enforcement enough that he should be listed as a sex offender or sexual predator. In fact, this appears to be an isolated incident, no prior or subsequent accusations. Very strange, given that repeat offenses for sexual predators are a given.

I have seen first hand, numerous instances of Florida DCF concocting set-ups like this in order to resolve a child welfare case in their favor. 

I wonder if this father got railroaded by incompetent court-appointed counsel in his child welfare case and his criminal case? You should wonder, too.