Calvary began much earlier, but it became unbearable because Mercedes told the outpatient treatment center that her pregnant daughter Paola was still using cocaine. It was shortly before his granddaughter was born, on May 2, 2015. Three days later, the Andalusian Government declared that the girl was in a temporary situation of helplessness and assumed her guardianship under a family foster care, a resolution that was made Sign in 15 days. He thought he was going crazy.
«I never thought they would take it away . What I did, with a lot of pain, was to put my granddaughter before my own daughter, ”says Mercedes Estrada , a 51-year-old woman from Chiclana (Cádiz) who has been fighting for four years against wind and tide to be able to raise and watch a small girl grow who is in the pre-adoption phase with a family from Granada ... although there is a sentence that, for 11 months, dictates that the girl has to be with her grandmother.
The struggle of this grandmother courage began when she requested to welcome her own granddaughter. On November 26, 2015, the Ministry of Health and Families of the Board, based on reports of social workers, decided that it was not suitable for permanent family foster care for the child. The motives? Miscellaneous: Mercedes' conflicts with her drug-addicted daughter , who even physically assaulted her when she was found guilty of having taken the girl for reporting her. And because «currently (Mercedes) is in the process of separation. History of risk situation during the minority of his daughter P. and background in which Mercedes did not limit the disruptive behavior of P. ».
A drug addict daughter
Mercedes sighs: "I was punished for considering myself a bad mother, for having a drug-addicted daughter, when I have two other studious, wonderful children who have not given me a problem." And the most incredible: for divorce. «Since when is divorce a criterion that makes it impossible for you to raise a child?».
The granddaughter, meanwhile, visited her at the meeting point, in Cádiz, with her two children, Carolina , a Bachelor of Arts student and José Antonio , cook, the girl's uncles. Small little hands open, kisses, hugs. Thus they were creating that family bond "to which minors have a right", and that should always prevail in case of suitability, says Mercedes lawyer, Juan Isidro Fernández .
While her daughter entered prison for a robbery to defray her addiction, Mercedes has not stopped fighting. The most difficult battle against her, she won long ago: she is clear that, if she has her granddaughter, she will renounce her own daughter. Judicially in his favor, who was going to tell him, has played a leading role notifying that his daughter used drugs while pregnant. And also that he was able to report her when he physically assaulted her , requesting restraint measures.
In January 2016, the girl, already 10 months old, is transferred to Granada: she will live with a family that wants to adopt her. Mercedes has visits shifts: two hours a week, on different days. They ask you to unify them . Visits are set on Friday afternoons, and one Saturday per month in the morning. They are 300 kilometers one way and 300 back. Sometimes, to mitigate the beating of the road, he stays in a pension. In others it travels both routes on the same day. Mercedes has lost jobs by visiting her granddaughter, and on other occasions she has had the support of her employers, who have understood her situation.
TIC Tac. The girl is almost four years old. Because of the bureaucracy and the collapse of a court, that of the Family, his case has been delayed over time, devouring the one grandmother and granddaughter could have already shared. Because Mercedes, since November 2018, when the little girl was three years old, is ideal to welcome her granddaughter.
The Court of First Instance number 4 of Cádiz revoked the considerations of the Junta de Andalucía in a demolishing sentence, which considers that «the passage of time the only thing he has done is to confirm what was already a reality when the resolution of November 26, 2015, that is, the full suitability of the maternal grandmother to have her granddaughter in foster care ». Justice has also estimated that Granada's pre-adoptive parents, who referred to possible psychological attrition if the girl left with her grandmother, presented a report classified as "partial" and based "on mere hypotheses . "
The girl sees her grandmother only two hours a week, but in the reports of the meeting point contributed to the trial they collect the girl's attitude with her grandmother: relaxed, comfortable, cheerful and calm, with numerous expressions of mutual affection. «On September 7, the girl hurriedly got out of the car when she saw her grandmother, hugging both of them for a few minutes. This situation was repeated on days 15 and 21 ».
The girl's aunt, Carolina, accompanied her the following week. The little girl did the same with her. Ultimately, the justice believes that even taking into account the important change that it would be for the girl to leave with her grandmother, «the reintegration of the little girl with her grandmother is entirely beneficial for the child and compensates for the interest in this foster care ». The Board, far from complying with the sentence that forced her to welcome Mercedes, appealed. Another year has passed.
"Don't talk to him about the beach"
Today Mercedes can only go to the meeting point in Granada: since she has the right to visit only she can see it, only she can see it and not the girl's aunt. And he receives warnings about what he should say to his granddaughter: "Don't talk to the girl at the beach, or anything about your house," a social worker snapped. When he told his lawyer, he replied: "You can tell your granddaughter what you want . "
The lawyer who won the trial granting permanent family foster care to Mercedes, José Arellano, believes that the case of Mercedes and the little one "is a big mistake of the Board." In the next few days, the appeal to that sentence not executed will be resolved to resolve the appeal presented by the Andalusian Board and the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office. The rights of Mercedes and her granddaughter to be together will be defended by Juan Isidro Fernández, who, bluntly, believes that the Board «has too many powers. These issues should be subject to greater fiscal monitoring and intervention, and not leave everything in the hands of two social workers, who are the ones who decide all this ».
It also considers that the Board violates the rights of the girl because Mercedes is systematically denied expanding the visitation regime. «And the law does not abide by rejecting that the girl returns with Mercedes and not trying to reintegrate the child with her family nucleus, in breach of sentences of the Supreme and the Universal Rights of the child: children are a protected legal good and that we must work because they are, if possible, with their biological family nucleus ».
Chronicle has contacted the Ministry of Families to obtain their opinion on the case. He has avoided evaluations on a subject "judicialized, and with minors." Last Friday Mercedes has traveled like every week since 2016 to Granada to see her granddaughter. She prays that they are her last visits, and dreams of being able to walk with her on that beach that she was told she couldn't talk about.
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