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 The people who make a difference in the Canary Islands The tragic story of a child and her two mothers, the law, and a potentially bleak future for all concerned Have mercy Tug of love cases are always heartbreaking and sadly, occasionally tragic, such as the case of the child we have come to know as Piedad (Mercy) whose foster mother, Soledad Perera, is now facing a nine month jail sentence.  28 March [ 11 am ] two demonstrations in support of Piedad and sole *Las Palmas de Gran Canaria In front of the Dirección General de Menores office *Puerto de la Cruz Plaza de los Reyes Católicos Sole has three children, both adopted and birth children. She registered for a further adoption and was offered the chance to embrace another little girl into her family, Piedad. The three year old toddler (whose real name is withheld for her protection) was already showing symptoms of the trauma caused by lack of personalised attention due to spending all but seven months of her first years in two different children’s homes after being taken into care by the authorities. Piedad was fostered in March 2005 pending the paperwork to complete the adoption. According to Sole, “she was sad to leave everyone and everything she had known but proud that her mother and sister had come to collect her and looking forward to having a family”. But for classic foot-dragging on the part of the local administration the adoption would have gone through and this story would never have happened, but the red tape was not completed in time and Piedad’s birth mother reclaimed her. Between 2006 and 2007 a battle was fought in the civil courts for the child between the birth mother claiming her ‘rights’ and Sole distraught at the possibility of losing a child who she had come to love as another daughter and who was now, “totally integrated” and, “stable and happy” with her new family. Conflicting orders were issued by the judicial system, to hand the child over to the mother on the one hand or to the authorities on the other. At one stage Sole went to the authorities and asked if she should bring Piedad in but was told that they knew nothing about the order and had no room. In addition, under the contract signed by Sole for the pre-adoption and adoption arrangements, the family was adjoined not to hand over the child to anyone or face criminal charges. Finally, in a scene which would grace a black comedy film, on 10 May 2007 the child was removed from Sole’s custody by the Guardia Civil whilst the little one was in hospital following an epilepsy attack. Sole and her family have had no official information about Piedad since and all written requests for information or visits have been ignored. “It’s not that they’ve been denied, they just haven’t even bothered to reply,” Sole told us sadly. Her family was torn apart and the effects on young Piedad at such an important stage in her development are unknown. Sole later faced a court case for contempt of court for not obeying the order to hand over the child, even though the orders she had received were conflicting. Legal advice at the time was to accept the charge, believing it to be the only court case to be held against her, and she was given an eight months suspended sentence. Then later this year she was again on trial for the same offence, this time receiving a nine months jail sentence, for trying, as her Eligio clearly states, “to defend her daughter”. The Spanish Children’s Rights Association, Prodeni, declaim that the court cases were, “strongly inclined in favour of the birth mother and against the rights and interests of the child”. Sole tells us that 99 per cent of the reports of psychologists, childcare specialists etc. were not taken into account and, most importantly, Piedad herself was never asked for an opinion. The child was, once again some time in care, then returned to her birth mother for almost a year until October last year when again she was returned to care, “temporarily” because her birth mother apparently couldn’t cope. She claimed the problem was caused by lack of housing and was allocated somewhere to live in December, she had also been found work. A date was set at the end of January for the child to return to her but the day before she contacted the authorities and said she preferred Piedad to stay in care. Subsequently in interviews with the press, she is quoted as referring to her child as a, “runaway foal” needing to, “be put straight” and “taught manners” and calling the home where she is now a, “boarding school”. Her perceived lack of intention to care for her child has led the authorities to take official charge of Piedad once more and they are again searching for a home for her. For Sole, the news of everything that Piedad is going through is heartbreaking, “her pain has always been ours. That has been our biggest and worst sentence.” She worries about all the changes that the child is going through, changes of accommodation, food, friends and schools. At just seven years old she has been in four children’s homes and lived for two brief episodes with her birth mother. The only stable period in her life was the two and a half years she lived with Sole and her family. Sole finally went public with their story because she felt alone and desperate. For doing that, she has faced criticism of wanting to be a protagonist and starting a media circus, but it was the only avenue she could find where people would listen to her. There is now a large grass roots support group. Similarly mud has been slung at her new lawyer, Eligio Hernández, inferring that he was becoming rich and famous on the back of the case. In fact his total charge for the case which is taking up many hours of his time is 1,000 euros for office costs and travel expenses to and from the courts in Las Palmas. A strong and valiant woman, Sole continues to fight because, “we always put her love and respect for us before ours for her,” and we, “promised her love and stability for life”. In the meantime, some two years ago, the adoption contract signed between the children’s department and Sole and her family was cancelled. They were not informed or given the option or possibility of appeal. Eligio, a seasoned lawyer, ex prosecutor and ex top judge, doesn’t tend to take on many criminal cases, but he felt unable to turn Sole away. “It is a tremendous injustice that someone should face prison for defending a child who she considered and considers her daughter.” He calls the court cases brought against Sole, “the biggest accumulation of errors in administration and justice that I have seen out of thousands of cases in my 40 years as prosecutor, lawyer and judge.” More than just fighting for Piedad’s happiness and Sole’s freedom he feels that the errors that have supposedly been committed threaten the prestige of Canarian and Spanish justice and that it is a case which will probably have knock on effects and involve changes in the law. “It is my challenge and professional obligation to see that Sole is declared completely innocent.” He declared that on entering the court room for the second case against Sole, the judge was already predisposed against his client before hearing the case, calling her, “arrogant and high-handed”. He felt that sentence had already been declared before the hearing started and went on to enumerate just a few of the reasons that he feels should lead to Sole being absolved, and would then subsequently begin to work to have the child returned to Sole’s family if possible. To start with if there was contempt of court it was committed in La Orotava therefore the court hearing should be in La Orotava not Las Palmas, making all hearings there illegal. Secondly, under Spanish law you cannot condemn someone twice for the same crime. Thirdly for contempt to have taken place you need a clear order, official notification of that order and an explanation face to face in court of what it would mean if you don’t comply and finally for the individual not to obey. Here there were three orders for Sole to obey and none of the steps were followed through properly, if they had been, he claims that there would never have been any court cases at all. In any case which was she to obey? She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. Speaking about the recent court case he was involved in on Sole’s behalf, Eligio was still clearly indignant that he was asked by the judge to hurry things up and finish because she had another case to try – also illegal under Spanish law unless the lawyer is straying from the point. The accused has the right to state his or her case, alone or through his or her counsel. Finally, without the prior notice required by law, the judge held the hearing behind closed doors, thereby violating another human right, that of the right to a public hearing. For the lawyer, those closed doors mean that the hearing was null and void. Throughout, Sole and her lawyer have refrained from criticising the birth mother, but they also ask for respect for, “the mother chosen as apt for this child”. In his possession are several documents, one from the prosecutor who originally asked for Piedad to be taken into care making strong accusations against the birth mother that Eligio refused to read in public. Another from a child welfare officer refers to the child who has been so prejudiced by this entire administrative and legal furore as suffering, “institutional ill treatment”. Sole made a plea for the law and children’s departments to treat these cases in a more competent and humane manner, but her lawyer went further calling both the administration and justice departments, “incompetents”. “There have been many errors in judgement, the child has gone from being neglected, into a happy home she was taken from and is once more officially registered as neglected”. He wants a parliamentary commission set up to investigate the case and for those responsible to explain their actions in front of the elected people’s representatives. He believes the result will be a change in the law. “This is a very important issue. There are many mothers who have adopted or are waiting to adopt and many children waiting for adoption.” In the end it will be for the High Court to decide Sole’s fate but this is about more than Piedad’s happiness and stability or Sole’s freedom, it is about putting the rights and welfare of the child first. Sole held onto her child as long as she legally could and faces jail for it. She believed the child was better off with her and her family. Time has proven her right, but the courts, unable to admit they made a mistake, still seem to see her actions as wrong. Eligio stated, “it is up to the courts now to investigate all that has gone before and put it right. They cannot be content with closing the door and continuing on as if nothing happened.” If they fail to correct this comedy of errors, then in the words of Dickens Mr. Bumble, “the law is an ass… and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience”. There are to be two demonstrations in support of Piedad and Sole simultaneously in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in front of the Dirección General de Menores office and in Puerto de la Cruz in the Plaza de los Reyes Católicos at 11 am, 28 March. By Sheila Collis
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