Foster family fights to stop custody order sending 8-year-old U.S. citizen to Guatemala
An emergency motion was filed Monday in U.S. District Court to prevent the child from being forced to live in an unfamiliar country with her biological father.
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An 8-year old American citizen has been removed from the New Bedford home of her foster parents and is being forced to move to Guatemala with her biological father — though she has never lived with him, nor does she speak Spanish.
Attorneys filed an emergency motion in U.S. District Court Massachusetts Monday to stay the move — days after a federal judge cleared the way for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families to send the child, identified only as S.R.C., to Guatemala in compliance with a Massachusetts Juvenile Court decision granting custody to her biological father.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Families said that custody decisions are made by juvenile courts and do not fall within the purview of the agency. The Juvenile Court judge’s custody decision was issued on Sept. 8, 2025.
Lawyers for the child and her foster parents, John Cobbett-Walden and Catherine Cobbett-Walden, filed an appeal with the U.S. District Court immediately after Judge Angel Kelley dismissed the case Friday.
Kirsten Zwicker, a family attorney who represented the Cobbett-Waldens in the case, said the move to Guatemala was not in the child’s best interest and amounted, effectively, to the exile of a U.S. citizen. The Cobbett-Waldens deferred all inquiries to Zwicker.
“What we were focused on was this state action by a state agency seeking the expulsion of a U.S. citizen,” she said. “The expulsion of a U.S. citizen lies in the lane of federal court.”
DCF declined to speak on the specifics of the case.
“Due to state and federal privacy requirements, the Department cannot provide information about specific cases,” a DCF spokesperson said in an email to The Light.
Kelley, the federal judge, agreed with arguments by the state and lawyers for the child’s father, Esvin O. Gregorio Cabrera, that the federal court did not have jurisdiction over custodial matters.
“The Juvenile Court judge also ordered that S.R.C. have two months of medications “to travel with [her] to Guatemala” and that S.R.C.’s medical, educational, and custody records be translated to Spanish and “accompany [her] to Guatemala,” Kelley wrote in her decision. “The request to stop S.R.C.’s transfer is directly in conflict with these sections of the Juvenile Court judge’s order.”
Zwicker said that though the ruling made sense on those grounds, that was not her argument during the proceedings. She instead argued that state authorities deprived S.R.C. of the protections of U.S. citizenship and the due process and equal protections clause of the Constitution.
DCF policy prioritizes family reunification in cases where it intervenes, but Zwicker argued that the word is a misnomer given the circumstances.
“This child has never been in his custody,” she said. “They keep using the word ‘reunited,’ but we push back on that.”
Cabrera’s attorneys did not respond to an email requesting comment.
‘I don’t understand’
The move has some advocates claiming hypocrisy on the part of Gov. Maura Healey, since she has opposed much of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
“As you well know, a significant majority of people detained by ICE in Massachusetts over the past year have no criminal conviction,” Healey wrote in a December letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the end of deportation flights from Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. “They are hardworking, productive, and beloved members of our community that you have indiscriminately targeted for deportation proceedings.
“This doesn’t make us safer,” she added. “This makes us less safe.”
On Jan. 24, Healey issued a statement condemning the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in a Minneapolis street during ongoing protests against the mass deportation campaign and the agency’s violent tactics.
“These rogue federal agents do not belong in our streets,” she said. “ICE is not just making us less safe — they’re a threat to the safety and well-being of Americans.”
Larry Tobin, director of the Shapiro Center, a nonprofit that works with refugees and displaced people, said the gap between Healey’s professed ideals and the circumstances of this case were noticeable. He added that he was commenting as a private citizen, not as head of the center.
“When I hear Governor Healey’s comments, I hear a woman and leader who genuinely cares about the sanctity of human life,” he said. “She’s commenting on the tragic loss of life in another state because she deeply cares.
“I don’t understand how a leader who sees all the issues she sees happening on the streets of Minneapolis [can] be comfortable with a state agency effectively deporting an 8-year-old little girl,” he continued. “And I say that as the father of three young children.”
A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, under whose auspices DCF falls, said deportation is not within the power of state authorities.
History
According to the foster parents’ initial complaint, S.R.C. was born in Massachusetts on May 3, 2017, to Esvin O. Gregorio Cabrera, then 29, and her mother, then 15. The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16, but there was no prosecution based on any allegation of statutory rape against Cabrera, according to the complaint.
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The complaint asserts that federal authorities deported Cabrera to Guatemala due to the expiration of his work permit shortly before his daughter’s birth. It also states that between then and 2021, Cabrera faced drunk driving charges in Guatemala after colliding with a police vehicle.
The complaint said S.R.C.’s biological mother never attempted to contact the child after DCF removed her from her care on May 2, 2021. Authorities terminated her parental rights in June 2024.
The child exhibited behavioral issues with two different foster families before DCF placed her with the Cobbett-Waldens in February 2022, according to the complaint. That same month, DCF allowed Cabrera, who had returned to the U.S. without authorization the previous year, to have supervised visits with S.R.C. The complaint said her behavior “repeatedly regressed” after visits with her biological father and one such visit in November 2022 prompted her to hit her foster mother and run away. Since then, multiple physicians have diagnosed the child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and reactive attachment disorder.
The couple enrolled the child at Casimir Pulaski Elementary School where she studied under an individual education plan.
“The Child has a history of emotional and behavioral challenges that include but are not limited to punching, pinching, spitting, kicking, throwing toys, biting, pouring liquid in inappropriate places, running from the home, and stabbing her Foster Parents with sharp objects,” the foster parents’ complaint said. “Although the Child sometimes exhibits behaviors consistent with a history of trauma and disrupted attachment, the Foster Parents have taken a gentle parenting approach that both embraces the Child’s independence while also ensuring her safety and well-being. The Child has thrived in their care for the past three years.”
A DCF social worker recommended the child not be enrolled in the 2025-2026 school year at Pulaski, and her foster parents instead enrolled her at the Rashi School, a reform Jewish school in Dedham.
Between June 2024 and October 2024, Cabrera visited the child without supervision. The complaint said that the child had a violent tantrum when informed of the first unsupervised visits, refusing to go to school, becoming violent, refusing to sleep, and clinging to her foster parents for prolonged periods of time. The complaint also alleged that she expressly wanted to stay with the Cobbett-Waldens.
There were eight unsupervised visits. According to the foster parents’ complaint, Cabrera allegedly failed to feed her dinner during the first one, and during their only overnight visit he did not give her the medication necessary to manage her mental health.
The visits continued until ICE took Cabrera into custody in October 2024. The federal government deported him to Guatemala the following month.
After his deportation, Cabrera continued to speak with S.R.C. through Zoom calls, “which have all gone extremely poorly,” according to the complaint. Part of the issues stemmed from the language barrier, as S.R.C. only speaks English and Cabrera only Spanish, and the child refused to participate on multiple occasions.
“A DCF translator appears for the Zoom calls to translate, but each conversation lasts only a matter of moments,” the complaint said. “To characterize these calls as a building block for placement is a gross misrepresentation. There is no meaningful communication, no relationship, and no foundation for placement between Mr. Cabrera and the Child.”
Zwicker said the foster family also fears for the child’s well-being should she be sent to Guatemala, given that country’s medical system and economic situation.
Father defends self
A DCF social worker took the child to get a U.S. passport on Aug. 29, 2025, and on Sept. 17, after the Juvenile Court ruling, the same social worker told the Cobbett-Waldens that the child would be brought to Guatemala to live with Cabrera on Sept. 25, prompting their initial filing in U.S. District Court.
In a filing with the court on Oct. 31, Cabrera argued that S.R.C. should be transferred to his custody. His filing said he had been found suitable by the Juvenile Court, was consistent with visits, attended medical appointments, has completed parenting and English-language courses, has identified support for the child’s needs, and is financially stable with employment and housing. It also said S.R.C. had repeatedly expressed a desire to live with her father.
“Notably, Plaintiffs appear to concede that under the Juvenile Court’s decision awarding him custody, Father would have every right to bring Child to live with him in Guatemala if he had the ability to travel to the United States,” he argued. “But because Father lacks that ability, Plaintiffs seek to take unfair advantage of that fact by claiming that Child’s constitutional rights would somehow be violated if DCF were to facilitate Child’s travel to Guatemala, an act they characterize as ‘deportation’ or ‘exile.’”
DCF has a contract with International Social Service USA, a Baltimore-based international social work nonprofit, to conduct home studies abroad.
Tobin, of the Shapiro Center, said he wondered how accurately authorities were able to ascertain Cabrera’s situation.
“We live in a world where anybody can purport to live a certain lifestyle online; there’s no way for any agency to accurately do a home screen remotely,” he said, adding that he’s aware of one other case where a person abroad claimed a different address from their own as their home. “DCF has no idea what his actual living situation is in Guatemala.”
Zwicker said the Cobbett-Waldens will contest the case until the end and have created an online fundraiser that has reached $27,948 of its $50,000 fundraising goal to cover legal costs.
“They are heartbroken by this,” Zwicker said. “They are very frightened at the prospect of her being in a foreign country with a foreign language where she will have no one she is familiar with nearby.”
Child trashes supermarket during epic tantrum, smashes bottles
Shocked onlookers watched on in disbelief as one woman urged people “not to touch” a little girl throwing a tantrum in a supermarket.
Grocery shopping with kids can be challenging, but a recent viral video takes it to a whole new level.
The clip, which has been viewed millions of times on X, shows a little girl, who looks to be around five or six years old, throwing an epic tantrum inside a Walmart supermarket.
She is seen throwing food everywhere and smashing glass bottles while shocked onlookers and staff attempt to intervene.
The footage begins with the child kicking cans off the shelves before she moves to the dairy section, tossing packets of cheese onto the floor with reckless abandon, seemingly unsupervised.
“Where is her mother, or whoever she’s with?” a nearby woman can be heard asking aloud.
Next, the girl hurls a tub of yoghurt onto the floor, prompting two women to try to restrain her.
The girl breaks free and continues her path of destruction, throwing packets of processed meats to the ground and stomping on them.
At this point, a woman, who might be the girl’s parent, tells staff not to touch her and chastises anyone trying to come near the out-of-control child.
“Don’t touch her, don’t yell at her – she could be the next president,” she shouts.
As a crowd forms, including staff and worried shoppers, the situation escalates further.
The child grabs multiple bottles of sparkling grape juice and smashes them on the floor, leaving glass and juice scattered everywhere.
A man approaches her to try and take some more bottles out of her hands, but that same woman intervenes again.
“Don’t you do that to a little girl! You don’t know what she’s going through,” she reprimands.
She then tries to comfort the girl to de-escalate the situation, saying, “Hey, hey, hey. Calm down … breathe,” before the video abruptly ends.
A child has had a massive meltdown in Walmart. Picture: X
Leah Goulis, a mother-of-two and Kidspot’s Lifestyle Editor, shared her thoughts to news.com.au, suggesting that there might be more to the child’s behaviour.
“My first thought is that there might be something different about the child, perhaps she has autism or a similar condition that causes her to lash out. This might explain why a parent isn’t intervening, as doing so could worsen the situation,” she explained.
She added that if the child isn’t on the spectrum and is simply acting out, she questions the lack of discipline from her parents.
Some people tried to restrain her, but the little girl broke free. Picture: X
Another mum and Kidspot’s Parenting Editor, Nama Winston, agreed, emphasising that there is likely more to the story and criticised the person filming the incident.
“It is clear that the girl, and whoever is responsible for her in the store, needs help,” she explained.
“This kind of behaviour is not typical for a child her age, and I’m sure the child was scared and angry, feeling overwhelmed.”
She also pointed out that someone should have intervened, as the child was at risk of injuring herself or others.
“Shame on the person filming,” she said.
She can be seen kicking things, throwing products on the floor and smashing bottles. Picture: X
People in the comments wasted no time sharing their opinions about the disturbing scene.
“The parent should pay for every item she damaged and then be banned for life,” suggested one commenter.
Another remarked, “This is learned behaviour.”
“OMG, these gentle parenting children are going to be absolute terrors, aren’t they?” someone else noted.
Others described the girl’s behaviour as “peak entitlement,” “brattiness,” and “out of control.”
However, some commentators took a more sympathetic approach.
“That child needs mental health care immediately; there are a lot of anger issues,” pointed out one person.
“I worry for this poor girl, I hope she hasn’t been abused or neglected,” another added.
A man tried to calm the girl down but a woman told him not to touch her. Picture: X
Others reminded readers that, regardless of the child’s struggles, damaging property is unacceptable.
“I don’t care what she is going through, a responsible adult would have restrained this child before she caused more damage or possibly hurt herself or others,” commented one.
Meanwhile, some expressed that they wouldn’t have been able to just stand by and watch.
“I would have left the store. This is outrageous,” one person admitted.
A woman, who may or may not be the girl’s parent, tried to de-escalate the situation. Picture: X
According to The Raising Children Network, tantrums can involve intense displays of anger, frustration, and disorganised behaviour, often when a child “loses it.”
During a tantrum, you might observe behaviours such as screaming, stiffening limbs, arched backs, kicking, falling down, flailing about, or running away.
In some cases, children may hold their breath, vomit, break things, or injure themselves or others.
Young children often experience tantrums because they struggle to communicate their needs and feelings.
However, older children can have tantrums too if they have not yet learned how to express or manage their emotions safely.
Children can have tantrums because they struggle to communicate their needs and feelings. Picture: Supplied
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Several factors can increase the likelihood of tantrums, including a child’s temperament, stress, hunger, tiredness, overstimulation, conflict, and strong emotions.
Children with ADHD or autism may experience more severe tantrums or meltdowns.
These meltdowns can be more emotional, longer-lasting, and harder to manage than standard temper tantrums.
