Honduran Youth Gains Victory in Guardianship Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

In a major victory on the eve of her 18th birthday, a youth who fled from Honduras after being abandoned and abused, has been placed under the guardianship of her mother, who lives in Nashville.
In a three-page order issued Tuesday, Davidson Juvenile Court Judge Sheila J.D. Calloway granted a petition placing Gracibel Pineda Orellana under the guardianship of her mother, Iris Yolanda Orellana Varela.
Gracibel's birthday is Wednesday and her lawyer said it was critical that the petition be acted upon before she reached 18.
The guardianship is regarded as a crucial first step in a lengthy process that could avert deportation.
The order came following a sometimes tearful hearing in Calloway's Nashville courtroom.
Gracibel and her mother still face further hearings in Davidson courtrooms and a long process with federal immigration officials will follow.
Gracibel and her cousin fled Honduras in May, but were quickly apprehended by U.S. Homeland Security agents after crossing the border. She was turned over to her mother, but faces a hearing in May in Memphis, which could lead to deportation.
Thomas J. Brown, the attorney for Varela, first filed a guardianship petition in Davidson Probate Court, but Judge David "Randy" Kennedy ruled that he did not have the legal authority to act on the petition despite a recent ruling to the contrary by then state Attorney General Robert Cooper.
Kennedy transferred the case to Juvenile Court. A court official wrote in an email that state law gives Juvenile Court exclusive jurisdiction in cases of abandonment and neglect involving minors.
Though first rebuffed in Juvenile Court, Brown sought and obtained an emergency hearing before Calloway.
In the order Calloway concluded that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that Gracibel was in need of a guardian and that her mother was "the appropriate person to be appointed."
She also concluded that it was in the child's best interest to remain in the United States and reunification with her father in Honduras "is not viable due to abandonment."
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