Haitian girl in Pawtucket to live in Germany with brother
Providence Journal, 3:08 PM Wednesday, January 27, 2010*
by Tracy Breton
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The first ripple effect of Haiti's earthquake to hit Rhode Island's justice system came in Family Court on Wednesday morning.
Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. granted an emergency guardianship petition which -- thanks to speedy action taken by the Department of Children Youth & Families and a volunteer lawyer -- will allow a 16-year-old Haitian girl who's been living in Pawtucket to move to Germany at week's end and live with her brother, who is stationed there with the U.S. Army.
The girl, Christella Castelly, an eleventh grader at Tolman High School, had traveled to Haiti with her father, Archange Castelly, 58, on Dec. 13 to spend Christmas with other family members who reside there. The father and daughter, both legal aliens, had lived together in Rhode Island since 2005. Christella's mother, Justicia Jacques, 48, is married to the girl's father but hasn't had immigration papers approved to enable her to live here.
While in Haiti for the holidays, the father needed surgery but there were complications with the operation which necessitated another surgery so he was unable to accompany Christella back to Pawtucket for the start of school. On Jan. 3, the teenage girl flew back here on her own to stay with friends until her father recuperated and was fit enough to return.
Nine days later, the earthquake struck. According to testimony and an affidavit presented to Jeremiah Wednesday morning, the Castelly family home in Haiti was destroyed and Christella's parents were seriously injured.
The mother was knocked unconscious. There are conflicting reports as to whether she is still in a coma. The father's legs were crushed and his ribs broken. A report submitted by the DCYF said the father's legs were amputated. But Providence attorney Susan Fink, who was representing the Army sergeant for free at the court hearing, said it was her understanding no amputation had been performed but that one of the father's legs may need to be cut off due to the injuries he suffered.
Christella needed a guardian. One sister lives in Haiti. Her oldest brother is a doctor and is also currently in Haiti. Her only other sibling, 26-year-old Alonge Castelly, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and is now stationed with the Army in Germany. He's married and has a 1-year-old baby. But when he learned of the earthquake in Haiti, he knew he had to be in Rhode Island for his younger sister.
The Army acted decisively once it learned of his plight. Sgt. Castelly was given a leave so he could return to Pawtucket and take charge of Christella.
Late last week after arriving here, the Army sergeant went to the Domestic Relations counter at the Family Court in the Garrahy Judicial Complex on Dorrance Street. He bumped into Fink there and she set about trying to help him once she learned of the situation.
She suggested that he try to get an emergency guardianship approved by the Pawtucket Probate Court for his sister. but he was unable to do so in a speedy enough fashion. His military leave expires Jan. 29.
He consulted with the State department which made contact with the DCYF. Attorneys there, along with Andrew J. Johnson, director of the Family Court's Office of the Court Appointed Special Advocate, helped smooth the way for the guardianship to be approved by Jeremiah.
Normally, the custodial parent of a minor must be in court and sign papers giving up guardianship to someone else. But in this case that was not possible. So as Jeremiah sat on the bench Wednesday morning, Sgt. Castelly made a cell-phone call to his sister in Haiti. He put the speaker phone on so everyone in the courtroom could listen in. Speaking French, he asked his sister to hand the phone to their father. He told him where he was and asked him to give a verbal OK: Would he agree to let him take Christella back home to Germany with him and become her legal guardian on a temporary basis --until the father recovered?
The father said yes; an interpreter who was listening in assured the judge that the father was giving his permission.
The brother and sister left the courtroom in a hurry; they had to pack up the family home in Pawtucket and travel to Boston to get the necessary paperwork that will allow Christella to leave the country with her brother within the next 48 hours.
Martha Kelly, the DCYF lawyer who handled the case, told the court she was "so impressed" with the Castellys and "their sense of family." Now, she said, "the family can begin the healing process."
*Original article can be found here:
http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/01/haitian-girl-residing-in-pawtu.html
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