Rifqa Bary | News & Videos

A deal was cut today in the trial of Rifqa Bary. In exchange for pleading guilty to the charge of being “unruly”, Rifqa will not have to return home.

Here’s the hijabed Heagney reporting:

The long legal dispute over runaway teen convert Fathima Rifqa Bary apparently ended in Franklin County Juvenile Court late this afternoon when the girl and her parents agreed that she’ll stay in the custody of Children Services and the family will try to resolve their issues with counseling.

That leaves two options for Rifqa, who is in foster care: She could eventually reconcile with her parents and go home or stay in foster care until her 18th birthday on Aug. 10.

Rifqa admitted she was unruly when she fled her parents’ home last July to live with a Christian pastor and his family in Florida. She said at the time that her father, Mohamed, had threatened to kill her for abandoning the family’s Muslim faith, although authorities say they never found credible evidence that that was true.

Mohamed and Aysha Bary and their daughter all agreed today not to continue with the Juvenile Court dependency case. The next hearing, besides a minor hearing regarding a gag order on Monday, is set for her birthday.

Today’s decision ends months of legal action in Florida and Ohio.

In a statement read by Rifqa’s attorneys, both she and her parents said they loved each other and believe counseling is the best route.

UPDATE: John Jay’s analysis:

there isn’t much to go on, and i am not a great big fan of merideth heagney’s, but …. .–

–it appears she’ll stay in the custody of franklin country child services until her 18th birthday, and
–the child and parents alike have agreed to some kind of counseling.

i know. duh. that’s what the article says.

but, until such time as the orders of court are released to the public, or such time as your operatives can obtain copies of the orders of court, it is impossible to say much more w/ absolute certainty.

but, i would infer this to have happened.–

i don’t think the case to have been dismissed by order of court. were that to have happened, the court would loose jurisdiction over the parties, and jurisdiction to control their behavior. several things would obtain from that.– one, any agreement of the parties to engage in counseling could not be enforced by the court, ever. two, if the court were to have dismissed the case, i am not aware of any circumstance that confer upon franklin country child services the authority/jurisdiction/power to exert control over rifqa, or that confer upon them any ability/authority/power to provide for her care, including provision of her shelter care and custodial arrangements. and, finally, if the matter were dismissed, the court could not schedule or compel attendance by the parties at hearings, such as the matter set on the gag order.

it would appear that the parties contemplate all of these matters continuing. there has to be continuing jurisdiction of the court for these things to happen, to continue happening.

so, my best guess is that what has happened, is that the parties have entered into an agreed order of some kind striking the trial date on the merits, and agreeing to these measures interim to her birth day, at which point she turns 18. the terms of that order to include:
–her continued custodial arrangement with and supervision by the franklin county children’s services;
–striking of the trial date on the merits of the dependency claim/case;
–continued supervision by the court, probably with periodic hearings to see if any substantial compliance issues are arising, in terms of her custodial arrangements, and in terms with all the parties compliance with counseling.

i would also assume that the order provides further as to:
–naming a counselar or organization to provide counseling, subject to the agreement of all parties to that end;
–providing for the supervision of the parties during the occurence of such counseling sessions (i sure hope that this is covered), and,
–i would expect that some sort of minimal and court supervised visitation is contemplated to take place during this process, at some time.

i say this because it seems very unlikely to me that during this whole period rifqa and family will not be placed together in some fashion during the counseling sessions. such sessions may be private, in hte sense of not joint, to set and establish parameters on this or that point, and i would imagine this sort of thing has either taken place or will take place under the aegis of the court, … , but, eventually, it seems to me that such sessions will be joint.

and, depending on rifqa’s comfort levels, may or may not take place in conjunction with limited visitation.

and, as heagney said, it may or may not result in her going home.

one final matter. i see no mention of the parties’ immigration status. as i am given to understand the matters that i have read, in order for rifqa to take advantage of the immigration laws, she has to make application for the special programs i am aware of 1.)as a juvenile who is dependent, and 2.)with an adjudication determining her as dependent stuffed into her hot little fist.

i don’t know if this is covered in an order of continuance/temporary order of court, pending the final outcome. i don’t think it would be very good to see her spit out of this whole process as an “adult illegal alien,” subject to deportation. nor do i have any idea of the immigration status of the parents, except that they are illegal. i don’t know what in the hell you have to do to get deported out of this country anymore, … , except for maybe raping babies in church during the sermon, … , but if the bary’s aren’t in the hot seat for two cases of perjury before federal courts, i don’t know what gets yo there.

to sum up.

nobody will know for sure until copies of orders of court are obtained. until then, everything is speculation, some of it to be more learned than other of it, for sure.