Endangered Missing: JOSHUA DIAZ (FL) [Archive] - Your Michigan .com

Mary

May 7th, 2008, 5:33 pm

Thank you for asking that Jeff. When ever a child's case is removed from www.missingkids.com (http://www.missingkids.com) it means they've been recovered. It never states if they were recovered alive or passed away.

In the case of Joshua and his sister Cinnamon, they were found alive. Their biological mother had kidnapped them on Sunday.

Here's the story from their local newspaper:

'Missing' siblings: We were at Mom's

The mother of two foster children who were found Monday after they were missing for a day is under investigation and facing potential charges, police say, as the story she and the children told authorities began to unravel Tuesday.

Under questioning, Elaine Marie Diaz told police she picked up her 7-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter from a Miami Gardens day care Sunday after she said they contacted her ``alleging physical abuse from their foster home.''

Initially, police were led to believe the children had run away from the day care in search of their mother, who lost custody earlier this year after years of drug addiction.

''She is looking, at a minimum, at interference with child custody charges,'' said detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade police spokesman.

On the same day, 7-year-old Joshua Diaz told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman that his mother had picked him and his 12-year-old sister Cinnamon Diaz from the day-care center and taken them home.

Joshua has spent most of his life in and out of foster care as his drug-addicted mother often forgot to send him to school, was sometimes unable to provide him a bed, and allowed the boy's violent father to stay with them -- and beat her.

AT COURTHOUSE

But in a small room inside Miami's juvenile courthouse, as Lederman asked Joshua to recount the 30 hours when he and Cinnamon had reportedly run away -- setting off a frantic search for the foster kids -- all Joshua could think to say was: ``I think Mom is going to be in trouble.''

When police went looking for the children Sunday at their mother's home, Joshua said, he was hiding under a bed, and Cinnamon was hiding in a closet.

Their disappearance sparked a massive search involving police, the FBI, the Department of Children & Families, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

''You had a 12-year-old, and a 7-year-old, out on the streets where it could be dangerous, not having any money or adult supervision to care for them and protect them,'' Zabaleta said. ``The community was very touched by their story.''

During the hearing, Lederman wanted to know how the children had disappeared, how they had eluded recovery for much of two days, how they had been found. Then, she convened in a small room near her chambers, where Joshua and Cinnamon had been sipping Cokes and throwing pretzels at each other.

''You have no idea how worried everybody at the courthouse was,'' Lederman said to the children, sitting in a chair in her black robe as Joshua fidgeted and Cinnamon averted her gaze. ``We just didn't know what had happened to you. . . . Everyone in this building is here to help children. We just want to make sure you're happy.''

At first, the children stuck to the story they had told police and child welfare workers Monday night: They were unhappy at the foster home where they lived. They left the Genuine Love Academy day-care center and walked in search of where they thought their mother was living in North Miami-Dade.

Then, their story changed. ''Mommy came and picked us up,'' Joshua said. ``We didn't run away.''

As Lederman leaned over and listened, Cinnamon questioned her brother in a firm, almost accusatory voice. Where were we when the police came looking, she asked. ''We were hiding,'' Joshua answered. I was under the bed. You were in the closet.''

Lederman stressed to the children that ``you're not safe with your mom. You know that. I know you want to go there, but you're not safe there.''

Diaz, 41, surrendered her right to raise four children after a Miami judge declared her an unfit mother. A fifth child was given up for private adoption.

A `STORYTELLER'

Lederman told the children they would get to live with a woman -- police called her the ''storyteller'' -- who had visited them in a children's shelter, read them stories, and taken them on field trips.

''Forever?'' the little boy asked.

''Maybe,'' the judge replied. The foster mother has expressed an interest in adopting the children.

More than 420 foster children remain missing throughout Florida. Most of the missing children are teenage runaways, and authorities believe most of the teens have returned to their birth parents, whom the children continue to love.

''Our kids, for the most part, yearn for their natural parents,'' Flora Beal, DCF's Miami spokeswoman, said.

``They don't stop loving their parents just because they are abusive.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/brea...ry/523668.html (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/523668.html)