November 29th, 2011 by Glenn Sacks
Short version: Washington Department of Social and Health Services seized Maile Metalwala, the 4-year-old daughter of Solomon Metalwala, away from her unfit mother, Julia Biryukova, and put Maile in foster care. It is a common but unjust practice for child welfare agencies to put children in foster care instead of giving them to their fathers. Moreover, the Washington court separated Maile from Solomon based on spurious abuse allegations from a now thoroughly discredited accuser. We want you to contact all relevant Washington authorities and demand that Solomon and little Maile be reunited–to email and fax them a letter, click here.
Maile Metalwala (left) and Sky Metalwala (right)
Full version: Solomon Metalwala has had almost no contact with Maile Metalwala, his 4-year-old daughter, for the past year.
First, Family Law Commissioner Jacqueline Jeske, a former domestic violence prosecutor with a reputation for rubber-stamping domestic violence protection orders, approved a restraining order against Solomon. This was done despite the fact that his accuser, estranged wife Julia Biryukova, had previously made false abuse charges, and Child Protective Services had concluded that these new abuse charges also were false. As is explained below, Biryukova has a clear history of mental illness, and on several occasions has made charges and claims that investigating authorities found to be baseless or outright lies.
On November 6, CPS took Maile from Biryukova and, instead of giving Maile to her father, put her in foster care. Clay Terry, Esq., one of Metalwala’s attorneys, and we hope that he is correct. However, we have often seen such cases drag on for months or even years, even to the point where a judge decides that the child has bonded with the foster parents and should not be disrupted by returning to his or her father.
We want to push WA DSHS and King County Superior Court to resolve this case as soon as possible. We want you to contact all relevant Washington authorities and demand that Solomon and little Maile be reunited–to email and fax them a letter, click here. To call them, click here.
Why This Campaign?
On November 6, Julia Biryukova told police that she ran out of gas with her 2-year-old son Sky and 4-year-old daughter Maile in the car. Julia alleges that she and Maile left Sky to go get gas, but when she returned, Sky was gone. However, the Bellevue police investigated and discredited her story.
Currently everyone’s focus is on the disappearance of two-year-old Sky Metalwala, as it should be. Like everyone else, Fathers and Families can only speculate as to Sky’s whereabouts or if he’s still alive. The evidence suggests that Biryukova has stashed him with a friend or relative, or moved him out of the state. We hope that Sky is safe and that he will be reunited with his father as soon as possible.
This case is complicated, with many legal issues. But it is outrageous that Solomon and Maile have been kept apart for nearly a year, particularly now that Biryukova has been completely discredited. What we seek to do is to apply public pressure to the relevant authorities to reunite Solomon and Maile.
In this campaign we are working with the Washington Domestic Violence Commission, a nonprofit organization whose goals are to ensure equal protection under the law and to fight against both domestic violence and abuses of the domestic violence system. The WADVC’s Chris Hupy says:
“It is unfortunate, but Domestic Violence Protection Orders are issued in King County like passing out candy. Fighting one is very difficult, even in a case such as this, where the evidence is overwhelming that the children should have been in the father’s care and custody.”
We want you to contact all relevant Washington authorities and demand that Solomon and little Maile be reunited–to email and fax them a letter, click here. To call them, click here.
There is much more to learn about this case and the issues surrounding it–to learn more, click on Campaign to Reunite Solomon Metalwala with His Daughter Maile.
Running these campaigns takes time and money–please contribute to the organization which fights for you by going to www.FathersandFamilies.org/give.
Together with you in the love of our children,
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director,
Fathers and Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board,
Fathers and Families