Bell Buckle boy sent back to foster parents

A Florida appeals court ordered a 4-year-old living in Bell Buckle returned to a foster couple who had cared for the boy before local relatives gained custody of him.

Denise and Ivar Baklid had cared for Christian, for 16 months after his birth. They had planned to adopt him in March 2003 when his maternal cousin, Tiffany Delk, and her husband, Jeff, both of Bell Buckle, applied for adoption.

Seventh Circuit Court Judge Shawn L. Briese ruled in 2003 that he couldn't stop the Florida Department of Children & Families from taking Christian away from the Baklids and giving custody of the boy to his maternal cousin and her husband in Bell Buckle, Jeff and Tiffany Delk.

The following year, the appellate court decided Briese had the authority to make a decision on the case, who then ruled that the Baklids should get custody of Christian. But Christian has yet to return to Florida because DCF had asked the appellate court to overrule the lower court's decision. Monday's appeals court ruling upheld that ruling.

The Orlando Sentinel reported on Tuesday that the state DCF said it would comply with an order to return the boy to the Baklids,

Rick Brown, an attorney for the Baklids, called the ruling a victory for the child.

The boy was moved to Tennessee because DCF officials have said they would rather he live with his relatives. Christian needed a home when his mother, who had tested positive for cocaine, abandoned him three days after she gave birth at a Daytona Beach hospital

This landmark case set a legal precedent in Florida because it affirms a judge's right to intervene in what the judge thinks is the best interest of children.