Foster dad wants mum to take teen

A foster father is trying to get a court to force the mother of a teenage boy to take her son back - 16 years after she relinquished care of him.

The Emirati told RAK Family Court that he had offered to take care of the now 16-year-old boy a few weeks after he was born because the boy’s Arab mum was having personal difficulties and was struggling to care for the infant.

He said that the mother was separated from her husband and that she had lost contact with him.

“Now that the boy has grown up, I would like his biological mother to have him back,” the man said, adding that he wanted to focus on his own children.

He told the judge the reasons that first prompted him to take custody of the boy 16 years ago no longer apply as the mother is now in a better position to take care of her teenage son - although he did acknowledge that the whereabouts of the boy’s father is still unknown.

The Emirati man claims that when he tried to return the child to his mother, the woman refused to take him.

The foster father’s lawyer, Mohammed Jaadi Al Mawali, told 7DAYS yesterday that he hoped that the mother would agree to have her son back. The teenager was in court for the latest custody hearing.

The case has been adjourned to next week to hear from the boy’s mother before the judge rules on custody.

ismail@7days.ae