Crime & Safety
Boy Abandoned in Lakeville Home Tells Judge He Wants to Stay With Aunt
Steven Cross, 60, left his son alone in their Lakeville home last July. He is expected to begin visitations with his son.
A plan to reunite an 11-year-old boy with his father, who abandoned him at their Lakeville home last year, and his mother continues to be in the works.
That, however, apparently doesn’t sit well with the youngster, who spoke during a child protection hearing in Hastings on Wednesday.
According to articles on StarTribune.com and TwinCities.com, the boy told Dakota County District Court Judge Richard Spicer that he would prefer to stay in foster care with his maternal great-aunt than to live with his father, .
Find out what's happening in Lakevillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Spicer said that state and federal laws “encourage courts to return children to their parents when possible and to find a permanent home for children within a year of their being displaced,” says TwinCities.com.
The boy is expected to move in with his mother May 18 and to begin scheduled visitations with his father. He has been spending four nights a week with his mother since last month.
Find out what's happening in Lakevillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The case is scheduled to be reviewed in district court in June.
Cross, 60, on July 18, 2011, while his son slept. He was arrested in California last August and was convicted of child neglect in Dakota County District Court in January.
Wednesday’s hearing was the first time Cross and his son had seen each other since last July, the articles say.
Cross is scheduled to be sentenced for his child-neglect conviction May 16, says TwinCities.com.
For additional coverage about the Steven Cross case, see the following posts on Patch:
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