I had the privilege of speaking with Jamal Jivanjee earlier this evening. Here’s the first part of our conversation, as reported in my most recent entry for the Examiner.
Jamal Jivanjee expresses frustration over isolation of Rifqa Bary from fellow Christians
Rifqa Bary during an October 2009 court appearance in Florida. (AP Photo/Pool, Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda)
Jamal Jivanjee is the executive director of illuminate, a ministry devoted to bringing together believers in different churches across America for the purpose of creating a culture of rededication to the church as a vibrant, unified body of believers reflecting God’s glory.
He’s also Rifqa Bary’s friend.
In conversation earlier this evening, Jivanjee expressed concern over his personal inability to communicate with Rifqa since her return to Ohio and the overall isolation to which she has been subjected. “That’s been the frustration. I’ve been trying to get in contact with her through the proper channels. This has been going on since November. I was told that she had requested a visit from me, but I’d have to go through a process where it would be approved by Franklin County Children’s Services. Her attorneys told me who to contact, so I did. No one got back to me. I spent literally five hours on the phone one day trying to get a live person to talk to rather than just leaving voice messages. Finally someone from Children’s Services got back to me, saying they were putting together an approved visitor’s list. Rifqa would request certain people be able to visit, her attorneys would compile the list and give it to Children’s Services, and they would have to approve it. That hasn’t happened yet, and here we are in January.”
Does Jivanjee believe this to be a deliberate obstruction, or simple bureaucratic incompetence? “I believe it’s deliberate. When she was in Florida, I had no problem visiting her. The judge there said it was up to the foster family whether someone could visit. If the child was old enough to request a visit — remember she had just turned seventeen — and there’s no criminal intent on anyone’s part, it was fine. However, since she’s come back to Ohio the treatment has been very different.”
He notes, “From the beginning, her parents and their CAIR-appointed attorney have had a strategy to cut her off from any Christian influence. They mistakenly believe that influence is making her do what she’s doing. They’re also attempting to discourage her.”
Jivanjee emphatically states this isn’t about him. “Whether I get to visit her or not isn’t important. What is important is that she be allowed to have visitors she wants to see. A Christian, even one as strong in their faith as Rifqa, needs to have contact with other Christians. It’s a basic element; something that is very important to their emotional and spiritual well-being. Rifqa has gone through so much in the past few months. It’s abusive to cut her off.
“When I asked about it again a couple of weeks ago, after everything I had been told about an approved list I was now being given an entirely different answer. They said foster children were not entitled to have visitor’s lists or contacts lists. Rifqa had one person that had been approved to talk to her on the phone — it was a girl that she knew before she fled; a college student that had mentored her — and now that communication has stopped. The foster family she’s with has restricted her use of the phone. She’s cut off from any approved contact, and now I’m being told they don’t have to put together a visitor’s list and if I want to get angry about it I should be angry at the foster care system because that’s the way it is everywhere and Rifqa’s not being treated differently than any other child. Which is clearly not the case.”
Jivanjee adds, “Anybody that Rifqa would not want to talk to, like her parents or people from the Muslim community, the court seems to have no problem letting them talk to her. But people that she wants to talk to are forbidden. It makes no sense to me.”
Tomorrow: Jamal Jivanjee on Rifqa Bary the person.
Pingback: How Rifqa Bary Prays For Us « Goldfish And Clowns
If anybody in ohio is seriously concerned about this issues and not blowing bubbles, they will file a “public corruption” form on the web site of the Ohio Attorney General asking him to investigate possible violations of Ohio “child endangerment laws “by the treatment she is receiving from the Franklin County officials. They will also ask if Rifqa is in a foster care situation with people of her own faith(Christian) as the Ohio Law provides.
This action may stir up the pot a bit and bring attention and possible positive changes to her circumstances. If no one files, nothing happens. Your choice.
In my opinion, as an Ohio resident who is seriously concerned with this issue, the “pot” has been more than adequately stirred by outsiders making bogus charges of governmental inadequacy. As a Christian who is not infrequently labelled a Muslim on thread such as this, I would suggest that many faithful Christians would be cheerfully ruled out by some as sharing Rifqa’s faith if they do not also buy into a particular political stance with regard to Islam.
My biggest concern is that the time frame in which Childrens’ Services can provide food, clothing, shelter, a foster family and counseling to a kid whose life since July has plainly been out of the ordinary and stressful–even without regard to anything that may or may not have happened previous to that time–is short. They have a very limited time (shortened even more by the shenanigans in Florida) in which to prepare this child to be a legal adult, irrespective of whether she ever reconciles with her family. When she presented to the court in August, she had two years of high school to complete, was not a U. S. citizen and was claiming what might be considered irreconcileable differences with her family. This is an incredible amount on the plate of a seventeen year old. Any attempts to further drag out court proceedings by suggesting fishing expeditions into the religious beliefs of her foster family (and BTW, the overwhelming likelihood is that they are Christian, as Muslim foster homes are few and far between and needed for Muslim kids who are in need of care), or any of the other red herrings (like whether or not she can receive mail from strangers without adult review), cannot be considered to be “in the best interests of the child.”