Aunt gets temporary custody of baby who survived hanging
BY BILL MILLER
WMILLER@STAR-TELEGRAM.COM
Temporary custody of a 9-month-old girl who survived being hanged by the neck last month inside her family’s home in Hudson Oaks has been given to a paternal aunt, a child welfare official said.
The arrangement was approved earlier today for Evelyn Frayre by a Tarrant County family court judge, said Marissa Gonzales, spokeswoman for Child Protective Services.
Gonzales noted, however, that CPS is ultimately responsible for the child until a permanent custody ruling is made. She added that the child’s maternal aunts and her father will also have visitation rights.
“Right now the department still maintains custody of the child, but we’re sharing it with” the paternal aunt, Gonzales said.
She also explained that the child can stay with her maternal aunts on alternating weekends, and her father, Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, can have supervised visitation for one hour each week.
“It was something everybody agreed to,” Gonzales said of the agreement. “We really wanted to balance the contact with the families, if possible.”
Gonzales said it can take as long as a year to get to a permanent custody order, “but we try to get a permanent arrangement as quickly as possible.”
Evelyn was found May 29 hanging with her mother and three sisters from clothing attached to a clothes rack made from 2-by-3 lumber, law enforcement officers said. The baby survived and was treated and released from a Fort Worth hospital.
Family and friends said the mother, Gilberta “Berta” Estrada, 25, struggled to support her children. The mother had also been in a custody dispute with the father of the children, officials said.
Bill Miller, 817-390-7684
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