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Real Mother Takes Child from Foster Home

January 11, 2015 permalink

Monique Farias retrieved her daughter from her foster mother through burglary. The reporter says Farias gave up the girl through a voluntary agreement. Often this kind of agreement is imposed on the mother by child protectors through coercion or deception. But in the current instance foster parents Terry and Kimberly Finch strengthened their custody with an court order in December.

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Birth mother allegedly kidnapped child from home of new family

home of Kimberly Finch
A screen sits on the ground from the window where Monique Farias escaped with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter after allegedly kidnapping the child from the home of child's guardian, Kimberly Finch, in the 500 block of Twinleaf Drive in Oildale.
By Felix Adamo / The Californian

Monique Farias gave up her 2 1/2-year-old daughter in December, agreeing to let another family have temporary guardianship and custody of the child.

But she changed her mind.

Deputies said Farias and her boyfriend abducted the girl Monday afternoon from her new home in Oildale. The child was recovered -- and Farias and her boyfriend arrested -- early Tuesday in downtown Bakersfield.

Farias, 33, and her boyfriend, Ricardo Arredondo, 37, are being held on $525,000 bail on suspicion of kidnapping, burglary and conspiracy.

Deputies said Farias had been unable to care for her daughter and left her with her mother for an extended period of time. The mother then asked Kimberly Finch and her husband, Terry Finch, to care for the child beginning in July.

Kimberly Finch said in a Tuesday morning interview she knows Farias' mother because they attend the same church.

Kimberly and Terry Finch filed for and obtained guardianship of the child in December after Farias voluntarily released custody of her daughter, deputies said.

Farias and Arredondo contacted the Finches and asked to visit the girl Sunday evening. Kimberly Finch said the two visited with the child for a couple hours, and everything went well -- with one exception.

In the course of their conversation, Finch said Arredondo told her a daughter he'd fathered had been taken away from him, and it made him think about kidnapping her to get her back. Finch said that comment made her uneasy.

Farias asked to visit with the girl again Monday. Finch said she was home alone with the child, but everything had gone well the night before so she decided to let Farias and Arredondo in her house in the 500 block of Twinleaf Drive.

She refused, however, to let them take the girl to lunch at McDonald's, even though Arredondo claimed her husband had given them permission. Finch called her husband, who denied giving permission, and said he was on his way home to confront Arredondo.

Soon after Terry Finch arrived, he, his wife and Arredondo talked in the living room while Farias took her daughter to a back bedroom. Terry Finch was seated in a chair facing the street. He had a perfect view a short time later of Farias running from the house with her daughter in her arms.

Kimberly Finch called 911. Arredondo walked out of the house and followed Farias and the girl.

Finch said she and her husband didn't chase Farias because they don't have weapons or cellphones, plus their two young boys were home.

"I was very angry she tried something like that," Kimberly Finch said.

During the 12-hour investigation, deputies served three search warrants, a probation search and conducted several other searches on properties in the Bakersfield area.

Deputies found Farias, Arredondo and the child about 2:40 a.m. at a residence in the 700 block of L Street. The girl was unharmed.

Source: Bakersfield Californian

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