Marlena Olivas, the mother of missing 2-year-old Everlyse Cabrera, visits the nursery at University Medical Center, where her newborn is under county supervision. Review-Journal
Marlena Olivas has now lost another child.
The mother of missing 2-year-old Everlyse Cabrera gave birth to a boy on Wednesday at University Medical Center.
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On Thursday, as she walked out of the hospital, authorities took the newborn out of her arms and placed him under county supervision, Olivas said.
"They lost my daughter (Everlyse) and now they are telling me it's justified to take my baby?" Olivas said on Friday.
County officials placed the baby, named Joseph Daniel Cabrera by his mother, in a nursery at the hospital, Olivas said.
Although the baby remained at the hospital's nursery on Friday, Olivas fears the county will transfer him to its overcrowded Child Haven emergency foster care facility.
County officials refused to talk about the case, saying they are restricted by state law from discussing the matter. But a source confirmed that the infant is "on hold" at the hospital, meaning that Olivas cannot take him home.
Olivas' child was listed in fair condition on Friday at the hospital, according to an on-duty UMC administrator who would not comment further.
Olivas said county officials took her newborn because she and her husband, Ernest Cabrera, didn't complete county-mandated drug treatment classes.
Completion of the classes would have paved the way for Olivas to be reunited with her 1-year-old son, who is now at Child Haven.
But Olivas said county officials never warned her that they would take the newborn if she didn't complete the classes.
Plus, Olivas said, she has been extremely busy searching for Everlyse, who went missing on June 10 while in the custody of a foster family in North Las Vegas.
"If we were told that this was going to happen, we would have had those classes done," she said.
Olivas gave birth to Joseph Daniel Cabrera around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. He was five pounds 11 ounces at birth.
Olivas said the infant was born three weeks premature but was healthy and drug-free.
She said that she too is drug-free.
"I'm clean and sober. The baby is clean. They (the hospital staff) let me know that me and the baby are totally healthy," she said.
In January, the county removed from her custody two of her children, 2-year-old Everlyse and the 1-year-old son.
She said the children were removed from her custody because authorities believed that she didn't have adequate housing.
Olivas concedes that she first came into contact with county officials when the 1-year-old son was born. Both the boy and Olivas tested positive for marijuana, she said.
Everlyse went missing from the foster home of Manuel and Vilma Carrascal, on the 6500 block of Diamond Point Court, near Centennial Parkway and Clayton Street in North Las Vegas.
The Carrascals initially told police that the missing girl stood on a stool, unlocked the front door and walked away from the house.
North Las Vegas police said the Carrascals have stopped cooperating with the investigation into Everlyse's disappearance.
The case has divided the Carrascals' neighborhood, with some residents of Diamond Point Court picketing the foster family and calling on them to cooperate with authorities.
The Carrascals have applied to get a restraining order against the birth parents and a neighbor, claiming that they have been intimidated.
Ann Rubin, assistant director of the Department of Family Services, couldn't comment directly on Olivas' case.
But Rubin said the county removes children from a parent's custody when a child could be hurt.
That could include cases in which there is sexual abuse in the home and the perpetrator still resides in the house, a parent uses illegal drugs or there is physical abuse, among other scenarios.
"We ask, 'Will the child come to harm if left with the parents?' " she said.
Olivas has seen her baby twice since county officials took him and is now working to regain custody of the newborn.
