Depending on a person’s perspective, Florida pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz could be viewed as either the heroes who saved Fathima Rifqa Bary’s life or the manipulators who exploited her.
Either way, the Lorenzes now are allowed phone contact with Rifqa, 17, while she’s living in a foster home.
Rifqa’s counselor agreed to unsupervised contact, but Magistrate Lorenzo Sanchez said yesterday in Franklin County Juvenile Court that any phone calls must be supervised.
The Lorenzes are under investigation in Florida regarding the circumstances under which Rifqa came to be living with them after she ran away from her Northeast Side home in July, said Kristen Chernosky, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Chernosky would not release additional information about the investigation. No charges have been filed against the couple.
Rifqa lived with the Lorenzes for more than two weeks after running away because she said her father would kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity. The Lorenzes have been criticized for keeping Rifqa too long without notifying authorities, but they deny wrongdoing.
Rifqa’s parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, filed an emergency motion through their attorney, Omar Tarazi, asking that contact between Rifqa and the Lorenzes be prohibited.
Both sides had agreed in December that contact with the Lorenzes wouldn’t be allowed until Rifqa’s counselor said it was in her best interest. Last week, Rifqa received word that the counselor had approved contact, said Jim Zorn, an attorney for Franklin County Children Services.
Tarazi, sitting next to Mohamed Bary, said contact between Rifqa and the Lorenzes would jeopardize the Bary family’s chance at reconciliation.
Mohamed Bary said he was “deeply disturbed” that Rifqa’s attorneys were not giving his family a chance to reconcile.
Rifqa’s attorneys, Kort Gatterdam and Angela Lloyd, pointed out that Tarazi had signed the agreement that left the decision in the hands of the counselor.
“If you want reconciliation, you don’t file this kind of stuff,” Gatterdam said.
There has been one phone call between Rifqa and the Lorenzes, Zorn said. Children Services’ position was that the order should stand and the counselor’s recommendation be followed, he said.
That call was “within earshot of her foster mother,” Lloyd said.
Sanchez deferred further rulings in the case to Judge Elizabeth Gill. The next hearing is next Tuesday, but this issue is not expected to be addressed until Feb. 16.
The case appeared to be all but over on Jan. 19, when all parties agreed that Rifqa would stay in foster care and the family would work on their conflicts through counseling. Last week, Tarazi filed motions indicating that the deal was off because of Rifqa’s contact with the Lorenzes.