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American Morning
Abandoned 2-Year-Old Boy
Aired May 29, 2003 - 07:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Bakersfield, California may have a break in the case of an abandoned boy they've been calling "Mateo." The 2-year-old was found wandering the streets of Bakersfield about a week-and-a-half ago. Police got a voice mail message last weekend from a woman they believe to be the boy's mother. It said, "Find a good home for my son." Mateo is currently in foster care now.
And the Cook County public defender, Mark Arnold, met with the boy earlier this week, and he is joining us now from Bakersfield this morning.
Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it so much.
I'd like to ask you how you found Mateo to be doing.
MARK ARNOLD, PUBLIC DEFENDER: Actually, he's doing remarkably well. He's a pleasant young boy. He seems to be well-adjusted. He was well-dressed when we found him, and he's doing very, very well under the circumstances.
COLLINS: Did he show any signs of mistreatment whatsoever?
ARNOLD: You know, we didn't see any symptoms at all of neglect or abuse or any symptoms like that; in fact, quite the contrary. It appears that he came from an appropriate parenting background, where family love was quite easily shared.
COLLINS: And we know also that there has been a little bit of confusion about his name. We've been calling him "Mateo," but actually that voice mail message that you got said that it was -- his real name was Jesus Perez Florez. How do you address him?
ARNOLD: Well, the truth is we really don't know what his actual name is. He's been going by "Mateo," so we're going by Mateo. We're trying other names to see if he responds to those. I don't think that it's appropriate to attach a great deal of credibility to an anonymous phone call in the first place, because it's subject to so much speculation.
COLLINS: Well, that's a little bit different than what we heard yesterday. We were hearing that because of the content of that phone call and some of the detail that this woman provided that it did seem like she could possibly be the mother.
ARNOLD: I understand that, but at the same time it's still anonymous, and I don't know that it's a great idea to invest a lot of confidence in that statement because it's anonymous.
COLLINS: So, are you saying that you don't believe at this point that it is her?
ARNOLD: I'm not sure, and I think that's the -- the safe bet is to say that we're not sure at this point. We can't say that it is; we can't say that it isn't.
COLLINS: Are you hoping to speak to her again?
ARNOLD: Well, we would love the parents to come forward at this point. We absolutely would, sure.
COLLINS: Let's move now to your role in all of this. What is that exactly?
ARNOLD: Well, the public defender's role is to provide for the welfare, the health, to make sure that the young boy has appropriate health care, that he has food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities, and to see that he's in an appropriate foster care setting. And to this point I think we're very successful.
COLLINS: Well...
ARNOLD: He's a remarkable young boy.
COLLINS: Yes, that's what we've been able to tell at least from the video and from some of the other people that we've spoken with. He seems very warm and friendly, always waving at the camera, like you can see...
ARNOLD: That's the good news.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes, exactly. But let me ask you this: How much of a concern is it to you that someone who is actually not even related to him will actually come forward and try to take him?
ARNOLD: Well, obviously, that's a major concern. I mean, given the fact that parents take children from nurseries that don't belong to them on a routine basis here in this country. Parents are desperate, and so we would wait and make sure -- we would ensure on that. We would demand DNA testing to positively identify the parents at this point.
COLLINS: OK, very good. Mark Arnold, the county public defender in Bakersfield, California, thanks so much this morning.
ARNOLD: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 29, 2003 - 07:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Bakersfield, California may have a break in the case of an abandoned boy they've been calling "Mateo." The 2-year-old was found wandering the streets of Bakersfield about a week-and-a-half ago. Police got a voice mail message last weekend from a woman they believe to be the boy's mother. It said, "Find a good home for my son." Mateo is currently in foster care now.
And the Cook County public defender, Mark Arnold, met with the boy earlier this week, and he is joining us now from Bakersfield this morning.
Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it so much.
I'd like to ask you how you found Mateo to be doing.
MARK ARNOLD, PUBLIC DEFENDER: Actually, he's doing remarkably well. He's a pleasant young boy. He seems to be well-adjusted. He was well-dressed when we found him, and he's doing very, very well under the circumstances.
COLLINS: Did he show any signs of mistreatment whatsoever?
ARNOLD: You know, we didn't see any symptoms at all of neglect or abuse or any symptoms like that; in fact, quite the contrary. It appears that he came from an appropriate parenting background, where family love was quite easily shared.
COLLINS: And we know also that there has been a little bit of confusion about his name. We've been calling him "Mateo," but actually that voice mail message that you got said that it was -- his real name was Jesus Perez Florez. How do you address him?
ARNOLD: Well, the truth is we really don't know what his actual name is. He's been going by "Mateo," so we're going by Mateo. We're trying other names to see if he responds to those. I don't think that it's appropriate to attach a great deal of credibility to an anonymous phone call in the first place, because it's subject to so much speculation.
COLLINS: Well, that's a little bit different than what we heard yesterday. We were hearing that because of the content of that phone call and some of the detail that this woman provided that it did seem like she could possibly be the mother.
ARNOLD: I understand that, but at the same time it's still anonymous, and I don't know that it's a great idea to invest a lot of confidence in that statement because it's anonymous.
COLLINS: So, are you saying that you don't believe at this point that it is her?
ARNOLD: I'm not sure, and I think that's the -- the safe bet is to say that we're not sure at this point. We can't say that it is; we can't say that it isn't.
COLLINS: Are you hoping to speak to her again?
ARNOLD: Well, we would love the parents to come forward at this point. We absolutely would, sure.
COLLINS: Let's move now to your role in all of this. What is that exactly?
ARNOLD: Well, the public defender's role is to provide for the welfare, the health, to make sure that the young boy has appropriate health care, that he has food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities, and to see that he's in an appropriate foster care setting. And to this point I think we're very successful.
COLLINS: Well...
ARNOLD: He's a remarkable young boy.
COLLINS: Yes, that's what we've been able to tell at least from the video and from some of the other people that we've spoken with. He seems very warm and friendly, always waving at the camera, like you can see...
ARNOLD: That's the good news.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes, exactly. But let me ask you this: How much of a concern is it to you that someone who is actually not even related to him will actually come forward and try to take him?
ARNOLD: Well, obviously, that's a major concern. I mean, given the fact that parents take children from nurseries that don't belong to them on a routine basis here in this country. Parents are desperate, and so we would wait and make sure -- we would ensure on that. We would demand DNA testing to positively identify the parents at this point.
COLLINS: OK, very good. Mark Arnold, the county public defender in Bakersfield, California, thanks so much this morning.
ARNOLD: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
