In a rare federal intervention, the FBI sent a government plane to Cuba to recover a child at the center of a custody dispute involving a transgender parent. Authorities allege Rose Inessa-Ethington, a transgender woman, took her 10-year-old child to Cuba for potential gender-affirming care without the consent of the child’s birth mother.
The child, assigned male at birth, identifies as female and had been living under a shared custody arrangement. A federal complaint filed in Utah states that Rose told the birth mother she was taking the child on a camping trip to Canada, but instead traveled to Cuba and stopped communicating after March 28.
The child was due to be returned on April 3. On April 13, a Utah court ordered the child’s return and granted sole custody to the birth mother. The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed on April 21 that the child had been reunited with her mother. Rose and her partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, now face federal charges of international parental kidnapping. The FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children unit led the investigation.
Legal experts told The New York Times that deploying a government plane in a custody dispute is highly unusual. President Donald Trump, at the beginning of his second term, issued an executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors. While federal courts have blocked the policy, the government’s response in this case suggests the authorities are inclined to aggressive intervention in disputes concerning gender-affirming care.
However, FBI Officials claim the primary goal behind their approach was the child’s safety and well-being.
