Barahona Daughter Not Allowed To See Child

MIAMI (CBS4) - Jennifer Perez, the daughter of Carmen Barahona, will not be allowed to visit her 7-year-old daughter, Judge Sandy Karlan ruled Friday morning.

The Department of Children and Families had asked that Perez, 30, be allowed to visit with her daughter because a therapist said the girl misses her mother and is worried her mother is mad at her.

DCF was asking for controlled, "therapeutic" visits between mother and daughter.

But Judge Karlan said she had, "serious concerns" about letting the mother see the child. The judge said the mother can write the daughter a reassuring letter that must first be reviewed by the therapist.

Perez's daughter was removed after the body of Nubia Barahona was discovered in the back of a truck driven by Carmen Barahona's husband, Jorge Barahona. Perez's daughter said she saw Nubia and her twin brother Victor being mistreated in the Barahona home.

DCF's top Miami child welfare attorney said Perez psychologically abused the child by exposing her to the torture of the twins, and that she ordered her daughter never to discuss the family secrets with anyone.

"I never told my daughter anything like that," Perez said. "The only thing I told her, when I got the DCF call is not to tell her father. Because in the past I've had a problem with her father so I told her not to say anything until I knew exactly what was going on. And I could put the pieces together."

For Perez, she describes the Barahona incident as, "a nightmare."

"I can't believe it. I never thought this would happen to me," Perez told CBS4's Shannon Hori. "I've lost my job, they terminated me. I don't have my daughter. I don't have my mom because I haven't spoken to her and have no interest in speaking to her either. My whole world has crushed."

Jennifer says she rarely went into the house, and the few times she did, things appeared to be normal. She told CBS Miami that she didn't think much about the fact that she hadn't seen Nubia because she was always in a rush to take her daughter home and beat traffic.

Perez says she wants people to know that she's a mother and that "if I would have known those kids were hurting and suffering I would have not let that go on."