Grandparents visit NY to see 3-year-old ditched at cathedral while officials sort out custody

Grandparents in NY to see boy ditched at cathedral

NEW YORK — The grandparents of a Florida toddler who was abandoned and found wandering alone at St. Patrick’s Cathedral were in New York on Friday, hoping for a reunion with the 3-year-old and clearance to take him home.

Donald and Frieda Fons of Land O’ Lakes, outside Tampa, bought open-ended tickets because it’s not clear when they will able to see their grandson Nathaniel, according to the boy’s uncle, Ryan Fons. The boy will remain in foster care until legal and custody issues are resolved, officials said.

“They heard there was a chance and they said, ‘OK we’re booking a flight,’” Ryan Fons told The Associated Press on Friday. “They were extremely excited to head up there.”

Nathaniel was found alone at the cathedral Tuesday evening with a note in his hand bearing the name of a detective in Florida and the words “call immediately.”

Nathaniel and his parents had lived with his grandparents until last year when Nathaniel’s father took a job on a fishing boat outside Vancouver, Wash. But his father was arrested for failing to notify his parole officer and sent to jail in Florida, the family said. Records show he is still jailed.

The grandparents wanted custody of their grandson, but his mother took off with him, the family said earlier this week. She had been traveling with the boy until her arrest Sunday in Florida on counterfeit charges. She told officials that her son was in a separate car traveling with another couple.

After that couple’s abandoned Chevy Suburban was found by in a hotel parking lot in Florida on Sunday, authorities issued a missing child alert for Nathaniel. The couple are suspected of taking Nathaniel north and leaving him at the cathedral.

On Thursday, Nathaniel spoke to his grandparents on the phone. They arrived in New York that evening.

They were told not to get their hopes up, but there was a possibility that they would be able to see their grandson on Friday, Ryan Fons said. He said children’s services may want to see how Nathaniel responds to them since it has been almost a year since he saw them.

“They’re nervous because they don’t know how it’s going to go, excited because they finally get to see him, hopefully, and just wishful I guess,” Ryan Fons said. “He should recognize them. I don’t know why he wouldn’t. That’s what we’re praying for.”

Staff from New York City’s protective services has been in contact with social services officials in Florida and with the Fons. Child services officials said staff met with the grandparents Friday, but the meeting was not open to the public.

“They have been through stress the past five days,” Ryan Fons said of his parents. “They want to bring him back home. They were extremely sad when he left last June and went through a lot of stress then. It’s finally about to be over, hopefully.”

The couple believed to have left Nathaniel at the cathedral have not been located. New York City police said Thursday that they are suspected in the same counterfeiting operation in which Nathaniel’s mother was arrested and would also face charges of endangering the welfare of a child in New York. The woman was seen on surveillance footage at famed Fifth Avenue landmark moments before Nathaniel was abandoned, police said.

Nathaniel’s mother, Erin Comeau, 26, is being held in Florida. She said in a written statement that she would allow Donald and Frieda Fons temporary custody but did not want to “permanently lose her son.”

Associated Press Writer Megan K. Scott contributed to this report.