Ruling next month in Wheaton abandonment case
A DuPage County judge says he will rule next month on the parental rights of an imprisoned refugee who gave birth outdoors and then left her infant in a neighbor’s yard.
Judge Robert Anderson heard closing arguments Friday at the parental rights trial of Nunu Sung, who is scheduled for parole next week. Anderson said he will rule on Feb. 6 whether Sung’s relationship with the boy should be legally severed.
Sung, 27, remained composed as attorneys for the toddler and his foster parents argued he would be better off without her. The child has been with a Wheaton couple he now calls “mommy and daddy” since he was 10 days old, they said. The family is willing to adopt.
“They were the real parents, judge, who looked after that child 168 hours a week, seven days a week, 365 days a year for 2 ½ years,” said guardian Kathleen Anderson, who is not related to the judge. “She’s only a parent because of DNA.”
But Sung’s attorneys maintained she loved the boy and was “persistent and determined” to be in his life. They argued she was set up for failure by the child welfare system, and cheated out of a plea agreement that would have allowed her custody.
“When the appellate court sees it our way, how old will (the child) be then?” Sung attorney Jennifer Wiesner said.
Sung, an unwed refugee from Burma, gave birth behind her cousin’s Wheaton apartment in June 2009 and then abandoned the baby in a bushy area outside a neighbor’s home. She pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in 2010 in exchange for a maximum prison term and a promise that prosecutors would not interfere with her plans to be reunited.
Sung was already found to be an unfit mother in a ruling nearly two weeks ago.
Prosecutors were drawn into the case when the child’s guardian challenged Sung’s parental fitness last year.