LOGAN, Utah — The Trump administration dispatched a government aircraft to Cuba this week to return a 10-year-old child to Utah after the youngster became the focus of a contested custody dispute tied to the child’s gender identity.
The child had been traveling with Rose Inessa-Ethington, a transgender woman and one of the child’s parents, and Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington. Authorities in the U.S. say the pair took the child to Cuba without the permission of the child’s biological mother. Federal and state officials sought the child’s return after a family member raised concerns that the child had been taken to Havana to obtain gender-transition surgery.
Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington were arrested and charged in the U.S. with international parental kidnapping. A federal criminal complaint in Utah says the two adults took the child to Canada in late March, saying it was a camping trip that also included Blue’s 3-year-old. After notifying the child’s mother that they had reached Canada, the complaint says the adults turned off their phones and later flew from Vancouver to Mexico and then to Cuba on April 1.
The criminal filing does not establish whether the couple actually intended to obtain gender-affirming surgery in Cuba or how they would have done so; Cuba does not permit gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Investigators also found that Blue withdrew $10,000 from a checking account before the trip. Agents reported finding a note from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., instructing payment of $10,000 and asking for “instructions on gender affirming medical care for children,” although that note did not reference Cuba.
Officials say a Utah state judge ordered the child’s return on April 13. Three days later, a federal magistrate judge issued arrest warrants for the Inessa-Ethingtons. Cuban authorities located the group the same day; they were deported to the U.S. on a government plane and arraigned in federal court in Richmond, Virginia. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak in Utah said the 10-year-old was returned to the biological mother. Federal and FBI representatives declined to say what happened to the accompanying 3-year-old.
Local investigators began searching on April 3 after the child did not return to the mother in Utah as scheduled, court records show. The child’s mother, who is divorced from Rose and shared custody, filed a missing-person report with Logan police. Logan, about 70 miles north of Salt Lake City, is home to a university and a large dairy-farming community.
Logan Police Chief Jeff Simmons said investigators initially treated the case as custodial interference and later learned about concerns over possible gender-affirming surgery. Police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Bevan said the surgery concern came from a family member and emphasized there was “concern about it, no actual physical evidence.”
The use of Department of Justice aircraft to recover the child comes as the administration has taken steps to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors and has increased scrutiny of health care providers involved in such care. The move prompted lawsuits from a number of states and is part of a broader national debate between officials who argue some transgender treatments can harm children and advocates who say gender-affirming care is medically necessary.
Court records and a five-year-old online fundraiser created by Blue titled “Help a Trans Mother Keep Custody of Her Child” illustrate the longer-running custody tensions. The fundraiser, which raised about $9,766, said Rose’s parenting time had been reduced after the child’s other parent relocated and sought money to pursue court actions to maintain custody and stability. An affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield includes family members’ statements that the child, assigned male at birth, identifies as a girl and that Rose had acted to influence the child.
Medical experts and major professional organizations generally say gender-affirming surgery for children is rare and recommend careful, case-by-case evaluation; fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents receive gender-affirming medications such as hormones or puberty blockers. In Cuba, gender-affirming surgeries are limited to adults and are performed through the public health system at designated hospitals only after approval by a medical commission, a process that typically requires extensive evaluations and can take years.
The Associated Press left messages for the court-appointed attorneys who represented Blue and Rose Inessa-Ethington in Virginia. Court filings indicate each faces one count of international parental kidnapping and will be returned to Utah to face charges there as well.