Judge will rule on fitness of refugee mother who left baby after birth

Tuesday will mark a critical point in a refugee's fight to reclaim the child she bore outside a Wheatonapartment building in 2009, then left in a nearby bushy area.

DuPage County Judge Robert Anderson will rule on Nunu Sung's fitness as a mother, a decision that could either reunite Sung with her son or spur additional court proceedings that could result in the termination of her parental rights.

Anderson, who has presided over a hearing that began in early December, spent three hours Friday listening to lawyers argue over the events surrounding the birth of the Myanmar refugee's child on June 12, 2009, and whether Sung's actions should disqualify her from raising the child.

After delivering her child alone outside the apartment building where she was temporarily living with a cousin, Sung placed the child nearby and returned to the apartment. A neighbor discovered the infant, who was suffering hypothermia, and police were able to link Sung to the child.

"I don't know a good legal definition of cruelty, but I know it when I see it. And this was cruelty," argued Kathleen Anderson, the child's court-appointed attorney (and no relation to the judge).

Sung's attorneys said her shame over being an unwed mother led her to hide her pregnancy, but they also said she intended to return for her baby. Since then, Sung, who does not speak English, has been poorly treated by the child welfare system, attorney Terra Costa Howard told the judge.

"This has been a witch hunt from the beginning," Howard said. "This has never been about preserving a family."

Sung, 26, is serving a prison sentence for lying to police about the birth and is due to be paroled this month. Her child has been placed with foster parents who have said they would be willing to adopt him.

When Sung pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, she had an agreement that DuPage County prosecutors would not seek to end her parental rights. However, Kathleen Anderson, appointed by the court to represent the child's rights, filed a petition to terminate Sung's parental rights. By law, that brought prosecutors into the case.

Last month, Sung testified that she came to the U.S. from her native Myanmar viaMalaysia in 2007 and settled in Texas. She became pregnant by a fellow member of her Haka Chin ethnic group. The father then refused to help her. She kept her pregnancy a secret and traveled to Wheaton shortly before the birth.

The pastor at the Chicago Chin Baptist Church testified Friday that unwed mothers are often ostracized in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

"It's a shameful thing for the community," Danny Thianhlun said.

If the judge rules that Sung is unfit, there will be another hearing to determine what would be in the child's best interest, and the outcome could include ending Sung's rights as mother. If the judge finds that Sung is fit, the petition to terminate her rights would be dismissed.

Judge will rule on fitness of refugee mother who left baby after birth

If court finds Nunu Sung unfit, she could lose parental rights to her son

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