Catastrophic Injustice
TRAVEL ADVISORY — San Diego: Child Trafficking Network (CTN)
DEVON L. LOMAYESVA: The Judge Who Chose Termination Over Truth
Judge Devon L. Lomayesva: The Judge Who Made Catastrophic Harm Permanent — terminating not just parental rights, but an entire bonded family, despite expert testimony warning of catastrophic emotional and psychological harm.
JUDGE DEVON L. LOMAYESVA
The bond was proven. The trauma was documented. The expert warned of catastrophic harm. Judge Devon L. Lomayesva terminated anyway.
Malaika and Xayah are now trapped in grave danger — not nurtured, not protected, but processed through a cash-for-kids system that ignored their trauma and severed their family.
Do What Your Heart Tells You? Judge Lomayesva Chose the Machine.
The Robinson-Lopez family placed its hope in a new judge.
A woman judge.
A judge who had the chance to look at the evidence, stop the suffering, and send Malaika and Xayah home.
Instead, Judge Devon L. Lomayesva terminated parental rights despite expert testimony from a neurotherapist warning that these girls share a strong bond with their mother, that continued separation has already caused catastrophic emotional and psychological harm, and that permanent severance through adoption would be catastrophic.
The evidence was there.
The bond was there.
The photographs were there.
The testimony was there.
The crying was there.
The screaming was there.
The children’s trauma was right in front of the court.
For two years, San Diego County pushed a false narrative that there was “no bond.” That lie collapsed in court. A neurotherapist testified to the bond. Evelyn Lopez submitted photographs from birth to today. The mother’s attorney personally visited the girls and confirmed the bond. The children’s own reactions confirmed the bond every time they cried, screamed, reached, and begged to go with their mother.
And still, Judge Lomayesva terminated.
The court’s reasoning made the ruling even worse. After all the testimony, all the photographs, all the evidence of bond, and all the warnings of catastrophic emotional and psychological harm, the ruling still came down to this: the girls are “adoptable,” and the court questioned whether returning them would be stable.
But Evelyn Lopez has her twins. She has a stable home. The children have a mother, siblings, grandparents, friends, and an entire family/community waiting for them. “Adoptable” does not erase a mother. “Adoptable” does not erase siblings. “Adoptable” does not erase family. “Adoptable” does not erase catastrophic trauma. “Adoptable” does not erase a bond that is now in the record.
This was not a ruling based on no bond. The bond was proven.
This was a ruling made despite the bond.
According to testimony, social workers were shutting down their laptops five minutes before visits ended — right before the children broke down crying and screaming to go with their mother. That means the worst trauma, the most important trauma, the trauma that exposed the lie, was not being properly documented.
That is not child protection.
That is concealment.
That is a system protecting its own narrative instead of protecting children.
This ruling was not made because there was no bond. The bond is now in the record.
This ruling was not made because the children were not suffering. Their suffering is now in the record.
This ruling was not made because adoption would be harmless. Expert testimony warned that permanent severance would be catastrophic.
Judge Lomayesva had a chance to become the judge who stopped the suffering.
Instead, she became the judge who terminated parental rights despite expert testimony warning of catastrophic harm.
Malaika and Xayah are not case numbers. They are two sisters. They have a mother. They have siblings. They have grandparents. They have friends. They have an entire family/community waiting for them.
They also had an RFA-approved grandfather and household that San Diego County fought instead of honoring.
For two years, this family has been lied about, bullied, isolated, criminalized, and retaliated against. The County covered up trauma, medical concerns, sexual-abuse concerns, international trafficking to the Dominican Republic, and the damage being done to these children. Then it used the courtroom to finish what the system started.
This is one of the most vicious rulings this family has ever faced.
It is not justice.
It is not protection.
It is family destruction under color of authority.
But this fight is not over.
There are appeals.
There is a record.
There is expert testimony.
There are photographs.
There are witnesses.
There are recordings.
There is public exposure.
There is the truth.
And the truth is this:
San Diego County did not terminate parental rights because there was no bond.
They terminated despite the bond.
They terminated despite the trauma.
They terminated despite expert testimony warning of catastrophic emotional and psychological harm.
They treated “adoptable” like a magic word while brushing past the catastrophic damage adoption would cause.
Judge Devon L. Lomayesva had the power to stop this.
She chose termination.
Now her ruling becomes part of the record, part of the appeal, and part of the public story San Diego County tried so desperately to bury.
Appeal. Exposure. Record. Evidence. Truth.
Bring Malaika and Xayah home.
— The Collective for Family Justice & Human Rights
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