Judge Wants Counseling For Runaway's Family

Judge Wants Counseling For Runaway's Family
Muslim Parents Fight For Right To Raise Christian Daughter

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A judge urged an Ohio couple to stick with counseling toward a reconciliation with their teenage daughter, who ran away to Florida last year claiming she would be harmed for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Rifqa Bary's parents have denied their daughter's claim and had asked Franklin County Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Gill to scrap a deal reached in January that includes counseling as part of a reunion effort.

Mohamed and Aysha Bary said the county child welfare agency, which now has custody of the girl and which developed the reconciliation plan, was allowing Rifqa Bary to talk to a Florida pastor who had sheltered her after she ran away. The couple believes that contact was hurting their chance for reconciliation.

Gill on Tuesday denied the parents' request, saying she recognized their frustrations but believed that the best course was to move ahead with counseling to heal the family.

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