Texas Pre-Adoptive Parents Lose Custody

“The biker shootout at a Waco restaurant in May has evolved into a tragedy on many levels.

Not only did nine people lose their lives, but many of those who were arrested in its aftermath lost their jobs and their savings.

And for Marilyn and Rob Bucy of Midlothian, that day resulted in the loss of custody of a little girl they called their daughter.

“There was never a dull moment,” Rob Bucy said. “There was a lot of energy, a lot of noise.”

It was a home filled with five children and smiles and hugs and love. Much of it was focused on the newest to the family, five-year-old Alyssa, whom the Bucys were trying to adopt from relatives in California.

Alyssa came from a troubled home, and for the past year-and-a-half the Bucys say they have been giving her stability and raising her as their own.

“We were always Mommy and Daddy from the start,” said Marilyn Bucy.

But all of that changed on May 17, the day Rob hopped on his Harley and headed to a biker rally at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.

When I was backing my bike out of the driveway to go to Twin Peaks, Alyssa stood in the garage and went, ‘Bye, Daddy, bye Daddy, I love you,'” Bucy recalled.

What he did not realize was that he and 176 other bikers would get caught up in a fight and shootout; they would be arrested; and they spend the next month behind bars.

There was no way for Rob Bucy to know that goodbye in the garage would the last time he would see the little girl who called him “Daddy.”

“It really breaks my heart; she’s Daddy’s girl,” he said.

While Bucy was jailed in lieu of a $1 million bail — charged along with others with murder and organized crime — his wife received a “notice of emergency removal” from California officials, who halted the family’s planned adoption. They called Bucy “a threat,” and ordered Alyssa removed from their family home.

Bucy said while he is a member of the Cossacks — who were involved in the fight with the Bandidos that day in Waco — he played no role in the altercation.

The Bucys say despite the support and endorsement of their Texas caseworker, Marilyn was ordered to pack Alyssa’s bags and toys and stuffed animals and deliver her to a stranger at the airport.

“I tried to get her excited about going on a ‘vacation,’ because I didn’t know what else to,” Marilyn said. “What else do you say? It was so hard, because Rob wasn’t here… it was just me.”

Alyssa is now with a foster family in California; the Bucys don’t know where she is. They are not allowed to speak to her and have filed an appeal hoping to reverse Alyssa’s removal.

“I really feel that I have done everything I could do to show the court, show the judge, that we love her… this is our daughter,” Rob Bucy said. “She’s here with family, she needs to come home.”

For now, all the Bucys can do is hope this message somehow gets to the little girl who they love; the one who still calls them Mommy and Daddy.

“I’m so proud of you, Alyssa,” Marilyn Bucy said. “I know you are being such a brave, big girl, and I miss you. I miss you and I love you and I’ll see you as soon as I can… as soon as I can.””

Adoptive parents lose custody after Waco incident[WFAA 7/14/15 by Brett Shipp]

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