MIAMI – A South Florida woman accused of burning her 6-year-old son's hand on a hot stove to discipline him has been granted supervised visits with her child twice a week.
Miriam Rebolledo, 29, appeared in court Tuesday, where she was surrounded by relatives, friends and her husband, who is not her son’s biological father.
A Miami-Dade County judge agreed to allow Rebolledo to have supervised visits with her son for now, followed by therapeutic visits.
The boy remains in foster care, but could be temporarily placed with a relative if the results of a home study are positive.
"I would like you, ma'am, to come up with all the relatives you could think of that perhaps are willing to take custody of the child," Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia said.
So far, a relative and a close friend have offered their homes as temporary shelter for the boy in hopes that he doesn't have to spend the holidays in foster care.
Police said Rebolledo was arrested Thursday on an aggravated child abuse charge.
Authorities said the woman claimed that she placed her son's hand on the hot stove because a school employee called her to say that he had been hitting other children at school on Wednesday.
"My son is so rebellious that he got to the point to kill an animal. What am I supposed to do? Stay home without doing anything for my son?" Rebolledo said in Spanish as she left the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday night.
Rebolledo told police that she was overwhelmed and didn't know how else to discipline her troubled son.
She was released from jail after posting $7,500 bail.