Hearing Set on Toddler’s Fate : Courts: Judge will rule today on whether Taj Jayyusi will remain in Orangewood or be returned to his foster mother. The child’s parents remain jailed in the abduction.

Four-year-old Taj Yaser Jayyusi’s parents are locked away in jail for allegedly abducting him. He has a loving foster mother who wants him back.

So why has the child spent the last six days at the Orangewood Children’s Home--a county shelter for neglected and abused children who have nowhere else to go?

Children’s Services Director Gene Howard said Wednesday that Taj was put in protective custody at Orangewood Saturday--rather than returned to his foster mother--because officials can’t be sure others weren’t involved in the Feb. 12 abduction. Officials want to keep Taj at Orangewood and safe from a repeat kidnaping, he said.

Taj was taken Feb. 12 from foster mother Sue White’s home in Rancho Santa Margarita just days before a court hearing to determine whether his parents would be stripped of their parental rights. Such a decision would allow Taj to be put up for adoption. According to Howard, White is seeking to adopt the child.

Today, an Orange County Juvenile Court judge is expected to rule on whether Taj will remain in Orangewood or be returned to his foster mother. Howard said Taj’s biological parents, Yaser Majed Jayyusi, 55, and Deborah Ann Jayyusi, 35, will attend the proceedings under armed escort, then be returned to jail.

According to sheriff’s officials, the child was snatched from a play area in the garage of White’s home while she was taking a shower. Six days later, deputies who were staking out a business in Cerritos where Yaser Jayyusi worked arrested the couple when they arrived to pick up his check. Taj was with them.

Both parents were arrested on suspicion of child abduction and are being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

“At the time the child was recovered, we had no idea whether the parents were acting alone or in concert with friends or relatives,” Howard said. “There was good reason to take some time and consider the circumstances.”

Howard disclosed that Taj has relatives in Orange County, suggesting one possible placement option.

On Wednesday, Deborah Ann Jayyusi appeared briefly in Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel, but her arraignment on felony charges was postponed. She is charged with taking Taj outside her court-assigned visitation period and violating Susan White’s custody rights as a foster parent.

Yaser Jayyusi, who reportedly underwent a minor surgery, did not appear. He remained hospitalized Wednesday, jail officials said.

Taj and a 2-year-old daughter entered foster care two years ago after being taken from the Jayyusis because of allegations of physical abuse, according to social services officials and court records. The 2-year-old, who was at another foster care home until the kidnaping, was transferred to Orangewood because of concerns for her safety, Howard said.

Social services officials are seeking a foster parent who would be willing to take both children since state law requires that social workers keep siblings together when possible.

Howard ruled out the possibility that Taj would be returned to his parents’ custody. According to court records, White complained to sheriff’s deputies that “Yaser, who worked as a security guard and had access to guns, had threatened to kill anyone who tried to keep Taj away” from him.