The Pioneer Press reports the 11-year-old says he is concerned he'll lose contact with his extended family if he's reunited with his parents. Steven Cross was convicted of child neglect after he fled to California last summer. His mother had lost rights to visit her son in 2002.

Steven Cross was convicted in January of child neglect for abandoning his 11-year-old boy before fleeing to California. WCCO reports the boy's mother will also start spending time with her son.

A year after being abandoned by his father, a 12-year-old Lakeville boy on Thursday was finally reunited privately with his runaway dad. "I apologized to him," said Steven Cross, who left his son, Sebastian, last year as the pair was going to lose their Lakeville home.

Steven Cross has posted bail so he can start fulfilling the court-ordered requirements to see his son again. Cross left a note for his son saying he couldn’t find a job and that their home would soon be repossessed, and that the boy should go live with a friend’s family. He then fled to California.

His attorney says financial problems had Steven Cross at the end of his rope when he left a note telling his 11-year-old son to stay with nearby friends who were like family. Prosecutors say Cross is guilty of child neglect.

The Lakeville man convicted of abandoning his 11-year-old son last summer was sentenced to probation up to two years Wednesday and must pay more than $2,500 in restitution. A Dakota County jury found 60-year-old Steven Cross guilty of neglect, a gross misdemeanor, for leaving his son and fleeing to California in July of 2011. If Cross violates his probation, KARE 11 reports he could be sent to jail for a year.

At a child protection hearing, Steven Cross agreed to work on a joint-custody arrangement with the mother of his 11-year-old son. Cross was convicted of child neglect after he drove to California last summer, leaving the boy a note telling him to stay with friends.

Steven Alexander Cross tells the Pioneer Press he was buried in bills and had drained his savings when he left a note for his son and left for California. "I never thought I'd broken the law," he said.