BY JAY WEAVER

 Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives have filed notice that they will appeal a family court decision saying the boy's great-uncle is too distant a relative to sue for custody in Florida.

 The court's ruling supports arguments made in federal court by both Elian's father and the U.S. government that Lazaro Gonzalez has no standing to represent the boy in his suit seeking a political asylum claim.

 The notice of appeal was filed Monday. But the actual papers aiming to overturn the family court decision will not be filed until after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in the federal case next Thursday. That delay will allow the Miami relatives' attorneys to argue that the state court ruling is not resolved.

 ``We're appealing all of the issues in the order,'' Laura Fabar, an attorney for the Gonzalez family in Miami, said Wednesday. She declined to elaborate on the grounds for appeal.

 The custody claim brought by Elian's great-uncle alleges that Elian's father is abusive because he wants his 6-year-old son to return with him to communist Cuba. But last month, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey said Lazaro Gonzalez had no right to seek custody in family court because he is such a distant relative.

 She also said the federal government's decision to reunite the child with his father superseded her authority to allow a hearing on his custody request.

 Bailey lifted an emergency protective order, granted by a previous judge, that had required Elian to stay in Miami-Dade County with his relatives until the hearing on his temporary custody.

 That setback and the government's seizure of the boy on April 22 have changed the dynamics of the custody dispute. Elian's Miami relatives no longer have access to the boy because he is staying with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at the private Wye Plantation in Maryland.

 Both sides are awaiting critical appeals court arguments in Atlanta next Thursday on whether the child is entitled to a political asylum hearing.

 The hostility between the sides increased Wednesday as the Miami relatives' legal team accused the Immigration and Naturalization Service in a letter of ``complicity,'' alleging the agency has allowed Cuban doctors to give the boy drugs as part of his deprogramming by President Fidel Castro's government agents.

 Agency spokeswoman Maria Cardona said the Gonzalez family's legal team was out of line. ``That's absolutely ludicrous,'' she said. ``There's nothing to indicate there's any truth to that.''

 In Washington on Wednesday, a Spanish-speaking social worker, Susan M. Ley, was selected to help monitor Elian during the appeal.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald