By CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE

Days before she is set to determine whether a 5-year-old girl would be harmed by returning to Cuba with her father, a Miami judge dramatically revised the girl's living arrangements Wednesday, ordering that she spend the lion's share of her time with her father.

The new custody schedule was the recommendation of Julio Vigil, the girl's court-appointed therapist, who said Wednesday that the youngster, in a tug of war between her Cuban father and her Coral Gables foster parents, appears to have accepted the possibility that she may be returned to her father.

''This has been a very telling transition I believe the child has made -- not only intellectually, but emotionally,'' Vigil told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen of the child's latest visit with her father, Rafael Izquierdo. "She didn't cry. She didn't raise her voice. She did not show any distress.''

The girl appeared ''playful'' with her dad, ''combing his hair,'' Vigil added. "She did indicate she would miss her [foster] family. But she did accept the idea. . . . She said she would send her brother pictures.''

The judge ordered that the girl spend weekdays with Izquierdo and weekends with her foster parents -- reversing the schedule that had been in place for months.

The girl's foster parents did not object to the new schedule.

Cohen insisted, as she has done repeatedly in recent days, that she has yet to decide who will raise the youngster permanently. But she asked Izquierdo to assure her that, should he prevail, he will not abruptly take the girl from Miami without allowing her time to say goodbye to her foster family.

''If I make a decision to send her back, promise me you will help make a smooth transition here and help deal with the emotional'' consequences, the judge said. "Will you stay here and help us transition, and not just get on a plane?''

''Yes,'' Izquierdo replied. "I promise you that.''

SEPARATION ISSUES

Still, the girl's foster parents, Joe and Maria Cubas, said they fear the curly-haired girl may not fully understand that going to live with her father permanently may mean a complete separation from them and from her 13-year-old half-brother, whom the couple has adopted.

The foster parents are insisting that Cohen ''tell the truth'' to the girl by making it clear that she may not see her brother or foster family for many years if she returns to Cabaiguán, in Central Cuba, with her father.

Failing to prepare the girl, said the Cubases' lawyer, Alan Mishael, ``will be viewed by her as a betrayal by everybody she has placed trust in in this case.''

The Department of Children & Families, the Cubases and the girl's court-appointed guardian ad litem are asking the judge to give Joe and Maria Cubas permanent guardianship.

They say returning the girl to Izquierdo would be emotionally damaging because the girl has bonded with her foster family.

Pointing to a wooden plaque hanging above Cohen's head that reads ''We Who Labor Here Seek Only Truth,'' Cubas pleaded with Cohen to level with the girl and make clear that there's a distinct possibility she will be told to leave her Coral Gables family behind, perhaps forever.

''I believe it is fundamentally unfair, and harmful to her emotional well-being, for her to not be told the truth about what is in store for her,'' Mishael said.

But the judge accused Mishael of advocating a confrontation with the girl to gain a strategic advantage in his argument that she would be emotionally harmed if taken away from the foster family.

'If we lay a bombshell on her and say, `You know, you're not going back [to the Cubases],' she falls apart,'' the judge told Mishael. 'And you come back and say, `Look, the child fell apart.' I'm not going to get sucked into that trap. I'm one step ahead of you guys.''

A few moments later, Ira Kurzban, one of Izquierdo's attorneys, criticized the Cubas camp for wanting to tell the girl in blunt terms that if she goes to Cuba she will not return to their home anytime soon, and asked that Cohen turn the girl over to his client immediately.

''They are willing to sacrifice this child psychologically, and that what's troubling me,'' said Kurzban. ``They are willing, for strategic reasons, to push this child over the edge.''

Kurzban also asked the judge to strike from the court record what he called ''false and scurrilous'' claims made by the Cubas family Tuesday that the girl told Joe Cubas she was made to look into a camera with Izquierdo and his wife and say that she wanted to return to Cuba.

The girl, Cubas said, claimed that Kurzban's wife and fellow attorney was operating the camera -- a claim she denies.

On Wednesday, Cohen said she believes the girl may well have told a story about being forced to speak in front of a camera, but, she added, ``I don't believe it happened.''

PRAISE FOR CUBASES

Cohen declined to give Izquierdo full custody and said she disagreed with Kurzban's criticism of Joe and Maria Cubas.

''I think the Cubases have been wonderful caretakers for this child,'' she said, adding that the couple allowed the girl to make an emotional attachment to them at a time that many experts say is crucial to a child's future ability to form bonds.

Calling Izquierdo to the podium, she told him that despite the rancor of the legal battle, he should be grateful to Joe and Maria Cubas.

''You need to find it in your heart to thank these people,'' she said.

"They have provided this little girl something that no amount of money can buy.''

Answered Izquierdo: "I know.''