Hundreds of Australians are fighting for the return of their children abducted by relatives and taken overseas.
And a woman whose young son and daughter have disappeared with their
father is setting up a support group for parents of abducted children.
An Australian Family Court gave Jane Day full custody of her children
in March, but her parents hid the children in Malaysia before their
father took them to China in April.
The court granted Mrs Day special leave to publicize her case to help
find her children, Justin, 5 and Alison, 3, who she has not seen for
more than a year.
Many children were taken to countries that were not party to the
International Hague Child Abduction Convention, which helped return
children to their homeland, Mrs Day said.
In her case, China was not a signatory to the agreement, and she could not trace her children.
She said ordinary people found it difficult to cut through red tape to fight for the return of their children.
The most high-profile case of children being abducted overseas was
Jacqueline Gillespie, whose Malaysian husband, a prince, abducted their
son, Iddin, then nine, and daughter, Shahirah, then seven, in 1992.
Mrs Day said her parents supported her first husband, Alan Chan, and
hid her their children in Malaysia because she wanted a divorce. "They
considered divorce shameful," she said.
Her husband took the children from Malaysia to Hong Kong on April 4, then to China on April 8, she said.
"I feel like my insides have been pulled out," Mrs Day said. "I am missing out on hugs and kisses and being called mummy."
Mrs Day's second husband, Geoff, said most parents of abducted children
did not have money or high profiles to fight court cases overseas.
An Attorney-General's Department spokesman said there were about 200
cases of children allegedly being abducted and taken overseas.
The abduction support group, Hug-Ur-Kids is www.hug-ur-kids.org.au
SOURCE: Sunday Heraldsun,
August 5, 2001
By Sue Hewitt
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