My Children's Mother Now Wants to Return the Children, BUT. . .

[tweinstein]

So my children's mother finally realized that they would have a better life in the United States. For a variety of reasons, she is unable to provide for them adequately in Brazil. You would think that after fighting a Hague Convention petition for 5 years and the mother WANTS to send the children back, it would be easy to get your children out of Brazil. Not so fast. . .

Last year, we got new U.S. passports for the children in anticipation that she would let them visit. We foolishly thought that was all they needed to travel to the United States. Little did we realize that the Federal Police in Brazil will not let them leave Brazil without new Brazilian passports since they ENTERED Brazil over 7 years ago on Brazilian passports. Remember, since they were taken to Brazil over 7 years ago, their Brazilian passports are long expired. Furthermore, since they are being treated as Brazilian and not U.S. citizens (where they were born and raised until they were taken), they also need authorization from me to leave the country (which would not be necessary if they were treated as U.S. citizens).

And now starts the bureaucratic nightmare. So far, I have sent notarized forms to the Brazilian Consulate granting not only their mother permission to apply for new Brazilian passports, but also permission to leave. At some point within the next month, the Brazilian Consulate will return the papers to me so that I can then mail them to Brazil (only the originals are accepted in Brazil and the consulate will NOT intervene). Their mother then needs to apply for new Brazilian passports which, of course, will take another few weeks to obtain.

In one ear, I hear their mother questioning why I won't take them back immediately (before the new school year starts) and in the other, I hear my daughter telling me she wants to leave Brazil right away (I'm not sure what my son wants). So after waiting over 7 years for my children's return, now that their mother WANTS to return them, I must wait another few months to clear the obstacles that Brazil is placing on their return. Hopefully, by the time these new obstacles are overcome, their mother will not have changed her mind.

[LBPOP]

Wow! That's Great News out of the blue. I hope and pray things work out as soon as possible.

[rmakielski]

I watched this Webnr Tuesday.

Introduction to the Cross Border Family Mediation: Guide to Good Practice under the Child Abduction Convention Presented by Maureen Dabbagh
http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/adrhub-com-webinar-aug-2013-introduction-to-cross-border-family-m


You may find some information helpful.

I wish you the best of luck

[tweinstein]

Thanks. I watched it, but it seems most appropriate for general audiences and not someone who has been in the thick of it for many years. Also, the audio quality was extremely poor, rendering it difficult to hear at many times.

I watched this Webnr Tuesday.

Introduction to the Cross Border Family Mediation: Guide to Good Practice under the Child Abduction Convention Presented by Maureen Dabbagh
http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/adrhub-com-webinar-aug-2013-introduction-to-cross-border-family-m


You may find some information helpful.

I wish you the best of luck

[luvthelake]

I will send prayers that your kids will get to come home soon,

[SageDad]

After seven years of trials, tribulations and repeated failures on the part of both the US and Brazilian authorities I'm sure the US State Dept can't wait to count your children as "successful Hague returns" from Brazil and pimp them out as examples of how much "progress" is being made to protect internationally abducted children in Brazil.

I'm confident that they won't let the fact that they already flagged your children's abduction as "resolved" a year or two ago (as, at that time, such a massaging of the data helped promote their agenda as the cheerleaders of noncompliant nations) prevent them from still counting your children's return in the return statistics for 2013 (or 2014 as the case may be) since doing so promotes that false narrative of progress and competency even better.

The truth is though, even with the taking mother and LBP in agreement that the children should be returned home to the USA, neither Brazilian nor American authorities seem capable of facilitating that (passports, travel documents, etc) return within the six week time-frame to return abducted children imposed by international human rights legislation (bearing in mind that the abduction case has been open for 7 years already.)  It is not an accident that there are so many barriers and levels of seeming incompetence involved.  It is broken by design to promote a political status quo which minimizes the impact of international "child custody" issues on foreign relations.

[caleb]

Tweinstein,
 
So glad to hear your children are coming back. When my ex illegally took my son out of the country, after 1.5yrs she realized that my son was better off here. Makes you wonder why even hire an attorney. All they provide is false hope. I'm so excited for you!!!

[BringJusticeHome]

^^^^ I've been saying this and agree. Well with Tim it took much longer, and a lot of other people have been waiting years with nothing. However with the hague there is zero percent chance you are going to win. The only person to win has been David. Over the past two years ive seen more children returned voluntarily by the abducting parent. Just now Tim's childrens, by your statement im assuming your children have also been returned Caleb, and mine have been returned all voluntarily. I'm not very active on this site so im sure there may be a few more. I'm with you Caleb why waste money and time and stress on an attorney and the Hague process when you already lost before you even start the process. If your own country won't back you how can anyone expect to win in a foreign country.

[tweinstein]

Another new twist in my efforts to get my children back. As you already know, Brazil will not let them leave the country without new Brazilian passports (even though they have valid United States passports). I already sent by express mail permission for their mother to obtain new Brazilian passports as well as permission for them to leave the country. Their mother received them about 10 days ago.

Well. . . I received an email today from my daughter telling me that apparently during the hearing for the Hague Convention petition, the Brazilian government obtained a court order prohibiting my children from leaving the country and that order is still in force and overrules the signed travel authorizations from myself and their mother.

So. . .  we now need to figure out how to overturn that court order. The whole things just screams of sheer insanity!

[tweinstein]

I cannot praise the new Chief Coordinator at the BCA, George Lima, enough. I emailed him about my problem at about 9:00 AM this morning and by 1:00 PM, he wrote back that he had already investigated it and was working on a solution. It's too bad that he is only one person.

[BringJusticeHome]

Great news Tim !! Hopefully all works out well and smooth!!! Has you son changed his mind yet?

[ANALE]

My thoughts and prayers are with you that from here on in things will go smoothly and quickly.  Looking forward to hearing that your children are back in the U.S. with you.

[Bree]

I'm thinking of you, Tim, and hoping your children will be home with you soon! 

May I ask:  What made your wife FINALLY admit that she couldn't adequately care for your children?  Will she be returning to the US as well? 

Something has got to give.  She finally has come to her senses and is trying to do what is right and now the Brazilian Gvt/Courts are holding her up.  Seriously insane! 

Glad to hear that someone is looking at your case and trying to help you.  This is ridiculous! 

[tweinstein]

Great news Tim !! Hopefully all works out well and smooth!!! Has you son changed his mind yet?

I haven't spoken to him again, though my daughter has started to regularly email my mom. They are very brief, but show that she is trying to build her relationship with her. I spoke to a child psychologist who knows my son. She felt that I should bring him regardless of what he says.

[tweinstein]

I'm thinking of you, Tim, and hoping your children will be home with you soon! 

May I ask:  What made your wife FINALLY admit that she couldn't adequately care for your children?  Will she be returning to the US as well? 

She lost her job for the second time in less than 2 years and with the Brazilian currency dropping in value due to a recession there, the prices of everything keep going up. As far as I know, she is staying in Brazil. I will not support her financially here and without that, she probably couldn't manage.

Something has got to give.  She finally has come to her senses and is trying to do what is right and now the Brazilian Gvt/Courts are holding her up.  Seriously insane! 

I'm not as convinced that she is doing this because she feels it is what is right for the children, but rather what she feels is right for her. I doubt that, were she not in a desperate financial condition, she would be sending the children back at this point.