That's Langenselbold, Germany, the site of our European Parent Advocacy Meeting. Many of you may recall reading about our Washington, DC Parent Advocacy Meeting in the May 2000 issue of the Buyer's Quarterly. At the Washington meeting it was determined that we would need the help of the European child-find organizations to assist in the search and return of American children from European countries. We also wanted to be able to assist a parent from a European country in their efforts to have their children returned from America.
Have you been keeping up?
If you have been following the stories I have been writing in
the Buyer's Quarterly, you will recall that the Committee for
Missing Children has an office in Langenselbold, Germany and
that Christiane Lops runs the office for us. You will also recall
that Christiane had her two little girls abducted from Germany
by her former husband, and the Committee for Missing Children
was instrumental in supplying information that led to locating
the children in Augusta, Georgia after two and a half years.
Sometimes, things do work out
In December 1997, the girls were ordered returned to Germany
by the United States Federal Court in Augusta, Georgia. This
decision was upheld by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
in Atlanta, Georgia. The girls and their mom returned to Germany
in May of 1998. The girls were returned under the guidelines
set forth in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction. You can read about Christiane's story in the
May 1998 issue of the Buyer's Quarterly.
Good legal help = returned children
Linda Shay Gardner, an attorney from Pennsylvania, and a Board
Member of the Committee for Missing Children, was the lead attorney
that fought for the return of Christiane's children. Linda has
litigated and been involved in this case for over five years,
starting in 1995. Linda took Christiane's case pro bono, which
means that Christiane paid nothing for her legal services, which
were extensive. Linda and her boss, Fred Rooney, have assisted
many parents who have had their children taken to a foreign country
or who have had their children abducted to the US. Linda is a
delightful person with a wonderful sense of humor and the Committee
for Missing Children is lucky to have her as a member of our
Board of Directors.
European meeting starts to come
together
With Christiane in Germany, and Linda on the Board, it made sense
to have a meeting in Europe to see if the European organizations
were interested in working with us to develop a European handbook
for parents of missing and abducted children. This handbook would
supplement the handbook we were developing for the US. Christiane
took on the task of communicating with all European NGO's, (Non
Governmental Organizations) to see if there was an interest.
The answer came back a resounding yes. Christiane then set about
organizing the meeting.
It's May, we are in Germany and the meeting is under way On May 19-21, 2000, the first European Parent Advocacy Meeting was held in the little town of Langenselbold. The Mayor of Langenselbold, Heiko Kasseckert, opened the meeting. (Try to get that to happen in Washington, DC!) We were honored to have the Mayor take time from his busy schedule to wish us much success with the meeting, as well as speak very passionately about the subject of missing and abducted children. It was refreshing to have a government official take such a genuine interest in our cause.
The meeting was set up much like the meeting in Washington, DC. The Committee for Missing Children once again paid for the parents of missing and abducted children to attend the meeting. The following is a list of parents who attended the meeting and the countries they represented.
The parents
Sonja Morris, Switzerland.
Astrid Richardson, Germany
Heike Raza, Germany
Berengere Motyl, France
Maurice Elfeke, France
Jean Claude Luthi, Switzerland
Lois Pau, Sweden
Philippe Paquay, Belgium
Violaine Delahais, France
Eric Comet, Switzerland
Olivier Limet, Belgium
Penka Nikoleva, Bulgaria
Isabelle Henon, France
Jocelyne Meylan, Switzerland
Christophe Bonne, Germany
In addition to the parents we had several NGO's attend the meeting.
The importance of working with the European organizations can
not be stressed enough. We are going to need their impute and
assistance to develop the "country guides" that will
accompany all handbooks that go to the parents of internationally
abducted children. The "country guides" will tell a
parent what to expect from the country their child was abducted
to. What are the laws governing family abducted children? How
do you get a lawyer in the foreign country? What are the customs
that should be observed, etc., etc.? The Committee for Missing
Children wants to thank all the following organizations for giving
so generously of their time.
The organizations
David Thelen, CEO, The Committee for Missing Children, USA
Christiane Lops, Director, The Committee for Missing Children/Europe,
GERMANY
Karen Thelen, Secretary of the Board, The Committee for Missing
Children, USA
Don Putterman, Board of Directors, The Committee for Missing
Children, USA
Andrea Ansquer, Collectif de Solidarité aux Mères
des Enfants Enlevés, FRANCE
Caroline Raison and Claude-Henry Ney, Comite Francais Contre
les Enlevements Parentaux D'Enfants, FRANCE
Gaele Leborgne, Fondation Pour L'Enfance, FRANCE
Anne Dussart, Child Focus, BELGIUM
Jane Brummit, REUNITE, ENGLAND
Diane Burgy, FREDI, SWITZERLAND
Francoise Dubord and Maurice Elfeke, SOS Enlevements Parentaux,
FRANCE
Jean-Claude Luthi, Mouvement Suisse Contre l'Enlèvement
des Enfants, SWITZERLAND
When you work in the field of internationally abducted children for any length of time there is one thing that you learn very quickly, i.e., the parent of the abducted child is going to need a lawyer in the country that the child was abducted to. The lawyer that a parent retains has to be knowledgeable about the Hague Treaty and there are not many of these.
One of the goals that Christiane has set for the Committee for Missing Children is to develop a list of lawyers that can assist parents when they have their children go missing. The attorneys that have agreed to work with us are all dedicated to the parents of abducted children. Just recently I had a need for an attorney near Langenselbold. I called Harald Weisker and asked if he could take the case of a father who's wife had just taken his little boy to Germany. Mr. Weisker agreed and the little boy and his dad were back in the United States in 66 days.
The following four lawyers attended the parent Advocacy meeting.
The lawyers
Linda Shay Gardner, Attorney at Law, Board Member of The Committee
for Missing Children
Frau Meyer-Gotz, Attorney at law, GERMANY
Kerstin Niethammer, Attorney at Law, GERMANY
Harald Weisker, Attorney at Law, GERMANY
Special thanks, someone cares
In addition to all of the participants listed above, I want to
give a special thanks to both Theodore Coley, Chief, Special
Consular Services and Felicitas Lauer who came from the United
States Consulate in Frankfurt. They were the only members of
any of the Central Authorities to except our invitation to the
meeting.
A good start
There is a lot of work still to be done, both in the United States
and Europe in order to produce the handbooks that we feel will
assist parents who have had their children go missing. I think
we have made a great start. The Committee for Missing Children
both in the US and Europe want to thank all the people who have
given their time so that our goals can be accomplished.
Throughout this article you will see pictures of the events in Langenselbold. I hope you enjoy them.
We need your help
One final note. The Committee for Missing Children needs your
help in the following areas. First, we need donations. Without
money we can not keep our doors open. If you have a program of
giving within your company, we hope that you will consider donating
to the Committee for Missing Children. Second, we need photo
partners. We need dealers and manufacturers who will print pictures
of missing and abducted children in their catalogs and literature.
Any literature going into the schools is good. Third, we need
volunteers who will help us run the Committee for Missing Children.
If you would like to help, give me a call at 1-800-525-8204 and
lets talk.