As reported by the New York Daily News, and other news sites, a father has been reunited with his son after 8 years apart, due to an international custody battle that involved his mother sending him from the U.S. to the Ivory Coast of Africa.
The boy, P.E. in meeting his father, E.P., at the Kennedy Airport and seeing his tears asked his father in French, “Why are you crying?” to which E.P. simply answered, “Just for you.”
P.E., now 10 years old, in identifying his father said, “I recognize my dad from photos, from Facebook, I knew him.”
The two had not met face-to-face since 2003, when his mother sent him to visit her relatives in Africa – allegedly with no plans to return the boy to the U.S.
During the reunion at the airport E.P. added, “Eight years. Eight years. This is all I have been hoping for eight years. The day has come.”
E.P. had to translate his words for his boy to understand him, and told he boy that he was “happy” at his return.
E.P., 46, lives in East Orange, N.J. and works in New York City.
Last November E.P. told reporters that when his son failed to return from a visit to the Ivory Coast he spent years trying to coerce his mother, and her family, that P.E. should grow up in the U.S.
Then in the spring of 2011 E.P. contacted the State Department. A case was opened but he was warned that it would be difficult for them to take any action – because the Ivory Coast isn’t part of the agreement laid out by the Hague Convention that helps return children under the International Parental Child Abduction act.
Even if E.P. could get a U.S. judge to sign an order, the State Department said that foreign courts often don’t acknowledge custody rules made in the U.S. E.P. was also cautioned against buying a ticket and flying to Africa to try and retrieve his son himself.
Then, before December, an anti-abduction activist, Peter Thomas Senese, met with E.P. just ahead of the New Jersey Supreme Court hearing his case. Senese heads a small organization that serves to provide help to people in cross-border child custody battles.
It was Senese that was able to work with P.E.’s mother, J.A.G., to work out an agreement allowing the boy to return to the U.S. The agreement was approved by a judge and relatives in Africa complied as well.
E.P. has residential custody of P.E.’s six-year-old sister already, and he will now have joint custody of P.E. – with P.E. now living with him.
J.A.G., also unable to see her son in eight years, was at Kennedy Airport for the reunion. She told reporters that in 2003 she was overwhelmed – both as a new mom and as a college student – and had asked her sister in the Ivory Coast to “raise him for me.”
J.A.G. further claimed that E.P. agreed with sending P.E. away. P.E. said that he expected their separation to be no longer than six months.
E.P. concluded, “Now I can do my job – I can be his dad.”
Contact a family law attorney if you need help with child custody. Whether your child has been removed from the state, country, or just your care, an attorney can help you reestablish your parental rights.