Friend has his daughter back (almost)...after 12 years.

Jim_R

Jim_R

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Maybe you've seen this in the news in the last day or so...

In 2002, a college buddy of mine had his 4 year old daughter abducted by his ex-wife (yeah, the court granted the father custody of the kid...you know the mom has to be pretty bad for that to happen). She fled to Mexico with the little girl, and Greg's been looking for them ever since.

Found 'em once in 2003, but when the authorities closed in, the mom hightailed it and disappeared again, for 11 more years. Heartbreaking.

Finally, as of yesterday, Greg's daughter is back in the US, and her mom is in jail. Sabrina is now 17, and has lived the last 12 years with her mom telling her all sorts of fabrications about how horrible a person her dad is.

One chapter ends, and another begins. This tragic story will continue for a long time to come.

At least now, there's the possibility of a happy ending.

You can listen to Greg talk about bringing Sabrina home, here:
http://www.gofundme.com/e05fac
 
Jim_R said:
Finally, as of yesterday, Greg's daughter is back in the US,
Click to expand...

I did see the news article, what a wonderful story. I wish Greg and Sabrina the best in catching up on lost years.
 
Best of luck to the Dad.
 
She's gonna have problems sorting this out for years to come.....terrible.
 
I wish them the best of luck. I could not imagine going through such an ordeal. I have a young daughter and it breaks my heart just thinking about her growing up, let alone missing out on so many precious years of her life.
 
Best wishes for your buddy and his daughter. I saw that in the news. There's a lot of catching up to do.
 
The whole thing is heartbreaking. Can't imagine what the father has experienced, as well as the daughter. I'm glad she was found, and I hope they are able to build a good relationship now.
 
This is tough for the girl. You know she's got a bond with the only parent she's ever really known. Now she's sent to be with someone she doesn't have any clear memory of, and knows that this is the person who is sending her mother to jail. She'll likely have a lot of resentment toward her father.

It's a raw deal for the daughter. A raw deal for the father. Best wishes for them both.
 
Yes saw this all over the news. Happy and sad at the same time. Its got to be the greatest gift ever to find his child but the confusion, shock and mixed emotions the child will experience are just horrible. I hope they can get a sense of normalcy as soon as possible.
 
There's always two sides to a story. I'm making that as a general statement, no disrespect to the OP's buddy.
 
Sac Arrow said:
There's always two sides to a story. I'm making that as a general statement, no disrespect to the OP's buddy.
Click to expand...

And sometimes the other side is - "I didn't get my way so I'm leaving".
just saying....
 
Sac Arrow said:
There's always two sides to a story. I'm making that as a general statement, no disrespect to the OP's buddy.
Click to expand...
A true statement. Similarly, there is "absolute truth" and none of us ever are privy to that about anything...even if we live an event, we don't know every possible detail about it.

In the ~48 hrs since Sabrina's return to the US, and from the peripheral vantage point I have, I've seen multiple folks from Sabrina's life in Mexico reach out to Greg and offer support to him and Sabrina. That's encouraging.

For what it's worth, I've always thought that Greg has handled the situation with a great deal of grace, all things considered. Sabrina's mom's family is...filled with drama, let's say. Greg's family is a pretty vanilla middle class, middle America sort of family. Greg has always had two priorities in his search for Sabrina: (1) Get Sabrina back, and into a stable, loving, healthy environment, and (2) bring increased awareness the seriousness of non-custodial parental abductions.

He's had partial success in both. I suspect he'll continue to work on both for a long time to come.
 
She's 17. I wonder if she'll go back to the mother when she turns 18.
 
Well, the mother has been charged with kidnapping and other offenses, and is currently in jail awaiting trial. It will at least partially depend on whether or not she is behind bars at that time.
 
It's nice to see the cooperation from the Mexican authorities in this case. I remember that some people threw a fit when Elián González was returned to his Cuban father, but I have to think that our playing by the rules in that case encouraged reciprocity from other countries.
 
I saw that on the news and had posted it on my page. My ex tried similar crap through the legal system. Didn't work. I ended up with custody of my son, and now because of how I acted, ie stressed that my son visit his mother, the ex and I have a cordial relationship. The kid has grown into a great young man. It is a shame when kids are used as pawns and bitter spouses resort to parental alienation. I truly hope for the best for Sabrina and her dad. It's going to be, unfortunately, a tough long road I suspect.
 
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