Individual Representation Brings New Beginnings

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is a multilateral treaty that provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another. The convention was drafted to ensure the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully abducted from their country of habitual residence or wrongfully retained in a state not their country of habitual residence. Fredrikson lawyers took the first international kidnapping case in 2002, and they have received referrals for additional cases since then, including the one here:

In January 2022, Fredrikson was contacted by the Department of State regarding an abduction case of a five-year-old child from Honduras. The child was abducted by her biological father and was living in Des Moines, Iowa. The mother was not allowed much contact by phone or on WhatsApp, and when she was able to have a chat, she worried that her child was visibly distressed. Cara Donels and Thomas Patton volunteered to take the case and began working with assistance from Schuyler Troy, paralegals Vicki Handler and Sarah Austin, and legal administrative assistant Erica Palmer. After researching the law and receiving guidance from the Department of State, Cara and the team filed the Complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa on June 2, 2022. A preliminary hearing was held shortly thereafter, enjoining the father from leaving Des Moines with the child. A full evidentiary hearing was held on August 4, 2022, where the team presented evidence that the father had not previously lived with the child and had abducted her from her home illegally, with no applicable affirmative defense. The outcome? A happy family reunion with the mother and the rest of the family. Cara and the team were assisted by R. Scott Johnson, research librarians Jean Boos and Susan Trombley, and paralegal Marvic Salminen-Morillo.

Cara Donels said,

Thomas and I initially got the request for pro bono volunteers and obviously thought ‘kidnapping is bad, we should look into this,’ as we both were looking to pick up a new pro bono case. But it wasn’t until we met with the family (virtually, as they were in Honduras) that we knew that we had a chance to do some real good here. The mother put so much of her life into caring for her children, and the father abducted his daughter into a really scary situation. We could not imagine the mother attempting to navigate this complicated Hague Convention issue on her own, let alone from another country. I don’t know that I’ve ever celebrated an order more than the one that said we could send the little girl back to her mother, brother and grandma in Honduras.