'I didn't abduct my child. I just want my daughter to be brought up in Ireland'
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Tuesday December 29 2009
THE American dream has turned sour for one young mother as she spends the festive period in a legal limbo, unable to take her child home to Ireland.
Ciara (not her real name) was branded a child abductor after she failed to bring her three-year-old daughter Lauren back to the martial home on the west coast of the United States after a visit to her family in Ireland. It was during this trip that her husband telephoned her to say their marriage was over and he was filing for divorce.
Ciara decided there was nothing left for her in the States and she and Lauren would stay permanently in Ireland.
However, her husband issued proceedings under the Hague Convention demanding that the girl be brought back to the US.
"I came back in March 2009 on the Hague. Now I'm stuck here (in the US) ...What kills me is I didn't abduct my daughter, I came to Ireland on holidays.
"I'm basically a child abductor now but I didn't abduct my child. I'm Irish and I want my daughter to be brought up in Ireland," she added.
What makes Ciara's case unusual is that her former husband is also Irish and that their legal battle is now being played out thousands of miles from home.
"A few years ago, I was travelling and came over to America. I met this Irish guy and got pregnant and we married. Our plan was always to move home anyway as we had property at home," explained Ciara.
However, their dream life quickly began to unravel after the birth of their daughter.
"He has a gambling problem and it was when I was in Ireland that he got mad on the gambling and didn't want me to see what was going on. He ended the marriage.
"My family said 'there's no way you're going back there'," said Ciara.
They now share custody of Lauren but with Ciara wanting to move home to Ireland with their daughter and her former husband insisting she stays in the US, the future is uncertain. Ciara says she is now trapped far from home.
"I was stupid. I was travelling, met an Irish fella, fell in love and got pregnant...I have nothing in America now. I don't have family here. I have a few friends but I don't know many people here."
But she is not giving up hope.
"Where there's a will, there's a way. I will get back. But with all the Irish people travelling now, the number of Hague Convention cases is going to increase.
"Irish women need to be careful," she warned.
- Breda Heffernan
Irish Independent
