Mother's fears over custody battle

A Co Tyrone mother whose child is trapped in an in international custody battle has told UTV she fears she will never see her son again.

Thursday, 05 January 2012

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• LOCAL NEWS
 
• COURT

Tracey McCay's six-year-old son Sean was taken to Singapore last week by his father David.

The couple split acrimoniously while holidaying in Indonesia, but when Tracey returned to Singapore she realised the terms under which she had entered the country meant she had little or no parental rights.

"I was in a foreign country. I had no friends, no family. I was really scared and I just felt I should have done my research," she said.

"What people don't realise is that obviously although you're residents of a foreign country you're not entitled to the same laws as what you're used to back home."

After a month battling her former partner, Tracey saw her son and she said her little boy was "confused and excited" at the same time.

"Once he saw me he just went 'Mummy!'. He was just so excited to see me and I was so excited to see him and I just had to hold back tears," she explained, "but it was just really nice and we just cuddled and kissed and just stuff like that, and he said 'Mummy, I really miss you and where have you been?'"

"I've never been away from him for that long. I've always been with him and then Sean left and not knowing when I would see him again."

Tracey began custody proceedings in Northern Ireland when she returned home and although Sean was in the region for Christmas he was taken away again by two police officers on Christmas Eve after the Lord Chief Justice ruled against Tracey because of the ongoing legal issues in Singapore.

She said it "broke [her] heart" when she had to give him back before Christmas Day.

"We kissed and we cuddled. It was just really, really nice. But when the police came I had to make it nice for Sean. I didn't want him to be scared and when he was getting into the police car I was just saying goodbye to him and cuddling him."

Although Sean has been taken back to Singapore by his father, Tracey said she will fight on for her rights as a mother.

"I have to go back to Singapore and fight in Singapore. And then I've been told by my lawyer in Singapore that I have to fight over here. So I'm left with no options at all where to fight."

She told UTV her greatest fear is "that I'll never see Sean again".

The solicitor acting for Sean's father, David McCay, issued a statement which reads:

"The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland returned the child to our client's care and custody on Christmas Eve.

"As arranged our client and the child returned to Singapore on the 28th December. As the parents and child reside in Singapore, all issues we understand are being dealt with there.

"Our client strongly refutes any suggestion he has acted improperly."

Suicide talk scrambles custody fight

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-09/news/30605687_1_custody-case-strauss-custody-change


Senior court officials abruptly yanked a custody case from a Queens judge amid claims that a boy became suicidal after meeting with him, the Daily News has learned. Though neither side asked for it, the long drawn-out case before Supreme Court Justice Sidney Strauss was ordered to an emergency trial that began in Brooklyn last week. “The transcripts are scary,” said a source familiar with the reasoning behind the highly unusual change of venue. In a September hearing, the boy’s mother and his lawyer told Strauss that the 10-year-old — who was ordered to live with his father in 2007 — was distraught after the judge told him he would not change that order.

The boy’s mental state has “gotten progressively worse” since the sitdown with Strauss, said his mom, Annemarie McAvoy, a Fordham University professor and frequent TV commentator.

“He talked about how he’d kill himself or his father,” she said.

The judge was unmoved by stories of the boy’s distress.

“I guess I’m the one that created the suicidal ideation, then,” Strauss said, according to court records. “I didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.”

The same judge made another controversial custody switch in 2007, placing a toddler with her dad against the recommendations of all involved.

The girl’s distraught mother, Mazoltuv Borukhova, then had the father killed. The custody change was presented as her motive at her murder trial.

The judge called the custody arrangement in the McAvoy case temporary, but the case has been stalled ever since.

Strauss recently indicated that a final ruling won’t come before 2014, records show.

McAvoy separated from John Hannigan in 2002 and signed an agreement making her the main caretaker of their son.

But the couple sparred over the boy’s diagnosis of mild autism, with the mother insisting he needs special care and the father contending he’s normal.

The judge changed custody from mother to father without a hearing in 2007, based on one opinion disputing autism and a doctor’s report saying the boy is “slightly underweight” and “his teeth appeared to be discolored.”

The state’s deputy chief administrative judge ordered the case transferred after “serious questions about the child’s welfare were brought to [her] attention,” said David Bookstaver, spokesman for the court system.

Following an evaluation whether there’s an imminent risk to the boy, he added, the case will return to Queens.

Even then, sources said, Strauss, who’s no longer assigned to matrimonial cases, is not likely to get it back.

Audrey Sager, lawyer for the boy’s father, blasted the decision to move the trial to Brooklyn as unnecessary interference.

“No one asked, no one filed a motion,” she said.

I am one of the few to succeed...

I would like to share with everyone that the court has made its verdict and they have ruled the children are to come and live with me, their mother.  Though I am obviously overjoyed and blessed to have gone through this successfully my heart still breaks for the many who do not see this success. I hope to over time share my experiences through the court process and in that be able to help others.

My mission continues for all those who are currently going through custody and/or relocation issues. We have to continue to work at this so that we can help all those who unfortunately have seen their children taking from their protective arms.

God Bless each and every one of you!!

Waiting... it's like torture

I am just waiting... waiting for what will be the fate of my children. Waiting for the judges decision.

It's like torture.