The story of a girl who has been located in Mexico 12 years after she was allegedly kidnapped by her mother, who lived in Austin, has made national headlines. The girl has been returned by rescuers who found her on Oct. 1.
The woman’s ex-husband, the girl’s father, says he can’t wait to see his now-17-year-old daughter. He says that he has maintained a bedroom with many of her childhood keepsakes all these years.
So far, however, the girl has not wanted to see her father, although she has met her stepmother and is aware that she has new siblings. Her father says he understands her reluctance to reunite because he realizes that she has heard negative stories about him for all these years they have been apart.
The father says that he knows they have a long road ahead of them. He adds, “it’s just going to take some time, and it’s going to take some hard work, but it’s not going to be any harder than what we’ve done so far.”
A judge has set the mother’s bond at $1 million for illegally taking and hiding the girl across the border. According to an Oct. 1 article in the Los Angeles Times, the 44-year-old woman, who was extradited back to this country, is facing a federal charge of aggravated kidnapping. Despite efforts to find the girl for a dozen years, she managed to keep her hidden until now.
Obviously, taking a child away from a spouse or ex-spouse is no way for a parent to handle a child custody dispute. For the best interest of everyone, particularly the child involved, custody cases need to be handled by Texas family law attorneys through the court system where all sides of the matter can be considered objectively.
Source: KTBC Fox Austin, “Greg Allen talks about finding daughter Sabrina” Oct. 03, 2014