4 sisters returned to Italian father after their Australian Mum took them to Australia.....dragged kicking and screaming onto the plane.

[AmberLeaf]

Apparently the girls aged between 9-15 are dual citizens.

Link sorry its the DM.

Do they not take the childs view into account in Australia?

[AmberLeaf]

They had been in Australia for the last two years.

[amandine07]

Yes I read that article earlier today- sounds utterly bonkers that they are being sent back despite wanting to stay in Australia with their mother!

[AmberLeaf]

Im sure there is a back story to this and without knowing more its hard to say, she could have fled because he was abusive or she could be an extreme contact blocker?

But to do that when the girls clearly didn't want to go is awful.

For the father to do that knowing they want to stay with their Mum is very selfish.

Don't think it will be a happy reunion in Italy somehow.

[needanswers]

you would need to know more really, why did she take them, I don't understand why their father wasn't there, why hasn't she gone to Italy, Id be on the first plane.

It looks horrendous and cruel, I can't get over dragging children to a different country like that, screaming, poor, poor children, they will hate him thats for sure and my guess is it wont be long until they are home.

[piprabbit]

Imagine trying to create a new home for 4 girls who hate you and do not want to be there. I don't imagine they are going to settle in school or be ready to make new friends (they will be their own support network).

It will be horrific for all of them.

[needanswers]

more here

and here

here

[Longdistance]

Those photo's have really upset me :'o(
Those poor girls. They're old enough to be asked what they want to do.
It's bloody ridiculous IMHO. Australia has some funny rules, but I think it all comes under The Hague convention. It's been big news here Oz.
They're gonna rebel. Give the older ones a few years, and they'll go back to the mum. I bet they really hate their dad now. Nice one fella!

[needanswers]

The mother too seems to be at fault, she should never have just disappeared with them either, nor should she have created such a scene in front of them.

I assume part of the issue is they haven't seen their dad for 2 years.

Contact blocking is in of itself legalised kidnapping as far as I am concerned, but this isnt the answer.

Poor girls, no child should be a pawn in a war between their parents.

[AllThreeWays]

I assume they have been here for two years because it took that long to go through the courts. It is awful and distressing vision to watch, but they were kidnapped and kept in Australia by their mother. If one of your kids was taken to another country, would you not fight to get them back??

[lisaro]

The mother acted illegally by keeping them in Australia after pretending to go on holiday. She could have made it far easier by taking them back or going back with them.

[Morloth]

International law.

It couldn't be heard in the Australian courts because they didn't have jurisdiction.

Honestly? I think their mother had the power here to make this a lot less distressing for them.

A very loud and public power game between two parents who should both be putting what their children need before what they want.

[AmberLeaf]

Yes I think both parents have behaved poorly and the girls are paying for it.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Just saw the footage on the news. Christ, it's horrific

[AmberLeaf]

Again its hard to say without knowing more, but I know of a woman who did similar, acted as though she were taking a holiday with her children but returned to her home country permanently. In her case though she was escaping an abusive relationship, as far as I know this woman hasn't made any allegations of such things?

[DontmindifIdo]

God, that father is going to be in for a horrible time, those girls aren't going to want a big happy family reunion when they get to Italy, I can't imagine how hideous the home life is going to be with 4 angry girls - 'winning' isn't always a good thing.

[threesocksmorgan]

can't really judge as there is no back story to go by.
the mother might have poisoned the girls against the father.
he might be horrid.
who knows.
the mother does sound like she broke the law by taking them on holiday and not returning,
awful for all

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

The mother has created this 'Judgement of Solomon' situation, has acted selfishly by taking them to Australia under false pretences, and is the one not putting the children's interests first. I heard a similar case recently about a Japanese woman that removed the children from a loving father in Scotland without any warning. As the extradition arrangements are different, that man hasn't seen or even heard from his children for many years. When it gets to the stage that the courts are involved, the parents have massively failed their kids.... not the authorities.

[LtEveDallas]

God those photos are horrible. But I've got to say, whether the father is lovely or abusive - to me it doesn't matter. The children don't want to go.

Why wasn't the father there? Why put your children through such a thing with only strangers there?

All this is going to do is make the children hate the father and hate the system. Poor kids are going to be so screwed up.

Down the line what is the father going to do - They could easily become runaways now. One of my childhood friends ran away from home rather than have to see her abusive mother - as ordered by the courts. She was gone over 6 months and when she came back she was horribly changed. How is the father going to stop this?

The parents are both at fault, but I doubt very much the children will see it that way. All they know is that their mother tried to keep them, they were dragged from her arms, the 'system' didn't listen to them, and it's all their dads fault...

[MovingGal]

It was reported on the TV here that the Mother said she could not go back to Italy because "she is hated there".

If this is true - and not twisted or taken out of context - I can't understand it.

If my kids were in another country where I could have access or shared living arrangements then a few haters would not stop me. I suspect that in all of Florence there might be someone who would not hate her.

I am sure that there must be more to this.

[LineRunner]

The father apparently had lodged criminal charges against the mother in Italy.

And there will now need to be yet another custody hearing for the girls to endure in Italy.

The mother is concerned that in returning for this, she lays herself open to arrest by the authorities there, with a subsequent vilification that will harm her custody case.

It is in the father's 'gift' to drop the charges. He seems to be exerting a fair bit of control here over this woman and these girls.

Very distressing. Do these girls have no human rights - why were they physically forced by armed police into cars when they had done nothing wrong?

[expatinscotland]

'Why wasn't the father there? Why put your children through such a thing with only strangers there?'

Perhaps for legal reasons.

We don't know.

[needanswers]

If you read the links - the father has already promised there will be no charges laid against the mother - the Australian Judge insisted on that before he issued the order.

Poor kids - and I can imagine how they feel as it is splattered all over the Australian press that their mother isn't prepared to go to Italy.

Personally - I'd take the risk of criminal charges rather than live on a separate continent to my children - she does seem pretty determined to further traumatise them - if a man had done this - taken his children on holiday and then never brought them home - there would be very little sympathy for him.

All my sympathy is with the children

[Morloth]

It really is a mess.

But you can't pick and choose when you are going to apply the law. As needanswers says, if it had been the father who did a runner from Australia to Italy it would have been just as bad.

Poor kids, they are going to be seriously fucked up by their parents acting like tantrumming toddlers fighting over a toy.

No-one has made any claims that they are in any sort of danger at either end, so their parents should fucking grow up and sort this out like adults.

[SavoyCabbage]

You can't just take your kids and move to the other side of the world and expect the other parent to just lie down and take it. She was supposed to take them back over a year ago.

Imagine if your dh just took your children away from you and moved 12 thousand miles away.

[LtEveDallas]

I accept everything people are saying - and agree with it, the parents are completely and totally in the wrong - both of them.

But. How on earth is dragging children who are hysterical, kicking and screaming, onto a plane going to help anyone ? Even if the Judge made them a ward of court in Aus - Even if they went into Foster care in Aus whilst the courts/police investigated - surely that would have been better than what has happened?

I just can't see how these children are going to ever forgive their father for this - whether he was in the right in the first place or not.

I really worry for their future