Anybody Following Denis Burns Custody Case?

[syngirl]

It's not that the father was granted custody. The mother kidnapped the kids. Even if she were a saint, she doesn't have the right to take them from the father.


It's curious how people tend to defend their countrymen despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. It's easy to paint yourself the victim under a foreign government/individual oppressor.
If this case had happened reverse, where an Argentine dad is trying to recoup his kids from an ex that fled to the States, the Argentine media would be talking about what an evil mother she is and how the Argentine father should be able to bring them back here.


This whole situation is made much worse by the courts being so incredibly slow in these cases. When a child is kidnapped, be it by one of the parents, the law should act quickly... not take years. Five years in the life of a child is a lifetime. They no longer have any connection to the other parent, to the country, to the language, and their lives are basically ripped in two. One could make the case that the kids are better off in the situation they're used to, but that only encourages other parents to break the law and flee with their kids, hide for a couple of years and be home free. That's not right either.

Hopefully the girls adjust well to their new life in the US... and hopefully the mother matures a bit, moves to the US to be close with them, and tries to make the whole process a lot less traumatic for them.

According to everything I've read the father was granted custody, the judge said he was to be the primary residential custodian, and then the judge gave the mother the right to take the kids to Argentina for a two week trip, the father believed she was coming back, the woman stayed. that is how she was able to leave with them in the first place, because she had been given permission for a two week trip. The thing is that during the custody hearings the judge had already indicated that he considered her to be a flight risk, and the father argued the two week permission but it was granted nonetheless.

 

[syngirl]

This father, apparently raised funds through a NGO, but never visited his own girls for three years. Never paid alimony either. Moreover, he has been accused of illegally carrying two guns ( admittedly ) and abusing the mother. He also lost his home due to a gambling addiction. He did not have full custody, it was joint custody. I think the mother made a mistake ( legal ) by not getting permission to leave. The girls were living with her after they divorced ( in the US ).

I do not support parents that try to eliminate their ex from their kids' lives though this woman failed to get proper legal advice then.

She had permission to leave, for two weeks. She just never went back. And as far as the guns are concerned, it's Colorado, trying to find someone that doesn't own a gun is next to impossible. And the abuse charges came from both sides, both he accused her and she accused him of abuse, and the charges were all thrown out for lack of evidence on either side.

 

[syngirl]

The Burnses were required to hire a neutral expert in child custody to interview all family members and advise the court on how to proceed. Some of his findings were ominous.

"Dr. Austin did consider the issue of abduction risk," the final divorce orders said. "In his opinion there is a significant risk of abduction by Mother. The Court researched the issue and Argentina is a member of the Hague Convention so the abduction remedies would be available."

The judge determined that Dennis should be the primary residential parent and the children were to stay with him in the United States. The order gave Ana rights to be with the kids two weeks per month in Colorado. The order also gave Ana permission to take the kids to Argentina for two weeks in the summer and one week in the spring.

Burns was pleased to be named the primary parent but wary of his wife's intentions. He said he tried but failed to get a court order giving him control of the children's passports.

... http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20101224/NEWS/101229908

 

[John1017]

Its frustrating how biased the argentine media is in this case. Take that, and the argentines natural tendency to be obstinate and you have a hairy situation. Now, the few argentines I see on Twitter are extremely adamant that the kids belong in Argentina with the mom, and that is the only way the girls will be happy. I'm pretty sure the dad will now go out of his way to be a good father and make those girls happy. He knows if he does slip up, the girls will go back to their mom. I think justice wins in this awful situation. Reminds me of Mrs. doubtfire and the look on Robbin Williams face when they grant sole custody to the mom.

 

[nikad]

Its frustrating how biased the argentine media is in this case. Take that, and the argentines natural tendency to be obstinate and you have a hairy situation. Now, the few argentines I see on Twitter are extremely adamant that the kids belong in Argentina with the mom, and that is the only way the girls will be happy. I'm pretty sure the dad will now go out of his way to be a good father and make those girls happy. He knows if he does slip up, the girls will go back to their mom. I think justice wins in this awful situation. Reminds me of Mrs. doubtfire and the look on Robbin Williams face when they grant sole custody to the mom.

I don't know where the girls belong legally. The problem I see is that after 5 years these girls had their world here, school, friends, grandparents, etc. This whole thing will most likely be very traumatizing for them. I also don't understand why Burns was willing to fight, raise funds, etc and never visited his own daughters for years ( he knew where they were living, etc ) The mother obviously did things the wrong way, but he did not do any better. Sad situation for the kids.

It is true that on local TV they only talk about how bad the father is, how good the mother is, and in the US is the other way around.

 

[syngirl]

Well in the Goldman case (Brazil) -- same thing, father villified, child returns to USA finally, now four years later says dad is best buddy (the mum has passed away so a bit of a different current situation)

In the Australian case, the girls were told their father was an abuser and all sorts of horrible things, now they've returned to Italy, they think their dad's great, and their mum only fiinally wetn and visited them when 60mins said they were doing a follow up.

The Australian case was 4 daughters, the scenes of them being taken by law enforcement agents were more traumatic than the ones seen here, yet today they live happily with their father.

70% of these cases are perpetuated by women, and they always seem to involve accusations of abuse, accusations that are usually discovered to be unfounded.

Australian case:
2012: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2212640/Four-girls-dragged-aeroplane-Australia-judge-rules-return-father-Italy.html
2015 update: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3033274/What-happened-four-girls-dragged-kicking-screaming-mother-sent-monster-Italian-father-Australia-s-largest-international-abduction-case.html

So I suspect the same will happen here, the girls have been dragged through the mud but in the end if the dad is an ok dad, they'll be fine with him.

At the end of the day in these custody cases it really has little to do with the children if you ask me -- it's all about one spouse getting revenge on the other.

 

[nikad]

I believe the judge gave Burns full custody rights because the mother broke the law ( she must have thought she was doing things right and now the girls will have to face the consequences... very sad ) I suppose she will have visit rights (?) I have no clue how this works in the US.

http://www.infobae.com/2015/04/21/1723749-la-justicia-los-eeuu-otorgo-la-tenencia-las-nenas-argentinas-al-padre-y-viviran-colorado

 

[el_expatriado]

I believe the judge gave Burns full custody rights because the mother broke the law ( she must have thought she was doing things right and now the girls will have to face the consequences... very sad ) I suppose she will have visit rights (?) I have no clue how this works in the US.

http://www.infobae.c...iviran-colorado

Unfortunately everyone in the US just assumes that life there must be better and that every other country is a hell hole. Judges probably have a little less of this bias, but I'm sure it exists as well. Look at the Elian Gonzalez case. There were quite a few people in the US who considered that the kid shouldn't be reunited with his father and Clinton was demonized for returning the boy to his dad. Crazy.

It wouldn't surprise me that a US judge gave the father custody originally simply because he was American and not a scary foreigner.

 

[mulderfox]

Its frustrating how biased the argentine media is in this case. Take that, and the argentines natural tendency to be obstinate and you have a hairy situation. Now, the few argentines I see on Twitter are extremely adamant that the kids belong in Argentina with the mom, and that is the only way the girls will be happy. I'm pretty sure the dad will now go out of his way to be a good father and make those girls happy. He knows if he does slip up, the girls will go back to their mom. I think justice wins in this awful situation. Reminds me of Mrs. doubtfire and the look on Robbin Williams face when they grant sole custody to the mom.

nobody wins that is the sad thing about this cases.