Christmas Miracle for Dad Locked in Custody Battle
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(Courtesy of Dr. Moises Garcia)
It’s a very Merry Christmas for one Wisconsin man, whose four year battle to regain custody of his daughter from his wife, who had taken her to Japan, ended when he finally was able to bring the 9-year-old girl home.
Moises Garcia, whose story was part of an ABC News series on fathers engaged in international custody battles, returned Friday with his daughter Karina.
“She’s nervous in the beginning. She told me she was overwhelmed from the, so many people around. But now, with me and my sister, she is actually sleeping. So she’s doing OK,” the Fox Point doctor told ABC News affiliate WISN-TV in Milwaukee as he was coming home from the airport in Chicago.
Garcia’s case was unusual among fathers who have fought their ex-wives in Japanese courts, because Japan made the rare move of recognizing U.S. court orders that granted him custody of his daughter.
Despite that recognition, he was still granted little access to Karina. He visited Japan numerous times each year, but was often only allowed to see his daughter for short, court-monitored visits in a room with a two-way mirror.
The break in Garcia’s case came eight months ago, when Garcia’s wife, Emiko Inoue, was arrested in Hawaii on charges of abducting her child.
In November she pleaded guilty to lesser charges, as long as she returned Karina to Garcia. She was ordered to remain in jail until the little girl was back in her father’s home.
“She loves her like any mother would love a child, and she wants the best for her daughter, and the problem is that, the question is is she going to spend a couple more weeks in jail, or potentially a decade plus in jail,” Inoue’s defense attorney Bridget Boyle said said at the time.
Inoue will continue to fight for custody, her lawyer said.
Patrick Braden of California, the founder of Global Frontier, a group that advocates for father’s in custody battles over children who have been taken to Japan, told WISN Garcia’s case is a landmark.
“This is the first time a Japanese citizen who kidnapped an American child from the United States soil in violation of previously established jurisdiction and laws has been held accountable for the criminal act here in a US court,” Braden said Braden.
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Your day has come feminist.
Posted by: Mrmailman | December 25, 2011, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
This is a great story and I am happy for the father that he finally got his daughter back, but seriously did anyone proofread this article?
Posted by: Anonymous | December 25, 2011, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
what about the mother who also loves her daughter? Now she is without her child she gave birth to, and wants so desperately. There is no winner here.
Posted by: anonymous | December 25, 2011, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
Well, what is sad here is that many women use their children as leverage; which is totally wrong. And what’s more they claim to only be interested in the child’s best interest. Unless there is a real risk that the father or mother will put the child in immediate danger both parents should go through Herculeans efforts to make sure that the custodial parents spends as much time with the non-custodial parent as humanly possible. From my experience some women simply use the laws to do everything possible to stop the other parent from seeing the child.
Posted by: Amil0905 | December 25, 2011, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
what about the poor father who spent years trying to see his daughter but was only allowed an hour or so a year? What about him or the fact that his little girl wanted to see daddy but was denied? He was without his only child for 4 years, having to go to great expense to fly all the way to Japan, go through Japan courts only to get a measly hour here and there. You don’t think he missed her desperately? If she was so desperate to be a mom she should have remained in the US where she could have seen her frequently. To abduct a child is very scary and puts enormous strain on them. Not an act of someone who loves there child.
Posted by: Annon | December 25, 2011, 3:46 pm 3:46 pm
How can the woman say she loves her child when she causes the pain and suffering to a child by ripping her from the home and taking her to a place she barely knows, at best, and then tells her she can’t ever see daddy again. Good for him. He did what any right-minded parent should do. He fought to bring his daughter back home. As the prior post stated, if she really wanted to be with her child, she should not have committed the crime. Would the poster who asked about the mother have even asked her question if it had been the dad who kidnapped the daughter to Japan?
Good for you dad! Good for you!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 25, 2011, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
What about the mother who also loves her daughter, you asked? She was charged with abandoning that child by Hawaiian courts! What about her? She plead guilty to a lessor charge than child abandonment, but where there is smoke there is fire. She was somehow a negligent parent or she would not have been charged nor would she have plead guilty. Glad the little girl is home with her dad.
Posted by: Mom in Texas | December 25, 2011, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
Congrats to you dad. I am dealing with an ex wife right now who does everything she can to make plans for my 9 year old daughter on my wknd with her. It utterly amazes me what a mother of a child will do to a father trying to be in his daughters life…and if I wasnt in my daughters life my ex would raise holy hell about that too. As a father it is a situation that tests your ability to not want to seriously hurt the mother. Courts are so expensive…personally any parent who keeps the child from the other parent should be jailed..crazy abusive parents not withstanding.
Posted by: anonymous | December 25, 2011, 4:12 pm 4:12 pm
This only happened because she was dumb enough to go to Hawaii while trying to evade US jurisdiction. duh. I don’t blame a mom for taking her child to Japan to get away from a guy who is most likely just trying to get out of child support. The joke is on them though, because when the kid lives with you it costs so much more than what they would’ve paid in child support. But they don’t want to pay for something they don’t “own” so they try to get custody. ha ha ha. so now they are paying more out of pocket AND have to do all that extra work to take care of the kid. moms are naturally nurturing and don’t mind the work, dads do though. deny it all you want, but it’s true.
Posted by: duh | December 25, 2011, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
It could be because Mom made the mistake (on her part) of returning to the United States. Yes Hawaii has been a state since 1959. Guess she forgot that. So it appears nothing has really changed on the part of the government of Japan. If Mom & daughter were still in Japan then Dad would still be petitioning to take his daughter home. So sad when children are caught in the middle like this because usually they love both parents equally so its hard for them to be pulled this way and that. I’ve seen the same thing happen with my grandchildren and it is so unnecessary but one parent or the other just HAS to be hateful and the kids suffer the most.
Posted by: TGreat | December 25, 2011, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
It upsets me that they’re people out there, “mothers” who use their children to fight against the child’s father. It makes me sick! I never thought in a million years that the woman I made children with would ever use our children to hurt me, let alone lie to the courts in order to get an order of protection and so on. It has done so much damage to me that even two years later I have not recovered and am so sad that I have to appease to her because if not, she’ll run to the law screaming what ever will get their attention and Ill not see them! It is pure evil and selfish that can make a woman do this and so when I here of victory, I am sorry but it makes it hard to have any sincere sympathy for the mother. My life is all sorrow till the moment I share time with my little ones. And when they leave again I relive the terrible day they were taken from me. God, its just not right.
Posted by: Anonymous Dad | December 25, 2011, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
It’s sickening how many people here actually side with the mother, who ILLEGALLY took their daughter to another country behind this guy’s back, and when she was only supposed to have the kid for a weekend.
What about the mother, you ask? The mother should never get to see that kid again, that’s “what about the mother”. The only tragedy is that she’ll most likely be allowed highly supervised visits every so often.
Posted by: Chance | December 25, 2011, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Mrmailman, I welcome this change. My mother kept us from our father when my brother sister and I were young. He had custody, she kidnapped the child.
Posted by: Cleigh | December 25, 2011, 6:48 pm 6:48 pm
Terrific ending for the Dad!
ABC – you need to proof read your articles before allowing them to be posted. “Patrick Braden of California, the founder of Global Frontier, a group that advocates for father’s in custody battles…”
NO apostrophe for FATHER’S! In this case the article refers to plural, not possessive!
Posted by: velvers | December 25, 2011, 6:48 pm 6:48 pm
What is at issue here is not whether or not the child is with mother or father but whether or not a U.S. citizen is forced to stay overseas with a foreign mother. I’m guessing that the girl was born in the US and taken away by her Japanese mother. No court in this land would grant the mother custody because that is akin to deportation of an American citizen. If the girl were born in Japan I think circumstances would be different.
Posted by: Franklin | December 25, 2011, 7:05 pm 7:05 pm
I’m glad for some small positive steps to end the overwhelming sexism in the family court system, but the reality is, many competent parents don’t even get the custody order in the first place.
Equality is equal time and support from both parents – nothing else.
Posted by: RoboBobo | December 26, 2011, 1:00 am 1:00 am
Super story but Japan hasn’t changed. Woman had to agree to return child because otherwise she’d rot in jail. Many father’s like myself are denied seeing the children. Mother’s don’t have to take them out of the country. Don Tenn, President of USA F4J doesn’t even know what state his pre-school daughter is in. He helps father’s with visitation and parental alienation. On the other had some father’s don’t care to see their kids. About 30% of father’s disengage even as many say they love their children. Gordon Smith GA Rep of SAVE moved hundreds of miles away from his pre-school sons to be with a woman. Every case is different. Lots of father’s love their kids and do anything to be with them like this guy did. Lucky he could afford to fight and go to Japan to visit. Best interest of the children is the responsibility of both parents. Children benefit from being with both parents if they are fit. If they interfere with children being with other parent they are not fit. If they don’t see children every week or two and spend quality time with them they are not fit.
Posted by: Bill | December 26, 2011, 3:27 am 3:27 am
I am so very HAPPY for this family. I happen to be one of those fathers who child has been illegally retained in Japan. I know where she is and where she lives but nothing I can do. This story finally shows American resolve. This AWESOME turn of events give me hope.
I wish Garcia family the best in world and a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And thank god for America’s strict family laws.
Posted by: William | December 26, 2011, 5:30 am 5:30 am
“Braden said Braden”
Haha.. pretty funny summary of everything Braden says. He does talk a lot about children but he’s ultimately talking about himself. I’ve never seen a child advocate more concerned with getting credit for something or other and denigrating any other advocate who doesn’t fall in line with his organization’s strategy and sing songs in his praise…
“Braden said Braden..” haha. Not sure if that’s a typo or a Freudian slip.
Posted by: Jimmy Johnson | December 26, 2011, 4:07 pm 4:07 pm
@ DUH, are you seriously retarded? Did we even read the same article? Did you even the read the article??? Because this mother KIDNAPPED her child and took her to Japan for 4 long years– WHEN THE FATHER WAS THE ONE WHO HAD CUSTODY!!!! I hope you never have kids… and if you do… you shouldn’t be allowed to parent them… the United States court gave him custody for a REASON… not because they felt like ripping an innocent child away from a nurturing mother- apparently you didn’t understand that concept… If a mother is inadequate to take care of the child then the father is given custody- there has to be a reason why the courts GAVE HIM custody and not her– besides that… federal laws dictate that you cannot take a child outside of their state of residence, let alone the country, without the other parents consent.. Why don’t you educate yourself about the laws and the justice system before you so naively pass judgment on a subject in which you obviously know NOTHING about!
Posted by: Kristi | December 31, 2011, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm