I had hesitated to tell my story, and while it is still ongoing I think it best to put this out there to support the others that are still fighting. This will be long, so I will be as concise as possible. My X wife and I are both Canadian, but were working and living in Michigan as that was where my employment was. On Nov 6, 2011 my x wife asked for a separation, where she and the children would remain in the home, and she and I would be in separate bedrooms. On Nov 16, 2011 she opted to kidnap our 4 American Children and take them to the Womens Interval Home in Canada. {not before wiping out all our joint accounts ;) } I immediately initiated Divorce proceedings on her in Michigan. She stated in Court the following month (she was served within 7 days but it took that long to get in front of a Judge) that she had applied for the childrens Canadian citizenships. The Judge ordered her to have the children in school by January 19, 2012 or return them to the marital home. Our divorce became final August 30, 2012 with the Children living with her, however we have joint custody but the children will spend approx 40% time with me. During the divorce she indicated how hard it was with the children and asked me to move back to Canada. In turn I rented a townhouse in addition to my primary residence of Michigan. 4 months after the divorce was final, where my x wife had to admit that there had been no domestic violence of any kind, and admitted to making it all up I received a call from the local police in Canada asking me to come in. Turns out she decided to walk into a Police station and claimed I had threatened her, which I had not. I was then served with paperwork from CAS that the children had been apprehended and I was to not make contact etc. I decided to act as my own counsel to get a handle on what has happened. As such I had CAS make a copy of the file. I immediately hired an attorney and provided them with a copy as well as my USA attorney. As it turns out, the CAS had been working with my X the entire time, had even phoned lawyers on her behalf to determine how to jump jurisdiction from United States. From that point on I was harassed and stalked by the police every time I came and went from my Canadian residence. Thankfully work was able to assign me some out of town assignments and the result was that I was promoted and transferred to Texas. As this case has unfolded the CAS have documented not only my x wife not following the US orders, but also not even following the interim order in Canada. I have been before the review board for CAS, due to illegal activities being perpetrated by the worker and supervisor, and they sided with me assigning new worker and supervisor. The result of this is rather unique and I think I should share this too. After confronting them with over 60 emails in which they claim my X wife has violated the interim order I asked them what Punitive action they are taking against my X since she is not following the order? And to unequally apply an order against me and not her is unilateral discrimination. They sent my attorney a cease a desist order claiming they will not longer email with me but all communication must be by telephone. I asked them to provide me with a 800 number or should I call collect? They said lets set up a teleconference. I said sure, you arrange and pay for my time, here is my Supervisors info and let me know...because no communication is unacceptable and a violation of my rights and the childrens rights. We set up a face to face meeting, and in the meeting the worker and supervisor admitted to leaving the children unprotected this entire time, they have admitted to discrimination, and admitted the children are worse now then ever. And when confronted with the evidence which includes violations of their rights as American citizens all they do is look at the table and say we can do what we want. Which is actually a violation of the Federal agreements between the countries and now Department of Justice in USA is involved and looking to press formal charges. All of which I have documentation to support. Another interesting facet is that further up when I mentioned that my x got the kids their Cdn Citizenship....the rules for citizenship state that you can be under no obligation at the time of application, in which case I had already began divorce proceedings. So after an exhaustive investigation by Immigration, the childrens citizenship is up for revocation, with the children to be deported back to the originating jurisdiction, United States. Which brings me to now. CAS is claiming that if my X wife and I can mediate our differences and develop a plan, that going forward they will withdraw...neither myself nor my lawyer believe this. Because as is shown in the past as well as the case in London Ontario, the workers are acting on behalf of their client...the mom. It was never about protecting the kids. And again when I confronted the Supervisor with the mandate of the CAS which is to protect the children, and then reunite families...I said, well if you admit that you have left them unprotected thus far, then why are you delaying the reunification of my children and I? Is this not part of the mandate? No response. Who or whom is responsible I ask, because I have 4 children whos lives have been destroyed. Oh and FYI, I cannot begin the federal proceeding to bring the children home until after the local protection proceeding is finished. For which incidentally, my x wife is under perjury and contempt charges by the Court in United States. She came to Canada and alleged all of these things happening in USA, and CAS bought her lies hook, line and sinker, and yet I hand them written evidence with her signature and it is ignored. And incidentally, you will want to know that the Police officer, and two of the workers at the Society that are responsible for this, are also personal friends of my X. As I enter into this mediation, I am doing so with a lot of anxiety. My reason...why would my x wife agree to anything now, when she has not been held accountable for it in the past. When I confronted CAS about this they simply said, lets hope it is resolved in mediation. Oh and when I pressed for the minimum standard CAS would accept as far as an agreement is concerned for them to back off, so we know what we are mediating...no response. Has anyone any experience with mediation? Advice? We are using the New Ways for Families through ADR... As my friends and co workers say...ever think you are having a bad day...just talk to Jeff, and suddenly my problems seem insignificant. But like the rest of you. I will never give up on my children. And in the end I will hold CAS responsible for ruining these 4 American lives. Also a quick note to say that both CAS and the Counselling center are refusing to provide the childrens counselling records because they begin before revoking my rights, and were actually used as a tool to manipulate the system. All of which is illegal because I had joint custody. So many aspects to this case. The judge in Canada said my x does not have to follow the US order because she is in Canada, and that if all parties reside in Ontario we will follow the Canadian rules. So I said, well I do not live in Canada and my children are American citizens protected by international laws and agreements....why are they being violated and what are we going to do about this. Judge stood up looked at me and said...wow this is going to be one interesting case. Yes indeed it will. It took the fellow in London 152 Days of court to win...lets hope mine doesnt take that long, but I am planning on the worse. Thanks for listening and please do comment. I need to know about the mediation...
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 19:54:57 +0000