Bring Abducted Children Home (BACHome)

President Obama Visits Seattle

JMorehouse — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:29:55 +0000

President Obama visited Seattle on May 10, 2012. BACHome was there working the crowds to educate citizens on children abducted to and within Japan. People were shocked and outraged by this ongoing human rights and family crisis. One by bystander even shouted out, “there’s a cause worth fighting for!”.

Several said they would make the phone calls to the campaign offices of Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney to ask for their public commitment to bring abducted children home.

We were also there as the motorcade drove by so that the president can see Parents of Kidnapped Children(PKCs) are not going to be silenced.

______________________________

To get involved, make the calls to the candidates:

Barack Obama campaign (312) 698-3670

Mitt Romney campaign (857) 288-3500

U.S. Takes Strong Position On Children Abducted To Japan

JMorehouse — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:45:08 +0000

We were encouraged by the numerous media reports of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s strong position on behalf of our internationally abducted American children during a May 7, 2012 meeting with Japanese officials, politicians and family members of Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea.

This decidedly firmer stance being taken by U.S. Government for our children is long overdue. It is our hope that this marks the beginning of an acceleration in public efforts toward solving existing cases in order that:

• all American children abducted from the U.S. are immediately returned home in compliance with U.S. law; and

• all U.S. children abducted within Japan have immediate and unfettered access to their American parent.

We eagerly request The White House’s and The Department of State’s support to:

Cease all high-level government support of Japan in its kidnapping issues with North Korea until all cases of kidnapped American children have been addressed and the children returned to the United States;
Insist that the Government of Japan provide immediate and visible action on returning all American children kidnapped to and held in Japan, and denied access to their American parent; and
Arrange to meet with U.S. parents in a public forum in the next two months to clearly define what specific steps are going to be taken to return our children.

Rion’s 9th Birthday

Gherbetti — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:24:31 +0000

Original post: http://4rionandlaurenandjulia.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/rions-9th-birthday/

Rion and her sisters Lauren and Julia were abducted from Vancouver, Canada to Japan September 2009.

Dear Rion,

My eldest child. Today is your 9th birthday and there is nothing more I would like than to spend it with you. Unfortunately I cannot come to see you today. It is most certainly not because I don’t want to, but simply that I cannot come to Iwaki today. I will be sending you a card and a letter to tell you how much I love you my sweet darling.

I would dearly love to be able to call you or skype you today. Alas, I cannot do that either because your mom just won’t give me any contact information. I know that you are not allowed to use the iPad I gave you last November. It is a shame because as you know it has skype on it and we would be able to see and talk to each other.

I want you to know that nine years ago today you came into this world and daddy has loved you with all of his heart since. You will always be so very special to me Rion. You will always be my firstborn child, the girl who changed my world and enabled me to discover a love beyond description. I will always be here for you. For whatever you need. I will never stop working to be with you my love.

I hope you have a fantastic birthday today, with lots of fun and gifts and friends!

I will see you soon and I will bring you some lovely birthday presents that you will be sure to like my sweet girl.

With love,
Daddy

DoS and Child Abduction

bergsan — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:25:42 +0000

To the attention of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and all employees in the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues:

This letter was received by Congressman Smith’s office during the week of the introduction of H.R.1940, the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction, Prevention and Return Act.

March 26, 2012

Dear Congressman Smith:

By now you are aware that Japan has agreed to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction (the Hague treaty). By now you are also aware that while Japan has “agreed” that it will sign the treaty, it does not seem to have any intention to actually honor it. This fact can be gleaned from Japanese press articles and Parliamentary sessions that extol the virtues of several “exceptions” the Japanese plan to implement upon their joining of the Hague.

The ambiguity of these loopholes reveals that Japan’s accession to the Hague will be, at best, a misrepresentation of the country’s true intentions and, at worst, an outright fraud.

U.S. Department of State disregards the welfare of abducted children

On May 24, 2011 while sitting as Chairman for the Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights Subcommittee, you remarked that parentally abducted children lose half of their identity and half of their culture and “are at risk of serious emotional and psychological problems [including] anxiety, nightmares, mood swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt and [fear]” and that these struggles continue on into adulthood.

Despite the litany of childhood problems you detailed in your speech, I deeply fear that the U.S. Department of State (“State Department”) has failed to research, or even acknowledge, the harm that can befall a child who has been parentally abducted.

For years, several organizations, including the American Bar Association and the U.S. Department of Justice, have maintained that parents with narcissistic personality disorder and/or sociopathic personality traits are more likely to kidnap their children than those who are emotionally “healthy”. While countless researchers have examined the long-lasting consequences of being raised in these circumstances, it appears that the State Department has chosen to ignore this research in its entirety.

In 2011, the State Department Office of Children’s Issues met with parents of children who have been abducted to Japan. At this meeting there was a guest speaker—a child welfare “expert” hired by the State Department to convince a group of grieving and traumatized parents that they should not worry about their children so much because abducted children are “resilient”. Aside from the fact that this “expert” seemed to completely ignore all of the research that led to the implementation of the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act and the Hague treaty in the first place, the State Department’s flagrant disregard for the pain and emotional damage that these children suffer was unconscionable—to say nothing of the feelings of the parents who were seated in that room while having to listen to that discussion. It is reminiscent of the radiation scandal where the poisoned victims were told that the version of chromium they were exposed to was actually “good for them”. It is positively unthinkable.

Living with an emotionally unhealthy parent

Children who are raised with an emotionally unstable parent do not reach adulthood unscathed. Indeed, children who have been parentally kidnapped are often raised in an emotionally abnormal environment without the benefit of a healthy parent to counter-balance the abductor’s erratic or destructive behavior. Several researchers have examined the emotional fallout experienced by children who have been raised with parents who suffer from narcissistic or borderline personality disorder, and they have found that the impact of this damage is both deep and long-lasting.

Narcissistic personality disorder

Several publications have described that narcissism is a personality trait that increases the risk of parental abduction. Narcissists often rationalize their violation of court orders and feel no remorse if they bend the rules to benefit themselves.¹

A child of a narcissist can suffer severely because narcissists have “limited or no ability” to recognize their children as separate individuals with free will and needs of their own.² Children who are raised by a narcissistic parent often feel extremely lonely and isolated because the parent can, to the outside world, appear to be self-confident and self-controlled, but in private can unleash a battery of constant criticisms and have difficulty controlling their anger.³ Eleanor Payson, a licensed family therapist, describes this nightmare as “a private one that can only be stopped by outside validation”.⁴ A child raised by a narcissistic parent must grow up quickly, repressing his or her true feelings in order to serve the narcissist’s needs.⁵

Borderline personality disorder

Bill Eddy is an attorney, mediator and clinical social worker. He is an expert in child custody issues that arise when someone divorces a spouse with narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder. He explains that parents with borderline personality disorder often “desire the elimination of the other parent as much as possible”.⁶ Researchers have found that a borderline parent will often use “I’ll never speak to you again” as a primary method of solving interpersonal conflict, and the child will thereafter feel forced to agree with his parent’s opinion, even if his opinion or recollection is not the same.⁷ These parents “enmesh” themselves with their children⁸ and rather than being allowed to feel, the borderline parent convinces the children how they are supposed to feel.⁹

In Eddy’s experience, parents who kidnap their children are unwilling to share parenting with the other parent and “decide they were above the law”. ¹⁰ The risk of abduction is exacerbated by a borderline’s impulsivity and the fact that they feel superior to a court’s orders.¹¹

Borderline parents hold their children captive to onslaughts of verbal abuse followed by the silent treatment. They criticize and belittle their children, causing the children to suffer great confusion, pain and silent anger.¹² Life with a borderline parent can bring “constant chaos” and is typified by the borderline’s verbal abuse, unpredictability, denying the child’s perception of events, the need to dominate, threatening to get her own way, making abusive comments and setting unrealistic expectations.¹³ Denying the feelings and needs of others and trying to get the child to engage in illogical arguments only exacerbates the pain, loneliness and confusion.¹⁴ While it is impossible to discover exactly how many international abductions have been committed by narcissistic or borderline personality disordered individuals, this research cannot and should not be ignored.

The State Department is obstructing justice and minimizing a federal felony crime

Through their complicity, the State Department is unnecessarily prolonging the pain of these abducted children and their parents. The State Department needs to acknowledge that crimes have been committed by these Japanese nationals and that the Japanese government has done nothing to rectify the situation.

The Justice Department has acknowledged that parental abduction is damaging and that “the worst damage is imperceptible to the eye, occurring deep within the child, leaving traces that last a lifetime”.¹⁵ The State Department should be admonished for using taxpayer money to pay a child welfare “expert” to cajole left-behind parents to think that parental abduction is not such a bad thing after all because kids are “resilient”, and to offer up such fiction in front of the F.B.I, the very agency that should be assisting these bereaved and aching parents in the recovery of their children. The State Department needs to be severely questioned as to why it is devoting its efforts to obstructing justice rather than fighting for it.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Amy J. Savoie, Ph.D.

Resources

¹ Payson, Eleanor D., M.S.W. 2002. The Wizard of Oz and other Narcissists.

Royal Oak, Michigan: Julian Day Publications, p. 19.

² Payson, p. 30.

³ Payson, pp. 16, 30.

⁴ Payson, p. 16.

⁵ Payson, p. 66.

⁶ Eddy, Bill, LCSW, JD and Randi Kreger. 2011. Splitting: Protecting Yourself

while Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Oakland, California: New Harbinger Publications, Inc., p. 263.

⁷ Roth, Kimberlee and Freda B. Friedman, Ph.D., LCSW. 2003. Surviving a

Borderline Parent: How to Heal Your Childhood Wounds & Build Trust,

Boundaries, and Self-Esteem. Oakland, California: New Harbinger

Publications, p. 120.

⁸ Eddy, p. 249.

⁹ Roth, p. 121.

¹⁰ Eddy, p. 248.

¹¹ Eddy, p. 249.

¹² Lawson, Christine Ann. 2000. Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping

Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship.

New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., pg. 207.

¹³ Mason, Paul, MS and Randi Kreger. 2010. Stop Walking on Eggshells, 2^nd

Edition. Oakland, California. New Harbinger Publications, Inc., pg. 61.

¹⁴ Mason, p. 109.

¹⁵ The U.S. Department of Justice, from the publication The Crime of Family

Abduction, a Child’s and Parent’s Perspective, First Edition. May 2010.

Smith Brief Final to Smith and BACHOME

Help Needed to Pass California Senate Bill 1206

JMorehouse — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:06:45 +0000

Get involved and help with the passage of California Senate Bill 1206 – INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION PREVENTION (Keisuke’s Law). Senator Mimi Walters is calling for letters of support by individuals and organizations.

A fact sheet for the bill from the Senator can be found below. Letters should be emailed as a pdf to BACHOMEletters@gmail.com and must be received by Monday, April 16th. Letters will then submitted to the Senator’s office to be considered for inclusion in the record for SB1206.

We will do what we can to assist other states in the passage of stronger laws to prevent international child abduction and hope you will consider taking the lead in your home state.

Child abduction to and within Japan: Movie screening of “From the Shadows” and seminar.

Gherbetti — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:31:04 +0000

Invitation for event supported by the Harvard Club of Japan (screening and seminar)
Please join us Monday April 9 at the Tokyo Foundation to watch a private screening of the documentary movie “From the Shadows,” (work in progress), and attend a seminar about child abduction to and within Japan. Filmmaker David Hearn and left-behind parent John Gomez will present the issue from their perspectives.
There will be simultaneous interpretation in Japanese for the panel discussions.

PLACE:
The Nippon Foundation Bldg, 3F,
Tokyo Foundation
1-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/about-us/access-map

ADMISSION:
4,000 yen for movie (6:30 pm),
4,000 yen for seminar (3 pm),
8,000 yen in total

REGISTRATION:
Please register by e-mail to address below.
e-mail: john.gomez.83@post.harvard.edu
- – - – -
Child abduction to and within Japan has become one of the most important social topics in Japan today. Its priority has now been raised to one of the five top-level bilateral issues between the US and Japan. At the UN General Assembly meeting on Sept. 21, 2011, President Obama asked Prime Minister Noda to proceed with joining the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and resolve existing cases. This occurred as the result of a world-wide human rights movement. On January 6 this year, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell stated while visiting Japan that more progress is needed.

On April 9, 2012, a symposium on the issue of child abduction to/within Japan will be held at the Tokyo Foundation.
1:00 – 3:00 pm reception and networking
3:00 – 5:00 pm panel discussion seminar
5:00 – 6:00 pm networking and dinner
6:30 – 9:00 pm movie screening and discussion,
(Please arrive between 6:00 – 6:30 pm)

“From the Shadows” is a documentary film about child abduction to/within Japan that focuses on the efforts of five left-behind parents to see their abducted children. Two are mothers; one is Japanese. Two others are the sole-surviving parent, yet they have no access to their child. In November 2011, by invitation from U.S. Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, the directors screened “From The Shadows” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, and the film has appeared on CNN, ABC News and the Today Show. This will be a private screening and fundraiser in the evening with open discussion about the film to follow. Please note that the current version is mostly in English without Japanese subtitles. Filmmaker David Hearn will answer questions. The website and trailer are at:

http://www.fromtheshadowsmovie.com/english/index.html

A panel discussion and Q&A session about various aspects of the child abduction issue in Japan from legal, psychological, diplomatic, and political perspectives will be held in the afternoon. Parliamentary Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Kazuyuki Hamada will deliver the welcoming address. The purpose of the seminar is to improve understanding and facilitate discussion about this human rights issue amongst interested citizens and government officials of several countries. One aim is to consider constructive solutions for reuniting left-behind parents with their children. John Gomez is a member of the Harvard College Class of 1983. He has been working on the issue in both the US and Japan with left-behind parents and government officials from several countries around the world.

Your Actions Speak So Loudly We Can’t Hear What You are Saying

JMorehouse — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:16:40 +0000

In February 2009, just prior to making her first trip to Japan, Secretary Clinton said, “I will assure our allies in Japan that we have not forgotten the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea and will meet with some of those families in Tokyo next week. I don’t know whether I will be meeting more as a Secretary of State any more than as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister. It’s important that their plight is not forgotten. I attach great importance to the abduction issue.” She has also been quoted as saying that “child abduction is a human rights violation.”

True to her word, Secretary Clinton did meet with the Japanese families whose children were abducted to North Korea—validating their pain, looking at the photos of their missing children, and seeing the anguish in their parents’ eyes. She visited the families of five Japanese children who were abducted to North Korea thirty years ago and who, sadly, have not yet been returned. Unfortunately her own constituents, parents of hundreds of American children who have been kidnapped to Japan, have never been granted the same courtesy she has extended to Japan. Whereas North Korea has returned at least five of these abducted Japanese children, the Japanese government has never returned an abducted American child. After years of begging and numerous requests for her acknowledgment of their plight, Secretary Clinton hasn’t even offered to meet with any of these bereaved, and tormented American parents. I know this because I am one of those parents. News stories which report on parental abduction to Japan call me and others like me, a “Left-Behind Parent”.

Over the previous two years, prior to her confirmation as Secretary of State, contact was made with then Senator Clinton and her staff in regard the abduction issue with Japan. She and her staff were well aware of the issue. Upon her confirmation, many of her staff followed her to the Department of State. Knowing of now Secretary of State Clinton’s new role and her first trip to Japan coming in February 2009, a staffer of the Secretary suggested that American Left-Behind Parents fax our stories of our cases regarding our children’s abduction to Japan. These letters shared our heartache, our pain, and our sense of loss so many of us Left-Behind Parents face every day. These letters urged her to discuss the issue of our abducted children with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama. After all, she was going to Japan to discuss the international abduction issue and speak with those Japanese families who suffer everyday for the loss of their children. This certainly seemed like the most opportune time to make a public statement regarding the abduction of the hundreds of American children who have been kidnapped to Japan in the past ten years; quid pro quo if you will. In our fantasies, we envisioned a conversation like this: “Mr. Prime Minister, we will support you again in making public statements for the return of your remaining abducted children by North Korea. But you, sir, need to reciprocate the very things you are asking the United States and North Korea to do for you. American children kidnapped to YOUR country also must be returned.”

We American Left-Behind parents watched intently as she arrived in Japan. We watched the news and we saw her meeting with those grieving family members of those who were abducted to North Korea over 30 years ago. We saw through the cameras as she expressed her empathy and the pain in her eyes for those family members, and as she was looking at the photos of those missing Japanese children. Then the cameras were turned off. Even though she had just received at least a dozen letters on behalf of hundreds of abducted American children, she said absolutely nothing! Were those five remaining abducted Japanese children from 30 years ago more important to her, and this country, than the hundreds of American children kidnapped to Japan in the past ten years?

Just a few months later, Secretary Clinton congratulated Japan for “National Children’s Day” with the following quote “It is my pleasure to offer warm wishes to boys and girls in Japan on the May 5 occasion of Children’s Day. On this holiday, Japanese families celebrate the joys of childhood and family life. Children are, indeed, a national treasure, and both the United States and Japan share a strong commitment to childhood health, safety, and education. It is a responsibility for all of us to work together to ensure the protection of children. It is our hope that one day children from all countries will be able to celebrate the carefree joys that children in Japan celebrate today.”

If our children are a “National Treasure”, why are abducted American children not being treated as such? Do they not have Constitutional Rights? How does the United States “Share a strong commitment to childhood health, safety, and education”? Many of these American children have been illegally kidnapped off of U.S. soil in violation of U.S. Court orders. American children are all in harm’s way due to the catastrophic events of the tsunami, earthquake, and the highest levels of radiation exposure in history. A year after one of the worst catastrophes the world has ever known, several Left-Behind American parents still have not been able to obtain contact with their children and have no idea of their health and safety. How does the United States “Share” any kind of commitment with a country that supports and condones the illegal abduction of American children?

Fortunately, several members of the Senate have become sympathetic to our plight, and in November 2009, twenty-two U.S. Senators sent President Obama a letter urging him to raise the issue of our abducted children with the Prime Minister in his upcoming trip to Japan. President Obama invited three of the family members of Japanese kidnapped to North Korea to sit in the second row of his press conference with photos in hand of their abducted children. We watched again as the President said “Full normalization with its neighbors can only come if Japanese families receive a full accounting of those who have been abducted.” Again, the President made no such public statement about abducted American children, proving once again that the Japanese children abducted 30 years ago mean more than the hundreds of American children abducted in the past ten years.

Japan, Secretary Clinton, and President Obama feel the pain for the loss those Japanese family members abducted 30 years ago. But none of them seems to empathize with the pain, anguish, and heartbreak thousands of American parents and extended families feel with the loss of our illegally abducted children. Secretary Clinton and President Obama have met with those Japanese family members. Yet, neither has extended any such courtesy to the Left-Behind Parents from the United States.

YOUR ACTIONS SPEAK SO LOUDLY WE CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING.

Randy Collins

Loving Father of Keisuke Christian Collins

Illegally Abducted to Japan June 16, 2008

Without a Dry Eye

dberg — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:57:49 +0000

Without a Dry Eye

When my kids left for Japan on summer travel

That’s the moment my entire life began to unravel.

She told me they were going to the island nation

but she didn’t tell me it was for a everlasting vacation.

She took my beloved children on an airplane

a vital step in her alienation campaign.

She told me an enormous and vicious lie -

This is the reason why

I live my life without a dry eye.

I have called to hear maybe one familiar voice

but make no mistake – there is no rejoice.

For three years I have heard nothing but silence

a cruel form of revenge and emotional violence.

To hear my children speak is nothing but a pipe-dream.

Was my loneliness and agony part of her poisonous scheme?

When they left I did not know it would be our last goodbye -

This is the reason why

I live my life without a dry eye.

I see their faces vividly in my dreams

then I awake to tears flowing like river streams.

Seeing my little tykes always brings me delight

even if it’s in the middle of the night.

Dreams give me moments of togetherness so sweet.

Dreams are all that I have, thanks to her deceit.

I dream about my little buddy and my cutie pie -

This is the reason why

I live my life without a dry eye.

I have lived many days full of wonder with little hope or grace.

I have lived many days praying for that first embrace.

It is so hard to be separated, to be apart

the sounds of grief echo in my gloomy heart.

I cannot give up hope and I beg and I pray

for the miracle to be reunited one day.

Every moment without them I silently die -

This is the biggest reason why

I live my life without a dry eye.

Reunited With Daughter At Airport

JMorehouse — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:38:17 +0000

ABC affiliate station WEAR-TV 3 is there at the airport on Friday to cover William Lake reuniting with his daughter Mary Lake who was abducted to Japan in 2005.

Click here to watch the video.

BREAKING NEWS – Abducted Teen, Mary Lake, Returns From Japan!

JMorehouse — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:51:23 +0000

“It has been 2397 days since my daughter was abducted by her mother to Japan. How do I get one of those days back?”, stated father and BAC Home member, William Lake.

Mary Lake was abducted to Japan in August 2005. Today, after nearly seven years, she heads home to Florida. We just spoke to Mr. Lake who has confirmed that Mary landed safely on U.S. soil and has just boarded another flight on her journey home.

One of the many shocking aspects of this story is no one in the Lake family is of Japanese ancestry or holds a Japanese passport. Yet for nearly seven years Mary had been held in Japan where the Japanese government made no effort to return her to the U.S. Instead they provided safe harbor to her abductor, as they do in the 350+ other cases of children abducted from the U.S., thousands of other cases from within Japan, and an untold number from other countries like Canada, Spain, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom to name a few.

We are extremely happy for Mr. Lake and Mary. They will finally be reunited a few short hours from now.