GoFundMe Campaign for CP Member - Children Stuck in Australia in Custody Battle

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by First Lady

We need to fly to Brisbane and we are hoping to do this before month-end, so I searched January.

I'm open to all suggestions.

We are also exploring Airmiles, Aeroplan, etc. A few people are looking into whether they can pool their miles for us.

Go into Google flights and choose the price graph. Select the # of days you need for a round trip and go from there. As you can see, February is significantly cheaper than January.

$1,071.00 was the cheapest return flight I could see in Mid Feb, but even if you go at the beginning of Feb/End January, you are still paying a lot less than $2500.

http://imgur.com/a/0IGOs

I should also add that I am not a travel agent. I suggest you talk to one of the experts here to see if there are any better deals.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Yeah well, sure. Good luck. It's pretty poor form to come back to the board after more than 3 years solely to look for handouts to fix your life problems.

She didn't post it, frinkprof did. Let's be a little fair.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Yeah well, sure. Good luck. It's pretty poor form to come back to the board after more than 3 years solely to look for handouts to fix your life problems.

Actually it was good that she came back to address some questions people are asking after someone else posted the link to the gofundme.

[llwhiteoutll]

This makes no sense at all.

The Australians know where they are, know there is a court order dealing with custody, know that 3 of the 4 children are in the country after overstaying and yet they are doing nothing. But they are allowing someone with a previous enforcement action against them back into the country with the express purpose of removing an Australian citizen.

Seems like there is a lot missing from this story.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

This makes no sense at all.

The Australians know where they are, know there is a court order dealing with custody, know that 3 of the 4 children are in the country after overstaying and yet they are doing nothing.

It sounds like they are waiting for a final disposition to the case and an Australian court ruling, especially since it concerns the removal of an Australian citizen.

I never said that they are doing nothing, in fact in one of my replies I mention there are other agencies involved and some things I simply can't make public.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I would assume she would bring the judgement with her and have the police there to help get custody. I have no experience in a matter like this though, so I am just going with what makes sense.

Looks like it would fall under the Hague Convention. That is an American site, but both Canada and Australia are signatory parties to the treaty.

First Lady - Has your daughter invoked this treaty as part of her legal case? If not, you might be putting the cart before the horse here. Though I would expect any lawyer with any divorce and custody experience would be aware.

[nfotiu]

If the kids all have a Canadian parent and an Australian parent, then they'd all be both Canadian and Australian citizens and would all be legally allowed to live in Australia.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Looks like it would fall under the Hague Convention. That is an American site, but both Canada and Australia are signatory parties to the treaty.

First Lady - Has your daughter invoked this treaty as part of her legal case? If not, you might be putting the cart before the horse here. Though I would expect any lawyer with any divorce and custody experience would be aware.

As I said, other agencies are involved and I won't / can't publicly get into the specifics.

I can hear Troutman now....limit what you say about legal matters online.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

If the kids all have a Canadian parent and an Australian parent, then they'd all be both Canadian and Australian citizens and would all be legally allowed to live in Australia.

They wouldn't be Australian citizens if they haven't applied for citizenship though.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

If the kids all have a Canadian parent and an Australian parent, then they'd all be both Canadian and Australian citizens and would all be legally allowed to live in Australia.

It isn't automatic. You are a citizen of the country you are born in.

You can then choose to apply for citizenship of the country of the other parent.

[First Lady]

Going offline for a bit, I do have a full-time job and a boss who wouldn't appreciate me spending this much time on here.

I will pop in later.

[llwhiteoutll]

..

[East Coast Flame]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Yeah well, sure. Good luck. It's pretty poor form to come back to the board after more than 3 years solely to look for handouts to fix your life problems.

Jesus, dude....

[nfotiu]

I was going by my experience with my children but that was US/Canada. They were born in US, but Canada automatically grants Canadian citizenship at birth. I did paperwork to get them a certificate saying so, but they were citizens without that paperwork. It looks like that is not necessarily the case in Australia thougn, where they'd have to apply.

It does seem questionable that she would allow them to go to Australia for 6 months without her and without the plan of them coming back if I read that right. Why didn't he go to Australia and she stay with the kids? It makes me think that maybe he was the more involved and responsible parent and has just as much right (or more) to the kids as she does. Without knowing his side of the case, I'd hate to assume that her side is the right side to be on just because she is the mom and on the Canadian side.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

If the kids all have a Canadian parent and an Australian parent, then they'd all be both Canadian and Australian citizens and would all be legally allowed to live in Australia.

If they were born outside Australia, they need to apply for citizenship by descent. It is pretty much guaranteed, but you still need to apply for it.

Sounds like 3 of the 4 kids are Canadian citizens and one is Australian (going by her statement that ones has a pending Canadian citizenship application.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by East Coast Flame

Jesus, dude....

As I said, after last year's debacle can you really blame people for being extremely skeptical? Cause I remember all of us feeling pretty good about ourselves for a week, and then squiggs and MMF went sleuthing, and then we all kinda felt like we got ####ed over. I'd actually be kind of worried if there weren't skepticism. Now maybe his exact quote was extremely harsh, but the desire to not get grifted again is understandable.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Yeah well, sure. Good luck. It's pretty poor form to come back to the board after more than 3 years solely to look for handouts to fix your life problems.

I posted it and even said in the original post that she no longer posted here. When she posted here, she was quite active in the Off Topic discussions and fairly well-known, which is why I took the liberty to post it for more exposure. I let her know that I had posted it, which obviously prompted her to check it out and engage in the conversation.

Like how many of these GoFundMe campaigns turn out, there is often some room for people to give advice as to how to tackle the problem a little better (better deals on flights, etc.). First Lady seems to genuinely be listening to that advice. Seems win-win that way so far. It sounds like a tricky situation overall, but the thrust behind the ask seems genuine.

Happy New Year.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

It does seem questionable that she would allow them to go to Australia for 6 months without her and without the plan of them coming back if I read that right. Why didn't he go to Australia and she stay with the kids?

It says right in there that she let him take them because there was a death in the family.

One would assume he took them back for the funeral and such.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Skepticism aside, I hope all goes well and things work out for those kids. Sounds like it could be a nasty situation.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

It says right in there that she let him take them because there was a death in the family.

One would assume he took them back for the funeral and such.

My daughter married an Australian citizen, they have four children and as a family they have lived in both Canada and Australia. In December of 2015 she allowed her husband to travel to Australia with the children. There had been a death of family member and she knew they needed him just as much as he needed to be with his family, as he had been living in Canada for some time.

Since my daughter had previously overstayed in Australia it was agreed she would travel there in May 2016 (when she would be allowed) or if things were settled with his family that he and kids would return to Canada.

The plan was for him to be there with the kids and she would join them after 6 months.