CUSTODY CASES ‘HIS FATHER came to take him out on a day trip one day and he never came back. At first | blamed myself thinking, ‘What did I do?’ I don’t know why he did it.”” Carol T. hasn’t seen her son Ronnie since March 23, 1972. Ronnie was two when his parents separated and Carol was given ex parte custody — as the result of court pro- ceedings with only one party present. Despite the court order, she has not seen her son since. Immediately after the day trip that became an abduc- tion, Carol checked her hus- band’s Alberta residence to discover he had sold all his possessions and had_pass- ports issued. Carol is convinced her ex-husband is living in the United States but so far has been unable to locate her child. Private investigators hired to search for the child have so far been unable to provide a significant lead. Despite that, she has managed to keep track of her child’s progress — her former in-laws, who main- tain residences in Edmonton and Arizona, are quite will- ing to keep her informed. *“*My ex-mother-in-law doesn’t like the situation, but she still agrees to talk to me every couple of years,”’ says Carol. ‘‘She’ll answer ¢very question but ‘where’ ?” Abduction of a child by a parent is one aspect of the growing problem of missing children that a relatively new B.C. organization is set to tackle Child Find BC. an af- filiate of Child Find Canada in Calgary and Child Find Inc. in New York, started in Vancouver in May Chau man Julic Cullen says the Organization 18 currently working on about 100 cases - “a mere drop inthe bucket’ with new regis trations coming in almost daily “Approximatcty 85 per cent of our cases are paren tal abductions Ht shows that we, as a socicty, take good care of out prized material possessions, but we don't seem to take care of ou hods,"’ says Cullen **Paren tal abduction 1s actually quite a oncw phenomenon, but) we're just) starting to make a dent on peoplc's By JOANNE MacDONALD minds. It’s an illegal act.”’ Cullen says once parents register with Child Find, their cases are given to private investigators, many of whom do some in- vestigating for free. Some lawyers also work at reduced rates. ‘‘They’re all doing it basically through human concern,”’ says Cullen. Child Find will not ar- tempt to locate a child for a parent unless the registering parent has legal custody or legal access to the child or children in question. All reg- istering parents are carefully screened by the organiza- ion. ‘*We have to make judgement calls on some parents. If there is a history of sexual or physical abuse, there’s no point in putting the child back into that situ- ation,’’ she says. ‘‘All the private investigators we use are checked out, too. Some of them are real whacko "' Cullen offers a simple reason for the appearance of Child Find in Canada ‘“‘We're here because the police aren’t doing their job. I've found the RCMP treats parental abductions as sim- ple domestic disputes,”’ says Cullen. ‘*But | know there's a lot of politics involved. They’re not following up these cases due to a lot of things like a lack of dollars and manpower.’’ Carol T., meanwhile, has since re-married and has four children. She says while the search for Ronnie is continuing, she does not expect to ever have the now 14-year-old youth back in her custody because of the time that has passed and because Ronnie has Recovering children goal for new group never been told who his real mother is. ““I try not to dwell on it, but I want it to be over. I want him found. My parents are getting older and it’s been hard on them. I would like them to see Ronnie at least once more,’’ says Carol. ‘‘I don’t think Pll ever get him back, because he’d be settled now. He doesn’t know me, but I just want to see him and let him know I love him. J’ll never forget it. 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