Christopher Savoie, the father, went to Japan in order to bring his children home. When arriving in Japan, he found his children walking to school and snatched them away from their mother. As a result, he was arrested and jailed. Christopher had been issued full custody of the children by an American court, and since then, the courts have issued a warrant for Noriko Savoie's arrest on charges of custodial interference.
When I first heard of this story, it was on the Today Show. They had an interview with Christopher's new wife. It was such a sad story, and I could not understand why a mother could do this to her children. I felt so sorry for the father of these poor children. I was under the impression that the couple lived in Tennessee, or at least in the U.S, most of their married lives, and that the children were born and raised there. It sounded like the mother just decided to leave her husband and took off to a foreign country with her kids. After reading further into it, however, it sounds as though things were more complicated than it was portrayed on television.
Miiko Crafton, a native from Japan, befriended Noriko during her short stay in Tennessee. She claims Noriko tried to get a divorce while still in Japan, but her husband refused and persuaded her to move to the U.S. Noriko had no income when they moved in June, 2008, and was solely dependent on her husband, who was, according to court records, involved with another woman. The new wife must have been the "other woman", due to Christopher getting remarried within one month of the divorce. Also, Christopher wasn't a poor father going into a foreign country trying to find his children in a culture he didn't know anything about. The couple lived in Japan for several years. Mr. Savoie has Japanese citizenship and speaks fluent Japanese. Therefore, when they moved to the U.S. and was served divorce paper, Noriko must have felt scared and alone. As her friend Miiko put it, "Everything was provided so she could begin a new lifestyle, but right after that he gave her divorce papers," she goes on to say, "So basically, she was trapped."
Even after reading both sides of this story, it doesn't look like there are going to be any easy answers. The father moved the mother and their children to a foreign country, he had an affair on her, then the mother flees to her hometown, resulting in an arrest warrant. Meanwhile, the father goes after the children in an illegal manner and is arrested as a result. The poor children are really the ones who suffer here. They have obviously been through some traumatic experiences and will need a great deal of care emotionally. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved quickly, and they can all go on with their lives in a peaceful manner.
My personal opinion, after reading both sides, is that the mother should now be able to raise her children in their native country, and the father should be granted visitation.
I agree that the children should be with their mother. It sounds to me that the father in this case is nothing more than a control freak. You are also correct in saying that the children in this case are the real losers. I can't imagine the trauma that they went through.
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