International custody battles have made headlines lately and although the Sally Faulkner case has been explosive and dividing she is not alone. There are millions of parents worldwide wishing they could hold their babies.
Australian father James Gorry has not seen his daughter, Alice, 14, in almost five years reports news.com.au.
His ex-wife took their young daughter to India and James has not been able to see or speak to Alice since her departure in August 2011.
Even though James has been allowed no contact, and has no legal recourse as India is not a signatory to the Hague Convention he is still required by the Child Support Agency to pay $1700 per month to his ex-wife.
“I want to make it very clear I have absolutely no problem paying child support because my daughter is my responsibility,” James told news.com.au.
“I’m not a disgruntled father … I want the money put aside for Alice or until such time as we can provoke contact to be made.”
James has remarried and has two small sons whom he wishes his daughter could meet, however James understands that if he attempted to take Alice back he would jeopardise his life here with his family.
“I’m not after a recovery for my daughter, I’m not trying to do what Sally Faulkner did in Beirut. I just want to speak to her once in a while and ask, ‘are you happy?’ and ‘how are you going?’” James said.
“I just want to have the opportunity to be her father and spend holidays with her and let her share some time with her half brothers.”
James set up a Facebook page for Alice in hope that one day she will see it and know that he was trying to reach his little girl the whole time.
“I think I probably will see Alice again because curiosity is always there among children,” he said.
“That’s one of the reasons I did the Facebook page because I think, wrongly or rightly, it will give her visibility and if I die (before we meet again) she’ll be able to look back and say ‘he did care’ and ‘he did want to find out about me’.”
We hope that Alice sees the page and can one day make contact with her father.
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