Danya and Aaron Bundy are members of the Attorney Network maintained by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Children's Issues. From time to time, by request of the State Department, they are called on to assist a foreign national with an international parental child abduction case. Early in 2022, Danya was contacted by a parent from Ecuador. The other parent had traveled with their minor child to Oklahoma with permission for a temporary visit. On arrival, the traveling parent stayed longer than agreed and would not return the child. Danya assisted the client with a Hague Abduction petition, and after an adversarial hearing, obtained judicial relief. The minor child was returned to Ecuador.
Shortly after the resolution of the Ecuadorian matter, Aaron was contacted by an indigent foreign national from Turkey. The client had just learned of a default Oklahoma decree awarding custody of her minor child to the other parent, even though the minor child was with our client in Turkey. The other parent intended to enforce the decree and retrieve the minor child. Aaron reviewed the situation and identified numerous jurisdictional defects in the underlying case. After briefing the issues, he successfully obtained both vacation of the decree and dismissal of the petition. The minor child is now properly secure in the care and custody of the Turkish parent.