JJJ-- thank you. There is no court order in place regarding custody. When I did take her to Europe four years ago, I had to get a notarized letter from her father giving me permission to take her to Europe. (NOTE TO OTHER PARENTS: Going through European immigration, they really do ask to see the letter, ask where her father is, and question the child nicely. Since my daughter and I have different last names because I took back my maiden name, the US passport office will put a previous "married" name as "ALSO KNOWN AS" on the last page of the passport. I did not have a certified copy of the divorce decree so they would not put my hypenated maiden-married name on the first page.)
Her father was in jail at that time and it was a big production by the jail authorities to get a three sentence letter to him via mail, get it notarized while in jail, and get it back to me. He said he would sign the letter if I brought her to see him. I had a big decision to make regarding that: not to see her father in jail or not take a huge gift God was handing us. I took her to see him and I do give him credit for explaining to her that he broke the law, he got caught, and now he is being punished; that this is what happens when you know right from wrong and choose to do wrong. AND, he didn't play the victim for her.
He will not pay for a lawyer to fight me but he would call the police and cause international drama. That's OK. America is a huge country and luckily he still wouldn't pay for a plane ticket to come see his daughter. That costs money.
Thank you again,
e
