New Zealander’s have been making their feelings known about the alleged kidnapping of 4 year old Emma Maddison,  born in New Zealand to a Kiwi father and a Danish mother.

When Emma was a toddler the family returned to Denmark so that she could have medical treatment that wasn’t available in New Zealand.

After a period of time the girl’s father returned to New Zealand but the couple’s relationship broke up and the mother decided to stay in Denmark with her daughter.  The case highlights the enormous difficulties parents have with custody of their children after a relationship breaks up and the parents want to live in different countries.

Is is heartening on this International Woman’s Day to see an overwhelming degree of support for the mother from people in New Zealand.

There is a strong desire to find out more than is being told by the father and people are also talking about shameless manipulation of the media.

There are some of the comments that were left on the Trade Me.co.nz  forum, A New Zealand community site.

It started with this invitation:

“Read the whole article please before saying what your thoughts are,,,,,http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6534435/Kiwi-father-in-international-custody-battle/“

Replies

• “What a witch the mother is. Poor guy, and girl.”

• “I could never do such a thing to my children’s father knowing how much he loves them. I feel bad for the dad but I wish the mother would comment as I’d just love to know what her way of thinking is for keeping them apart. Lawfully she is wrong for sure!”

• “A very difficult situation for him to be in, but I dont see how you can call the mother a witch when you have no idea of her side of the story…”

• “Exactly. We have no idea of how they lived, what he was like or what she was like, or what happened between them.”

• “I think there’s a lot more to it than we’re being told. A 15 month old with an eating disorder? What the hell was going on? I am not going to castigate either parent as I don’t know all the facts.”

• “It’s *his* story, all about what *he* wants. For all we know, the reality of the situation may be entirely different. Either way, I feel sorry for the poor little girl stuck in the middle of her parents’ fighting – what a way to spend your childhood 😦 “

• “This was on 60 mins a wee while ago .. he traveled to Denmark and stayed with his mother in law who was opposed to her daughter taking Emma. I think he only got to see his daughter for a few hours and the mother refused to let him see Emma even thought the whole reason for the visit was so he could spend time with her.  It is such a sad state of affairs 😦 no way could I do that to my children let alone their father. I am not sure why he can’t go over there to live – at least until he can sort out custody?? Anyone know what the immigration rules are for Denmark?? ”
  

• “Sure sure lol. If a father abducted his children, you’d all be baying for blood without hearing his side first. I know how this messageboard works lol. Just my opinion.”

• “I agree, he obviously loves his child, he also came back thinking the mother and his child would be back soon….I so feel for him”

• “But – how can we know what he thinks or feels? He could be a master manipulator for all we know. Or she could just be a cow who used him as a sperm donor. Or somewhere in the middle…”

This particular answer was particularly insightful.

“From what I gather they took their seriously ill child oversea’s to Mum’s home country to get specialist treatment they couldn’t get here and Mum decided she didn’t want to come back. When parents choose to live in different countries then one of them needs to compromise if they’re both to be in the child’s life.

I don’t see how Mum abducted the child, she just didn’t come back to NZ as expected. Maybe not the right thing to do but using the word abducted is very inflammatory. It can’t be in the child’s best interests to have her taken from the only home she knows now and handed over to a virtual stranger and taken to the other side of the world.

I think Dad needs to find a way to move to Denmark, at least for the time being. It doesn’t seem either parent is willing to compromise and that can’t be good for the child”

And finally, another acknowledgement about the father’s motives and  manipulation of the media.

• “Too bad she didnt want to give her side of the story eh”

• “I thought it was refreshing to see some class displayed…”

• “Where you see class, i see not a valid explanation as to why she took her kid from their father.  Yeah, he could’ve been a mean ass, who knows, but we have procedures and channels in NZ that parents can go through if they do feel like their child is in danger from their parent. We all cant go swanning off to Denmark with our kids now eh lol”
  

• “She didn’t. They both took the child to her country… and she didn’t come back. And there are channels he can go through to get his daughter back. Shameless manipulation of the media isn’t going to help his cause any, there is no reason to do it other than to attack the mother. The very fact he did it makes me wonder about him and his motives.”