By DICK CHAPMAN
An Acton man is anxiously awaiting a U.S. federal court ruling he hopes will lead to the return of his 11-year-old daughter.
Bruce Davitt, 50, is petitioning the U.S. district court in Grand Rapids, Mich., under Hague Convention protocols on international child abduction.
His daughter, Betsy, did not return last August after a six-week holiday with Davitt's ex-wife -- Betsy's natural mother -- as required under terms of a 1997 Ontario family court order. Davitt has been on an emotional roller-coaster every since. He's scrambled to find a lawyer equipped to deal with the issues and he's been essentially cut off from his daughter.
"It's like a nightmare you can hardly believe could actually happen, but it did," Davitt said. "If Betsy does come home, and I hope and pray she will be home soon, I'll never want to let her out of my sight again."
Davitt's plight is one of 41 Canada-U.S. child-custody matters dealt with last year by a branch of the Ontario attorney-general's ministry called the Central Authority on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Similar agencies exist in Washington, D.C. and many U.S. states. Apart from those 41 Ontario-U.S. parental tug-of-wars last year; others were handled directly between a parent and a court in either country.
Davitt, a shipping-receiving agent at Honeywell in Mississauga, won a 1997 Ontario ruling granting him the right to have Betsy reside most of the year in Acton with him and his other daughter, Katie, 19.
RETENTION
But since last summer Davitt's been reduced to seeing Betsy under conditions set by his ex-wife. Rather than kidnapping, Betsy's non-return is described in Hague Convention language as wrongful retention.
Last summer, his ex-wife got a court in Michigan to grant her custody, without Davitt getting notice to attend. In November, that Michigan lower-court judge refused to read the 1997 Ontario court custody order or Hague Convention briefs, and simply upheld his own order.
But with the help of the Ontario attorney-general's office, Davitt was put in touch with a lawyer in Detroit, who moved the matter into U.S. federal court.
The Hague Convention, signed by Canada and dozens of other countries, demands signatory nations respect each nation's court rulings on child custody.
Detroit lawyer Margaret Costello says Davitt's case, now that it's before a federal U.S. judge, will most likely swing entirely on Hague jurisdictional issues. The case could be heard as early as today.
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