M, the kids and I participated in a rally today, in support of the family of Noah Kirkman. Noah is a 12-year old Canadian child who was on vacation in Oregon when he was taken by U.S. authorities against the will of his family. Noah had been on vacation in the U.S. with his stepfather - who had Noah's passport and a letter of permission from Noah's mom.
The details are enough to enrage and frighten any parent - especially step-parents: local coverage of the rally (video) - more details about the story from a newspaper in Oregon and CNN's Rick Sanchez covered the story (video) too. The Facebook group "Return Noah Kirkman to Canada NOW!" has even more details and links.
Abduction of a child who is a citizen of another country is a violation of international law - and Noah has been held in captivity by the U.S. for almost 2 years at this point.
This is Lisa's second Mother's Day without her son.
We've never met the family before today, and we only found out about the rally through local media and Facebook, but the situation is so shocking that we wanted to help. We also sympathize with Noah's family... we're a step-family too, and I can't imagine my horror, shock and sense of betrayal if my kids were abducted by U.S. authorities who ignored their basic rights as Canadian citizens.
We've also postponed our plans to travel to the U.S. after reading about this situation - we're not going to travel to the U.S. when they could do this to any Canadian child.
Yesterday, the kids worked on their protest signs while they peppered me with questions about this situation. I tried to explain what I understood to them - but in the end there simply is no reason why Noah was taken away from his family. This turned out to be an opportunity to show the kids how life isn't fair, how kids need to be rigorously protected by their parent(s) and how all good citizens need to step into the "gap" of decency and support when the government won't.
Sadly the kids realized that this is an example of how step-families can be unfairly treated on a governmental whim - and how children are sometimes mistreated for political reasons.
It left me sad and bewildered. Just like my kids.
At the rally the kids chanted "Bring Noah home!" enthusiastically and brandished their home-made signs. One reporter from a local paper asked why we choose to participate in this event and I responded something like "this is a much better way to spend Mother's day than with a bunch of flowers or lunch out somewhere."
Maybe she was wondering why weren't we at the other local event that day - a competitive road race that also raises funds for the local NICUs and special care nurseries. It's especially ironic as we're a family with two former preemies and one NICU graduate.
As the rally ended my kids played a short game of tag with Noah's younger sister. The three kids ran around burning off excess energy and screeching in glee. Soon we had to go.
As we were heading to the car my youngest commented, "Mom, I really liked her (meaning Noah's sister). Will she get to see her brother soon? Will he get to come home now?"
"I don't know honey", I replied, "But I hope so."
I hope so.
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