Pro Bono
Greenville Team Reunites Mother & Child
A Greenville team came to the rescue of an abducted 2-year-old, reuniting her with her mother after an unprecedented cooperation from Ecuador.
Cindi was abducted from Greenville, S.C., by her father and taken to Ecuador in August 2007 under false pretenses. The father was preparing to escape to Spain by using another set of false identity papers.
The mother was granted temporary custody of the child by a South Carolina Family Court 13th Judicial Circuit judge under an Emergency Protective Order to prevent the father from fleeing Ecuador to Spain with the child.
The S.C. court order was served in January 2008 through the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington, DC, to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Quito. The Ministry transmitted the US family court order to the Ecuadorian clerk of court in Macas, Ecuador, where the Ecuadorian court enforced the order.
To the astonishment of all the parties, including the US Embassy officials in Quito who commented they did not expect enforcement, the Ecuadorian Court acted quickly to convene a hearing and transferred the child from the father to a caseworker.
The court provided a police escort of the child and caseworker to the US Embassy to prevent further abduction attempts. The Embassy responded immediately to issue travel authority for the caseworker, a new US passport for the child, and secured local housing and transportation costs for the caseworker and child from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US. The Embassy sent staff to the Quito airport accompanied by the Ecuadorian police to finalize traveling credentials of the caseworker that allowed her to accompany the child back to the US. To prevent further abduction attempts, the Embassy detailed the Vice Consul to personally escort the child and Ecuadorian caseworker back to the US.
“The words of the State Department still ring in our ears as the Washington official stated: ‘We would have never believed this could have happened; this extraordinary intergovernmental cooperation with Ecuador in a kidnap case is unprecedented at the State Department, and we thank your law firm for its extraordinary efforts and wonderful results!’ Greenville Partner Buzz Burwell said.
Team members in addition to Mr. Burwell were Stefania Bondurant, Joseph Ramseur, Lalia Taylor, Katy Berdugo, Kim Parker, Kellie Dietz, and Tammy Roller.
