sexually abused

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Growing number of parents in custody cases flee country Published: 6:22PM Tuesday June 18, 2013 A growing number of parents involved in custody cases are fleeing the country with their children without permission. Last year there were 130 court hearings prompted by parents taking their children overseas without the other parent's consent - a 22% increase on the year before. William and Rachel have warrants out for their arrest after they took Rachel's daughter out of the country and away from her father. The couple believe the young girl's father had sexually abused her, however that has not been proved to the satisfaction of the Family Court and he was granted unsupervised access. "Your children are number one. That's what it comes down to," Rachel told ONE News. She said she had been frustrated by the difficulty in getting help while the case was before the courts. "Everything is suppressed," she said. "You go to your local MP and people like that and their response is 'well it's before the Family Court at the moment and we cant touch it'. "You talk to the child protection agency and 'well the Family Court are dealing with that, we cant touch that' and on it goes." Online message boards have also highlighted growing concerns that privacy and suppression issues in the Family Court have gone too far. Family court changes Justice Minister Judith Collins said changes to the Family Court will make it more streamlined and efficient especially where violence is involved but some fear it will make things worse. "That's a bit like taking resources away from emergency services -lives get lost," Dean of Otago law Mark Hanahan said. "I think in this case we're going to see people suffering and children getting hurt if we don't resource this properly." Rachel and William, meanwhile, have applied for a mistrial after the judge in their case was censured for speaking in a way described as "unprofessional, disrespectful, and debilitating". Two court witnesses who say the child would not be safe with her father have also made complaints about the hearing, but for now the ruling stands. "You're stuck with the decision, and it stands no matter, if someone makes a mistake or the judge is found guilty of misconduct that's it," said Rachel. "They might admit it and say yes we were wrong, but the decision still sticks." ONE News does not know where Rachel and William are and arranged for them to call us. http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/growing-number-parents-in-custody-cases-flee-country-5468878