I am the father of two young daughters, ages 5 and 8. We have lived in Las Vegas since 2007. Last year, my daughters were taken from me when Jane, through coercive tactics and dishonesty, and with the help of a biased Family Court judge, obtained permission from the Courts to relocate, mid-school year, with our kids to Sweden.

Sweden is 6,000 miles and 9 time zones away from Las Vegas. Flights to Sweden cost in the neighborhood of $1,200. It takes about 20 hours of total travel time to arrive there. Just calling them on the phone or via Skype requires careful planning, particularly since Jane takes care to ensure they don’t come home in the evening before 6 PM (9 AM Las Vegas time) any night of the week.

Prior to the relocation order, I went no more than 2-3 days without seeing my kids. We enjoyed a close relationship, with lots of time spent on homework, reading books, swimming, hiking, bike riding, fishing, camping and many other cherished activities. Now, our schedule has been substituted with 2 months of continuous time in the summer and 2 weeks in the winter.

The court has relegated me to a vacation dad.

The distance between us and the time I have with them does not allow me to celebrate either of their birthdays. Gone also is Thanksgiving. Ditto Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day and all other National Holidays with the exception of July 4th. I’m no longer able to attend school plays, parent—teacher conferences, soccer matches, gymnastics competitions. The list goes on. If it doesn’t happen during the summer or winter breaks, I’m not there.

From the time my kids leave for Sweden in January, I don’t see them until mid June. 6 months. How much do young children change in 6 months? Isn’t it better for kids to be around both parents during their childhood?

I may go 6 months without seeing them, but not a day goes by that I don’t think of them and wonder how they’re doing. There are reminders of them around the house. Art projects from school, cards on the fridge, their queue of movies will always remain in Netflix. Their booster seats stay in the car while they’re away.

“This doesn’t happen in our modern society,” you might say. “Certainly, there must have been a good reason a judge would intervene and allow Jane to move so far away. This is an extreme circumstance, what went wrong?”

Let me just say Jane is dishonest and planned the relocation from the beginning. The second important tidbit is that the Judge just really liked the idea of my young daughters being moved away from their dad. “Europe is cool,” he remarked off the record, privately in his chambers to my attorney.

Immediately after our divorce was finalized, Jane, a Swedish native, terminated her full-time employment at the law office of her now-attorney. She then claimed economic hardship and sought government subsidies in the form of WIC assistance. Within 90 days of the divorce being finalized, I started getting letters from her attorney to inform me of her intent to relocate, first claiming that she just wanted a change of scenery, but later in court documents claiming that she wanted to move so she could get a job in, surprisingly, the legal field.

Just the time line of events betrays the dishonorable nature of Jane’s actions. The Judge didn’t care.

Before the trial commenced, the Judge called the legal counsel to his chambers where he bluntly asked my attorney, “Isn’t there a way you can just get him to agree to this?” Although it was apparent to me that he had made up his mind before the trial began, he proceeded with an evidentiary hearing, because that’s what’s required before you can order a relocation.

Absent any evidence that there were any real advantages for my ex-wife or our children in Sweden, the Judge approved her relocation, allowing her to move mid-school year to a foreign country.

Despite my insistence, I didn’t know when they were leaving until days before their departure. I didn’t get their itinerary until 10 PM the night before their 6 AM flight. Jane insisted on taking the kids to Sweden on Dec 23rd, 2013. Merry Christmas.

If one doesn’t know about Sweden, he or she might say, “But Sweden is a great place to live, right? Their educational system is far superior to our own, right?”

Actually, Sweden ranks below the US in PISA scores, and has done so for many years. My oldest daughter was dropped a full grade level upon arriving in Sweden due to her inability to read and write in Swedish. My youngest daughter was learning to read in her school program at the age of 3 when she left. Since then, she’s been in daycare where she spends her day playing with other kids. She won’t enter school or start learning to read until she turns 7 now.

People don’t realize how much power family courts have over the core of our community – the family unit. As soon as a divorce occurs, the family court takes it upon themselves to intervene in whatever way they chose, even absent any discussion about what is good for the kids. In their words, they’re acting “in the best interest of children.”

I think not.

In Nov, 2014, Nevada voters stood up and voted this miserable Judge out of office. Democracy in action, right? Kind of, I guess. The orders he issued while on the bench still stand, so not really so much.

This blog is meant to bring awareness to the problems we face where dishonest parents misuse a biased Family Court to violate our parental rights. It happens all the time. It is detrimental to our communities and our children.

In future blog posts I’ll explain in more detail how my case unfolded and provide resources for others in a similar position. I welcome your questions and comments.