Senate OKs Reid bill on custody loophole

WASHINGTON -- In 1993, Barbara and Fred Spierer of Henderson were helpless when their 6-year-old son Mikey was kidnapped by his birth father and taken to his homeland of war-torn Croatia.

Monday the Senate passed a bill authored by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that would prevent this from ever happening again.

Reid's legislation was tucked into the Skilled Worker Immigration bill that overwhelmingly passed the Senate by a 78 to 20 vote.

"More than 1,000 children every year are abducted by a parent and taken overseas, out of reach from our legal system," Reid said. "My legislation closes a loophole in current law which allows for non-custodial parents to apply for passports for their children and take them out of the country."

The legislation, which failed twice in the past two years to become law, requires consent of both parents before a child under the age of 16 can be issued a passport. But the legislation, which now moves to the House for consideration, is now receiving strong bipartisan support.

"I think the senator made a strong case," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., after Reid pleaded with his colleagues during a speech from the Senate floor to support the legislation. "I think he has identified a very important issue."

Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., echoed Kennedy's comments.

"I believe the concerns (Reid) raised here are very important ones that need to be addressed," Abraham said.

But Reid might have never offered the legislation if he had never heard of the harrowing tale of Mikey's kidnapping. It began in 1993, when Mikey did not return home from a weekend visit with his birth-father Mlake Kale.

It would be 10 weeks later before Barbara, who held sole custody rights, would be reunited with her son.

"(Mlake) did not want to be with (Mikey) so much, but rather use him for spite," said Barbara, as she waited anxiously Monday with her husband and Mikey's stepfather Fred in their Henderson home for news of the vote. "(Mlake) had been planning on doing this for some time."

Barbara recalled painfully the first time her ex-husband called her to let her know that he had spirited their son to Croatia.

"I have him over here, he is mine," Barbara said Mlake told her. "There is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing your country can do about it and there is nothing your new husband can do about it."

With the help of the State Department and a shrewd Croatian lawyer, Barbara was reunited with her son. Fred said most of the credit needs to go to the lawyer who acted quickly in blocking Mlake from beginning Croatian custody proceedings. If the custody hearings had started, Fred said, it would have been almost impossible for them to get Mikey back to the United States.

Barbara said that while Mikey, now a sixth grader at Greenspun Junior High School, remembers what happens, he leads the life of any average 11-year-old boy worrying only about his batting average and jump-shot. And he still speaks with his birth-father, who calls him about three or four times a year, she said.

"(Mikey) understands what happened, but he is such a typical average kid," Barbara said. "He is just happy playing baseball and basketball."

Barbara is hopeful congressional lawmakers will pass Reid's legislation into law this year so that other people do not have to experience the pain and suffering her family went through.

"I feel this will put a huge stumbling block for a non-custodial parent from taking a child out of the country," she said.

archive