Help bring the Camacho girls home

For those following the page or visiting the page for the first time, I just wanted to let you know I no longer actively update this page. It's been a long 6 years since this all started and the end of the road has been reached.

Toward the end of last year, the Costa Rican courts decided to deny my Petition of Contact and Visitation. That was the last legal option I had in the Costa Rican Courts. At this time all contact with the children has been cut off and I no longer know for sure where they are living.

I have much appreciation and love for all who supported me and offered words of hope and encouragement. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

This is the final post I will make on this page but I will be leaving it up. My hope is that my kids might see it and maybe reach out to their Dad.

Regards,

Christopher

It has been 8 months since I posted an update regarding the girls. During that time, I have been waiting patiently for the Court of Juveniles and Adolescents in Costa Rica to conclude a psychological evaluation of the girls.

Parental Alienation is a common occurrence in Child Abduction cases. My hope was that the eval would support my request for contact and visitation, being their mother had cut off all contact/communication.

Based on the children supposedly stating they did not wish to see or speak with me and the "psychological expertise " of the evaluator who "opposes the minors to have contact with their Father" , the Petition for Contact and Visitation has been officially denied. I was given no info on what the evaluation entailed, the credentials of the evaluator or any detail on the results.

So that's about it folks. That was the last legal venue I had in Costa Rica and I doubt I will have the finances to pursue the human rights case pending in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

It demoralizes me that American born children can be abducted and our State Dept. does nothing but watch a foreign court condone the action. It saddens me profoundly that in this case, two of those children were mine. For those of you that knew my kids and my relationship with them, please continue to support and pray for us. To everyone who has provided love, support and encouragement over these last 5 years, you have my heartfelt thanks. It has meant a lot even if I have not always done the best job of letting folks know.

I'll keep this page up in the hopes that maybe they run across it. I will not be posting any more updates moving forward.

- Christopher

I haven't given an update on the girls in awhile, as I have been waiting on a decision from the Costa Rica on the Petition for Contact & Visitation I submitted after the Petition for the return of the children was denied by the Costa Rican Supreme Court in 2012. A decision was made on September 24th, which I was not made aware of until this past Wednesday.

One interesting note before I share the decision, while the petition was going through the Family Court in San Jose, Costa Rica, my ex was somehow able to get a judge in her home town of Heredia, Costa Rica to issue a court order ordering me to pay her "maintenance" in the amount of $21K US and $1,700 US/month moving forward, under the penalty of arrest and incarceration for non-payment should I go to Costa Rica.

I had hoped, at a minimum, that the Court would order regular phone calls and Skype. My "Pie in the Sky" hope was that they would annul the court order from Heredia and order regular in person visits along with phone/Skype/email and also monitor the girls on a regular basis.

In a nutshell, the Family Court denied the petition for the following reasons:

- I supposedly did not provide documents they requested, documents they informed me they already had on file from the first petition and were ok with reusing.

- That I did not show up to provide testimony, even though they were informed I could not go to Costa Rica while the threat of arrest existed. We asked them to intercede and remove that threat as it was an obstacle to me being able to exercise my parental and legal rights, a request they ignored and did not even comment on. They did give me permission to testify via Skype, but did not have decent enough internet services for that to happen, then told me after that the responsibility was mine to provide the internet access (??).

- They held the actual hearing without informing me of when and where it was being held. I found out after the proceeding had concluded from the court appointed lawyer

- The last reason, and the one that's the hardest to accept is that both of my daughters provided testimony that they did not wish to see or speak with me. Both expressed a desire to live without "problems" and that they both felt I had been causing a lot of problems for "their family" over the last 4 years. My eldest even stated that she did not consider me to be a "good person". The court stated that whatever rights I have as a parent are superseded by the rights and desires of the children.

Part of my petition had been an appeal to the court to take into consideration the realities of Parental Alienation and its effects on a child's relationship with the left behind parent. I requested that the court order psychological evaluation of the children, being they had been in Costa Rica so long and my ex and her parents had cut off all contact (phone, mail & electronic) for the last two years. The Court neither addressed that request nor mentioned it in the decision.

So here I sit, absolutely gutted over the situation. My lawyer appealed, but I hold little hope. She provided very poor communication and support and the US State Department did nothing. I have to come to grips with the reality that my relationship with my kids has been destroyed and that in all likelihood I will not see either of them until they are older and hopefully open to hearing from their Dad.

I will keep the "Help Bring them Home" page up until the appeal is finished and then take it down. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me these last 4 1/2 years; it has meant a lot to me, even if I have not always done a great job of showing it. For now I have to come to grips with a very harsh reality, so I'd appreciate it if everyone gave me some time, especially folks I work with. I don't feel like re-hashing everything over and over in public. A pat on the back or hug will do.

Thank you again everyone. I wish I had better news. Costa Rica, a great place for honeymoons, coffee and child abduction ....

Week 7 update:

I'm a little late on posting an update.

Much thanks to everyone who stepped up and shared my Gofundme link last week. Had a number of new donations last week, some from folks I don't even know !

I have a lot going on right now, so my apologies if I haven't sent you a thank you message yet. That being said, please know I do not take any of the the help I've received for granted and you all have my heartfelt thanks for the support !

The Costa Rican courts have appointed a lawyer in country to help me out. I've been in contact with her and things are progressing. Hearing date is April 13th, so I hope, at a minimum, I will at least get to see my girls then. It has been 3 years.

As always, thank you for all of the support and well wishes. I continue to hope and pray things progress in a positive direction and I will finally get some sort of resolution in my favor (and some justice).

- Christopher R. Camacho

http://www.gofundme.com/helpbringthemhome

Click here to support Help Bring Them Home by Christopher R. Camacho In June of 2011, Isabella Nicole and Elena Nicole Camacho were abducted by their mother to her native country of Costa Rica. Ever since, the children's father, Christopher Camacho, has been fighting a legal battle to locate and be reunited with his children. This funding project is to raise fun...

http://www.gofundme.com/jna5no

Click here to support Help Bring Them Home by Christopher R. Camacho In June of 2011, Isabella Nicole and Elena Nicole Camacho were abducted by their mother to her native country of Costa Rica. Ever since, the children's father, Christopher Camacho, has been fighting a legal battle to locate and be reunited with his children. This funding project is to raise fun...

It's been over a year since the last update. Since May 22 of last year actually.

As of yesterday, I was informed that the Inter-American Humans Rights Court (www.corteidh.or.cr) had finished reviewing our petition and decided to hear our case.

Basically, the case will be to determine whether or not Costa Rica has violated mine and my daughters human rights by failing to live up to their international responsibilities as a signatory of The Hague Convention and refusing to return the children back to the U.S.

So here we go again. Wish me luck and if anyone has experience, knowledge, connections, etc. with getting exposure via regular and social media, fundraising, political connects, etc. I sure could use the help.

- Christopher

Inter-American Court of Human Rights San José, Costa Rica, 10 de octubre de 2014.- La Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos notificó el día de hoy la Sentencia de Excepciones Preliminares, Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas en el caso Hermanos Landaeta Mejías y otros Vs. Venezuela, sometido a la jurisdicción de la Corte el 10 de julio de…

Received some tough news re: the return of the girls to the U.S. The Constitutional court in Costa Rica, a court completely separate from the Family Court system, has annulled both the ruling that ordered restitution and the one from the Court of Appeals that confirmed the initial ruling. Therefore my daughters restitution has been denied…

They have given no grounds or details about the decision, only that the vote was issued last May 17th at 9:45 a.m.

It's difficult news, because there is no other Court or entity I can appeal to at this time. So after winning in the U.S. and twice in Costa Rica, after two years one judge has made a decision to block their return. With that decision, he's essentially condoned the children's abduction, granted custody to the girls mother, ignored all of his peers in the Family courts decisions, violated an international treaty his country is a signatory to and thrown any rights I have as a parent out the window.

At this point, there's not much else I can do. I wanted to thank everyone for their support, friendship and prayers over these last two years. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers moving forward.

- Christopher

Well folks, it's been awhile since I've updated but that is because the process has been painfully slow.

As you all know, the Family Court in Costa Rica ordered the return of the children last year. The decision was appealed and the appeals court took awhile but finally released their official decision last month. They rejected the appeal and upheld the lower courts decision to return Isabella and Elena.

A complaint was filed by the girls mother in the Costa Rican Constitutional Court (also called the Human Rights Court) asking that the court block the return order and giving "refugee" status to her and the children.

So now we are back to waiting. This is the last step. If the court supports the decision of the other two courts, the girls will be home. If they don't, then that's the last legal recourse I probably have to get the children back home.

It's been a long journey for us. Three courts, one in the US and two Costa Rica, have seen fit to do the right thing and return the girls. I hope and pray this fourth and final one does the same.

Please continue to send your support and prayers our way. If you can take 10 mins. please call and email your Senators and Representatives, regardless of where you live, make them aware of the situation and ask for their support and for them to let the State Dept. know about it.

Thank you again to all who have supported us. One final step to go.

Regards,

Christopher

Great update I wanted to share with everyone. Last week we received word that the Costa Rican Supreme Court rejected the appeal from opposing counsel and upheld the original decision to return Isabella and Elena home. So we've won rounds one and two.

Not sure what that means in regards to time frame for the girls return or what next steps are for either side legally, but it's another win for our side and another big step towards the children being returned home.

Your support, financial and otherwise, continues to be important and is even more important now at this stage of the process.

We're still accepting donations via PayPal, and if you could take a minute to call or email your Senators and Representatives, regardless of where you live, it would be a great help. In the case of Sean Goldman, a child abducted to Brazil and held there for four years, it is widely believed that a veto of a trade agreement in 2009 worth $2.75B US to Brazil was the "incentive" that got Brazil to return the boy to his father. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) vetoed the trade deal and 48 hours later, Sean Goldman was on a plane back to New Jersey.

Please continue to support us and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season. I hope to have more good news to share sometime soon.

The financial costs to left-behind parents can be substantial. The resources required to travel abroad, hire translators, interpreters and legal assistance with knowledge of and experience with the legal issues pertaining to international parental child abduction are tremendous. The protracted legal battle to recover an abducted child can devastate a family financially. If you would like to make a donation to help bring Isabella and Elena Camacho home, please click on the link below.

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