International Legal Battle to Bring Child Home

Jingiwalla ( Hello in my language)

My name is Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts and I am a proud Bundjalung Widubul - Wiabul woman, lawyer, social worker and advocate for Indigenous people’s rights and children’s rights.

I am also a survivor of Statutory Out Of Home Care (OOHC) where my commitment is to protect and advocate for the rights of Indigenous children and human rights.

I am advocating and supporting the family of the recent matter that has taken place ( Please see below).

We are urgently calling on the International and national community to support and stand by a Legal Battle to save a First Nations child from harm and bring her back home traditional lands in Australia.

Background:

The Australian people who are supporting First Nations Wiradjuri mother and child are urgently calling on the national and international community to support the urgent need for the International Legal Battle to save a First Nations child from harm and bring her back home safe, to her community, to her traditional lands.

The Australian Labor government has failed to use their power and position to intervene in the safety of an Aboriginal child who is now in the hands of her alleged perpetrator.

On December 2022, a 2-year-old Aboriginal Child was ripped from her mother’s arms whilst being breastfed at Pennant Hills Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ). This Child has now been taken out of the country, overseas into the care of her perpetrator due to an “archaic and draconian law” that is leaving vulnerable women and children at risk.

The alleged abuser has a current ADVO against him which names the 2-year-old as a person who needs protection from him.

Jane*, an Australian First Nations woman who cannot be identified for legal reasons, travelled to Europe in 2019 when she was seven months pregnant after allegedly being coerced onto a plane by her abusive partner. At the time, she intended to return home to give birth to her daughter but was effectively trapped overseas due to a combination of serious medical complications – which she states was the result of abuse – escalating violence and the Covid pandemic.

Within days of the child’s birth, the mother began the process of applying for Australian citizenship on the child’s behalf, and she escaped on the “first flight possible” with her daughter, believing they would finally be safe once they reached their traditional soil in 2020 when her daughter was seven months old.

This abuse was also documented with Belgium Drs, and also formally documented in Australia. The trail of urgently calling out for help for her and her child is available.

The Australian Family Court ruled that The Hague Convention must be upheld in this case and that the child should be returned to the perpetrator ( the father )– despite there being a current Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) out against him and serious medical safety of the child including The 2-year-old child who has a haemangioma on and under her right shoulder blade. The doctor has recommended she not fly as the placement of the haemangioma makes it higher risk, and flying will increase the chance of the blood vessels bursting.

The child has received a bowel disease diagnosis of Hirschsprung disease. This causes her to have difficulty and pain with bowel motions. This can cause continuous vomiting. The doctor has warned that delayed bowel motions will damage her rectum long term.

On 22 December 2022, it had been four days since she had had a bowel motion. She does not have a bowel motion if she is stressed, and boarding a flight in an unknown environment will increase this risk.

The mother recently lost her bid to have her case heard by the High Court to prevent her daughter from being taken to Europe. Earlier this month, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that the law had been amended to ensure that “family and domestic violence can be considered before return orders are made for children under The Hague convention”. However, this Aboriginal child and mother have not been warranted this consideration or appropriate response. Whilst it is only a 'consideration' it is not a 'must', therefore it was up to the discretion of the judge.

The best interest of this Aboriginal child has not been met throughout these processes.

During a video call that took place between the perpetrator and the mother, the mother could see and hear her daughter screaming for her mother and severely crying in distress. During this time, the mother saw what looked like bruising on her daughter’s forehead, neck swelling, and her shirt looking pulled. This abuse was reported by numerous parties to DCJ and screenshots were taken.

The Australian people called on the Labor Government to intervene to save this child, within 2 days over 20,000 people actively signed a petition pleading for the Labor government to intervene.

On the 25th of December (Christmas evening) the mother was notified by the perpetrator that he was about to board a flight and leave the country. The Australian people urgently called on the government to not allow this plane to take off with a known perpetrator and for the safety of the child to be actioned. When the mother requested to speak to her child, he said no.

The Labor Government failed to action any response and the best interest of the child has not been considered.

The mother will now take on an international Legal battle to save her First Nations child and bring her back to her traditional lands, to safety and to her community.

This can happen to anybody, and we need to make changes. We need to bring our children home.

This is the stolen generation continued and is displacement. The best interest of the child has not been considered by a variety of parties including the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) in their role in protecting children.

The Australian has published a national video of the moments this Aboriginal child was ripped from her mother’s arms.

This child is displaying severe distress and is traumatised calling out for her mum.

We must be better as a nation and call an end to Domestic and Family violence. This mother was fleeing for safety, and instead, she was welcomed with punishment, trauma, and further harm and danger towards both herself and her child.

She cannot do this alone, and due to the legal battle previously she has spent every cent.

Therefore, we are calling on the National and International community to provide urgent financial aid to support the following but is not limited to;

Once we have reached our goal in raising funds, the money will be transferred to the beneficiary (mother Jane*).

Please sign the petition here

Petition for Australian Government to intervene

News stories here

A current affair story: Mum speaking