Australian Mother Commits International Child Abduction

Melinda Stratton of Sydney, Australia, has abducted her 4 year old son Andrew Thompson and fled Australia to go into hiding. She was unhappy her son was seeing his father at all even in supervised visitation because she claimed he was an unfit parent. She made allegations against him that were investigated and dismissed, making this look like yet another case of a parental alienator bent on using any means to prevent a child from having contact with the other parent.

Stratton fled to Germany with Andrew in April 2008. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

On January 15, 2009, she recently wrote a letter stating that she claims “the appalling failure of the Family Law Court and Child Protection Services” is why she’s run away with the child. She claims that he’s an unfit father because of depression and anxiety. He denies that he suffers from these mental illnesses. Even if he did, depression and anxiety are very common especially during divorce and hardly justify a parent being judged as unfit unless they are unusually severe.

The father, Ken Thompson, is a a Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner in New South Wales, Australia. He has shown the press a letter from the government that Stratton’s allegations against him were investigated by the government and found to be without merit. Thompson has been trying to locate Andrew for nearly a year without success.

Australia’s government reports that in 2008 there were 120 international child abductions. 75% of them were committed by mothers.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Andrew and Melinda should contact the Australian Federal Police on +61-2-6126-7777. For further information or to arrange an interview with Andrew’s father, contact: Robin Bowles +61-418-102-732, or mail to urgent@foreversearching ^[2] who will put you in contact with Ken Thompson.

Further Reading

MISSING CHILD – ANDREW JOHN THOMPSON ^[3]

Forever Searching… Andrew John Thompson ^[4]

Mother accused of abducting child says ‘courts failed her’ ^[5]

Defiant: mother tells why she took her son and ran ^[6]

DOCS urges fugitive mother to return ^[7]

Facing Possible Loss of Custody, Mom Snatches Son ^[8]

Swedish Mother Kidnaps Australian Boys ^[9]

Forever Searching: Searching… For Missing and Exploited Children ^[10]