[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7069-7070]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              DONALD YOUMANS' INTERNATIONAL CUSTODY BATTLE

  (Mr. LAMPSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LAMPSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to tell the story of Donald 
Youmans, a father whose son was abducted to Germany in 1993. Donald 
filed a missing persons report with police, and a United States court 
granted him temporary sole custody and ordered immediate return of his 
son.
  A German court issued an ex parte order granting the mother sole 
custody of the son, stating that the child would suffer severe 
psychological damage to be taken away from his new environment of 3 
months. In 1994, a German lower court denied return of the child, and 4 
months later granted sole custody to the mother. In 1996, a court

[[Page 7070]]

confirmed sole final custody and gave Donald restrictive access rights 
to be exercised only in Germany.
  Despite the court order for these restrictive access rights, Donald's 
ex-wife continues to deny him access to his son. He has not seen his 
son since 1994. His son was abducted when he was two, and he is now 
eight.
  Madam Speaker, these daily 1 minutes are about families and reuniting 
children with their parents. We must show respect and concern for the 
most sacred of bonds, the bond between a parent and a child. The House 
must do all that it can to bring our children home.

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