• The woman believes that naturally custody is supposed to be given to her being the mother.
• Says returning the children to Kenya will disrupt their education.
A mother embroiled in a divorce tussle is fighting the forcible removal of her children from the US.
The children's father has a court order granting him sole custody and wants his three daughters back in Kenya.
On October 4, 2018, the woman obtained orders from the Kadhi's court to travel with her three daughters to the US to renew their passports.
She then decided to keep the children in Minnesota.
The father moved to a Kadhi’s court and obtained an order granting him sole custody of the children.
The court directed the woman to return the children to Kenya and provide their return itinerary in 15 days. She did not do as directed.
The father then registered the order with a Minnesota court on April 4, 2019.
On April 9, 2019, the Hennepin county district court administrator filed a notice of registration of foreign child custody determination with respect to the order.
The woman was served with the order. Consequently, she filed a request for hearing to contest the validity of the child custody order.
She asked the Minnesota court to consider the children’s best interest when deciding whether they should be returned to Kenya.
Since there is no order suspending the one obtained by the father, the children face being forcibly returned to Kenya, disrupting their education as they are enrolled in US schools, the mother said.
She says the Kadhi’s court does not have authority over custody matters, especially when she has not submitted herself to its jurisdiction.
The woman believes that naturally custody is supposed to be given to her being the mother. She wants the order from the Kadhi's court set aside.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya