Nick Lampson: “about 1,000 children a year are taken outside the borders of the United States. These are noncustodial parental…”

“about 1,000 children a year are taken outside the borders of the United States. These are noncustodial parental abductions. We have thousands of them across our country, and I urge each of my colleagues to help join that fight to bring them home. One such case is that of Jeff Koons, who I have been talking about now for several months. The last time I talked about it, he had been awarded custody by the courts in New York, but soon thereafter his ex-wife filed for custody and a divorce suit in Italy. Well, he went along with that. He argued the matter in Italy that New York laws should be followed. He even went along and hired psychiatrists to evaluate both himself and his ex-wife to see who would be fittest of the parents. Lo and behold, after a year of investigation, the Italian court-appointed psychiatrist determined that custody should be granted to Mr. Koons. On February 28, 1998, a panel of judges of the First Section of the Rome Tribunal found that Jeff Koons should have custody and granted that custody. That custody was to commence on August 1, 1998; and as I look, we are now in April of 2002. Four years later, Mr. Koons still does not have his son. Father Coughlin spoke of trustworthy people bringing hope to a fearful world. Where are the trustworthy people? Bring our children home.”