vrijdag 2 oktober 2009

US-Japan parenting and the adoption of social policy

In the United States stay-at-home women are generally younger and less educated than working women. In the Netherlands we see that non-working women are generally older than educated women. In traditional and/or religious neighborhoods in Japan people even have no words to describe their convictions and beliefs. Working top down, Kindindeknel reports about family situations and views the US-Japan custody case that currently is in the news:

From: Kindindeknel

To: Glenn Sacks of Fathers and Families
Date: Oct 2nd, 2009
Subject: US-Japan parenting and the adoption of family situations policy in the governance of the Obama administration

In the CNN Backstory program was talk about cultural complexities and the context of these cases, where father and wife want to live apart and both want to keep their role as a parent. The presenter wants to report developments in the story. The dutch social politics organization Pvda together with the USA Democrats arranged the family situation to be on international television. As an active party member I was asked by dutch vice President Wouter Bos to be concerned with the case.

1. Kindindeknel.nl is a father-group in the Netherlands and as such we say sorry that there exists a Den Hague kidnapping convention. The ruling in this convention didn't work for fathering and children and wouldn't have worked anyway, so it doesn't matter that japan will not apply. I promise to blog about this treaty.
2. The CNN reporter in japan isn't good in wording, declaring and emphasizing the constraints in that country are very tight. To my opinion japanese constraints are build on ramshackle, usualy in tribal and traditional regions there is no law nor ethics involved in the repression of a father with a degree from a first class US university. It is just wild.
3. To our opinion it is wrong that a parent -even if it is a father- can get sole custody. In the Netherlands we developed the 'both parents' norm for parents living apart. A law called Conservation of parenthood and careful Co-parenting when living apart is at work from March 1st this year.
4. It is a shame that in japan an interview even with a world class television network has to be censored. Don't they know journalists from both sexes these day's are self-censored?
5. Another shame is that apparently there is not óne sufficiently educated japanese justice clerk that can explain why this arrest took place and why the father is separated.
6. Another shame is that the government of japan wants to hide this fact by communicating to the international community that there is not óne japanese that can speak english.

Here beneath is the transcript of the Backstory report from Thursday evening Oct 1st. The video is captured too on this side hard disk drive. According to the report, the rights of fathers are OK in the USA, occasionally we hear from custody cases and that father are not allowed access to their children in the States. Here in the Netherlands there also are cases in rural area's and religious inspired regions. We are curious to know which districts of america can be compared with the situation in the dutch provinces of drenthe, limburg and zeeland. Does an epidemiologic map exist for the US?

Suggest that Family First and my organization keep in touch about US-Japan relations.

CEO
 

Transcript of the US-Japan separation news item

Roberts: And a closer look at today's stay-at-home moms. Just released census bureau statistics find most of them in the country tend to be younger and less educated than mothers who are in the workforce.

The report says about 27 percent of them are Hispanic, 34 percent are foreign-born. They're also more likely than other mothers to have an infant or a preschooler in the house. The researchers say there are more than 5 1/2 million stay-at-home moms in the United States.

Chetry: Well, yesterday, we had a chance to speak to the current wife of Chris Savoie. He's the man who's now being detained in Japan. He went there to try to get his kids back in a major custody battle. His ex-wife took the kids to Japan.

He's now sitting in jail there. And he speaks exclusively to our Kyung Lah about what's it been like for him and whether or not he thinks he will ever see his children again.

Chetry: Right now, you're going to hear a story that you're only going to hear here on CNN and AMERICAN MORNING. It's about a global custody battle that's landed an American father in a Chinese -- in a Japanese jail cell. Christopher Savoie, he was arrested trying to get his two children back after his ex-wife defied a court order here in the U.S. and took them back to her native country without telling him.

Our Kyung Lah got an exclusive interview with Christopher, and she's live right now in Japan with more on the situation.

So you had a chance to go in there. They didn't allow cameras but you were able to take notes. Tell us about what it was like to see him and what he told you about his ordeal?

Kyung Lah: Well, he looked very tired, Kiran. He's certainly is going through an ordeal. He was wearing a Nashville School of Law T-shirt, really a tie to where he is from, Nashville, Tennessee. He said he was scared and very, very sad. Despite that, he said he wanted to share his story because for parents like him, he said, international law needs to change. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Lah (voice-over): In a second-floor interrogation room, we waited for Christopher Savoie on our side of the glass. Police gave us 15 minutes, a stopwatch running in the corner. He took our electronic devices - no cameras, no tape recorders. And then, an emotional Christopher Savoie entered the room.

"I'm so scared", he said, carefully choosing his words and speaking in Japanese, as required by police during a jail visit. "I don't know how long I'll be in here. I want Americans to know what's happening to me. I didn't do anything wrong. Children have the right to see both parents. It's very important for my children to know both parents."

Police have charged him with kidnapping his two children as they walked to their school here in Yanagawa, Japan. Savoie drove 8-year- old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca to the U.S. Consulate, but Japanese police arrested him just steps from the front gate. Under U.S. law, Savoie has sole custody, but in Japan, ex-wife Nariko, who abducted the children from the U.S., is the recognized guardian.

"Japanese people think she's the victim here", Savoie told me, "In the states, my ex-wife is the one who's in the wrong".

In this rural town in southern Japan, those who heard about the case side with the mother, even knowing the U.S. courts awarded custody to the American father.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Lah: "They belong with their real mother", says this woman. That cultural divide is what Savoie's attorney says is difficult to fight. He says Japanese law clearly sees Savoie as the criminal.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Lah: "He technically may have committed a crime according to Japanese law", says his attorney, "but he shouldn't be indicted. He did it for the love of his children".

Savoie wanted us to get this message to his children. "I love you Isaac, Rebecca. Your daddy loves you forever. I'll be patient and strong until the day comes that I can see you both again. I am very sorry that I can't be with you."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Lah (on camera): I also asked him if he had a message for his wife, Amy, who is in Nashville, Tennessee. I asked him the question in English, and he blurted out in English, "I love her". Police at that point almost stopped the interview, but they did allow us to continue, but certainly, Kiran, he wants that message to get to his wife, Amy.

Chetry: Yes. She's a real mess right now. I mean, we talked to her yesterday. She's just heartbroken about this, hasn't slept as well. I mean, you can understand the strain that this has put everyone under.

When you spoke to his attorney, because you - you did have a chance to talk to him, what are the chances that, A, he's going to get out of jail any time soon, and, number two, whether or not he's going to be able to see his kids?

Lah: I asked him if there was any chance - any bet that he had on whether or not he'll be getting out soon. He said he just didn't know because this is such a rare case in Japan for him (ph), at least. He said he's hopeful, he really thinks that he deserves to get out. As far as the issue of the kids, that is an entirely different ball of wax. That is a very difficult situation on whether or not he'll be able to see them again. But getting him out of jail is step one.

Chetry: All right. Kyung Lah, great job. I'm glad that you had a chance to give us a perspective about what he's going through right now. Thank you so much - John.

Labels: International