FATHER SEES CHILDREN AFTER FOUR YEARS By David C. Thelen CEO, The Committee for Missing Children, Inc   When Ed Troxel's children were taken to Germany by his estranged wife Janet, he vowed to never give up the fight to see his two little girls, Jessica and Sarah, again. Ed spent nearly four years dreaming of the day he would see his girls and get to hold them, as he had so many times before. Ed's fight was not an easy one. He encountered many obstacles, and suffered many disappointments. However he was determined to wait for the day to come when he would see his children, he was not going to give up; quitting was not an option. So Ed waited and he prayed for four years, never knowing if his dreams would ever come true.   Over those four years Ed attended meetings, wrote letters, and looked for help anywhere he could get it. Ed paid over $100,000 in legal fees, everything he and his parents and sister had. As time went by, Ed, an U. S. Army veteran who served in Germany, lost faith in the very country he had helped to defend. He felt that everything was stacked against him. Ed felt as if the American Government had turned their back on him and his children. He could not understand why "his" government was not doing more. "Why don't they just tell the German's to give me back my children".   At first Ed tried to work within the system, both in Germany and the United States. Ed was given the name of a lawyer in Germany who did not speak English, making communication with Ed and his American Attorney almost impossible. In a story in the Reading Eagle, "U. S. Rep. Tim Holden, a Schuylkill County Democrat declined comment on the (Ed's) case". What was he going to say anyway, I am sorry Ed, your children are expendable for the diplomatic objectives of the United States, that our relations with our allies are more important than your children? No politician would ever say that, but in reality it is true. Every government in the world makes these kinds of trade offs every day.   After a while Ed turned to the various "parent" support groups. It made Ed feel as if he was a part of something, i.e., knowing that there are many other parents going through the same thing he was. However, Ed was still no closer to seeing his children than before. Yes, it felt good to have the support of others, but when was he going to see Jessica and Sarah? Would the hurt of losing his girls, of not seeing his girls ever stop? Ed had been through a lot. He had to endure disappointment after disappointment. He had to work in a system where failure was common. His children were taken to a country that had a poor record of returning children under the Hague Treaty. In addition, Germany was not enforcing visitation orders, as they should. Access was being denied by the abducting parent even though access was ordered by the courts. There is a great deal of difficulty in getting law enforcement to enforce the court orders.   However, even with all the disappointment Ed has had to endure, his luck was about to change. The irony of this will be that while it was the German Courts that failed to return Ed's children as they should have, it will be a German lawyer who makes Ed's visit possible.   In May 2000 I had saw an article about Ed's plight by John Forester Jr., Senior Reporter at the Reading Eagle. I contacted Ed to discuss his case. Ed told me that Janet had taken the children back to Germany in March 1997 and that she did this in violation of U. S. Federal law. (Parental kidnapping is a violation of the Parental Kidnapping Crime Act of 1993.) As we discussed the case, Ed told me that he had applied for the return of his children under The Hague Treaty, an agreement in force between United States and Germany.   The Treaty states that children abducted across international borders must be returned to their place of "habitual residence". The Treaty allows very little exception. However, to everyone's disappointment, the German Courts refused to return Ed's children. Ed was devastated but he went ahead and appealed the decision, and once again, lost on appeal. At this point, after two appeals, Ed was told that he was out of options, that he had exhausted his legal remedies in Germany.   I could not believe Ed had been told this. Yes, he had lost the return under the Hague Treaty, but he had never given up his rights as the children's father. I asked Ed if he would mind if the Committee for Missing Children looked into his case to see if there was any way we could help him gain access to his little girls. With Ed's blessing we set out to see what, if anything could be done.   The first thing I did was call Christiane Lops, The Director of the Committee for Missing Children's European office. We decided to contact Mr. Harald Weisker, an attorney who has successfully returned several American children under the Hague Treaty. Mr. Weisker seemed perplexed as to why anyone would tell Ed he did not have any rights, under German law, as the children's father.   The Committee for Missing Children asked Mr. Weisker if he would take on Ed's fight, would he help find Ed's children and assist him in setting up visitation with his girls. Harald agreed and set about locating Jessica and Sarah. Mr. Weisker warned Ed things would not happen over night. He realized that with most governments, things move very slowly. However, eventually, with the help of family services, Harald was able to locate the girls and secure an address and phone number for the mother.   At this point I called the mother to see how she felt about Ed visiting the girls. Janet was agreeable if safe guards could be in place to prevent a reabduction. I was able to assure her that Ed would not try to take the girls from her, that his sole motivation was to see Jessica and Sarah. I had Christiane call her and tell Janet everything would be OK, Ed just wanted to see the girls, to let them know how much he loved them. Christiane talked to her about the abduction of her two little girls in 1995. I think this helped set the stage for what was to turn into a very successful meeting between Ed, Janet and the girls.   In late February, with the help and support of the Committee for Missing children, Ed traveled to Germany and then on to Mannheim, for a meeting with his girls. Although the meeting had been set up a month in advance, and the German authorities had given their assurances that the meeting would take place, Ed was apprehensive, he was sure something would happen to prevent him from seeing Jessica and Sarah. After all, everything he had tried before had failed, why would today be any different.   On Wednesday, February 28, 2001 at approximately eleven o'clock in the morning, standing on the streets of Mannheim, Germany, alone with his thoughts, Ed's dream, the dream he had so many times, came true. Ed, Christiane and I had arrived early at the offices of Family Services. Ed was very nervous and decided to go outside to get some air and have a cigarette. As he was standing there Ed looked up, there was Ed's wife Janet coming around the corner with two little miracles. At that moment Ed's life was complete, or as complete as could be under the circumstances. Jessica took to him right away, throwing her arms around him and giving him a big hug. The little one would take a while; after all he was a little new to her.   Ed's visit lasted only four days, but because we had the support of his former wife, Ed was able to visit for over thirty hours without the supervision of Family Services. They went to the movies and even went bowling. Yes, they even went to McDonalds. Ed got to see the girl's bedroom with all the Brittany Spears posters on the walls. He got more hugs than he could carry home and a smile on his face that had been missing for far too long.