Caroline Overington
February 24, 2009
The Australian 

FEDERAL police have searched the office, home and rubbish of one of Australia's foremost child-welfare experts in their hunt for a Sydney businesswoman who fled Australia with her four-year-old son in defiance of the Family Court.

Emeritus professor at the University of South Australia, Freda Briggs, said federal officers had questioned her about Melinda Stratton's whereabouts. Ms Stratton, who has an MBA and speaks French and German, fled the country in April with son Andrew, saying she had lost faith in the Family Court.

Her estranged husband, NSW deputy fire chief Ken Thompson, has been waging a public campaign to find his son, using the internet, bus shelters and billboards here and in Europe.

Interpol has issued alerts in 187 countries and the Hague Convention on International Child Abductions has been activated. The Family Court has issued a publication order, allowing the parties to the case to be identified.

Professor Briggs is one of several child-abuse campaigners contacted by Ms Stratton since she fled.

Ms Stratton has also arranged for two letters to be delivered to The Australian, the most recent of which was received on Friday. It contains defamatory allegations about Mr Thompson that he strenuously denies.

"When the police came here, they said, 'Do you know where she is?' I told them the truth, 'No, I do not'," Professor Briggs said yesterday.

She said police wanted the envelope that contained the letter from Ms Stratton "although it should be obvious to them that ... someone else posted (it) locally".

"She's not dumb," Professor Briggs said. "She's obviously emailed the letters as attachments to someone else who posted them for her. I wouldn't mind betting that she used two different people."

Professor Briggs said she did not condone Ms Stratton's decision to flee with Andrew.

"I tried (in an earlier phone call) to persuade her to come back, but she refused," Professor Briggs said.

01 February 2008, Friday

by: ANNE ANDLAUER İSTANBUL

When Jacques Chelouche kissed his 4-year-old daughter goodbye on April 8, 2004, nothing could have foretold that this was the beginning of a distressing battle for the right to see his child -- a battle that would involve no less than 50 trips to Turkey, half a dozen court decisions and immeasurable anxiety and frustration. 

Parental child abductions are complex and confusing enough when they occur within one country's borders. International instances only increase legal obstacles, waiting periods and emotional trauma for all parties involved. On paper, the case of little Caroline Chelouche is anything but exceptional. Removal or retention of a child across an international border by one parent -- the usual definition for international parental child abduction -- is by far the most common kind of child abduction. Yet every case is unique and each deserves its facts to be carefully recalled.

Three years of judiciary battles