Sean Hillman
SEAN IN THE MEDIA
Sean's god parents Stina and Gus Pena speak out in Washington, DC.
Seattle father fights for 5-year-old son abducted by mother to Japan
March 23, 2009
By Levi Pulkkinen
Photo by Joshua Trujillo
"July 5 marked the end of a few great weeks for Carl Hillman. After a grinding 18 months, Hillman was divorced and on vacation with son Sean. For two weeks, he relaxed with the 5-year-old, who was excited to start at the John Stanford International School's Japanese-English immersion program. The biracial boy had friends on both side of the language divide. Hillman dropped Sean off that evening at the home of his ex-wife, Mayumi Ogawa, expecting to see him in a few weeks after a trip to his mother's native Japan. Thirty-six weeks have passed since Hillman last saw his son and, despite court orders and felony charges filed this month against Ogawa, he's unsure if he ever will see him again. "All along this was a fear," said Hillman, a 39-year-old North Seattle resident. "No child has legally or diplomatically returned to the United States from Japan." Ogawa fled the country weeks after a King County Superior Court judge approved an agreed parenting plan stating that Sean would split his time between his parents. Hillman has since been awarded sole control of the child, and King County prosecutors have charged Ogawa with first-degree custodial interference -- essentially accusing her of kidnapping her own child. None of that, though, has brought Sean back to his father. Unlike the United States and 80 other countries, the Japanese government has not ratified the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. The 29-year-old United Nations accord requires that member countries honor custody agreements made outside their borders unless doing so threatens the child involved. " MORE...
Source: Seattle PI
Consulate General of Japan responds to plight of Seattle father
March 23, 2009
WATCH THE VIDEO
SEATTLE – "A Seattle Man is hoping to be the first parent ever to have a child returned from Japan. What makes Carl Hillman’s case more hopeful than most is that for the first time, courts in Japan have recognized Hillman’s custodial rights. The problem is, there’s no mechanism in place to reunite father and son. Last July, Hillman’s ex-wife violated their court-approved parenting agreement and kept their 5-year- old son Sean in Japan. Her lawyer warned Hillman not to contact them. "If I even tried to call or contact my son or my ex wife in any way, that would be seen as stalking under Japanese laws and I would effectively be arrested the next time I went to Japan," said Hillman. To Hillman’s surprise, when his ex-wife asked a family court in Japan to give her sole custody of Sean and change his residency to Japan, the judge said "no." An appeals court, agreed." MORE...
Source: King 5 News
National Center For Missing & Exploited Children
SEAN OGAWA HILLMAN
Missing Since: 7/5/08
Age Now: 6
Missing from: SEATTLE, WA
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
LETTERS
Letter to General Namba, Consulate General of Japan
| namba.pdf |
Letter to Ambassador Fujisaki
| fujisaki.pdf |
