- Cash for Kids
- The Herald Sun
- 20/11/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
Gone: John Westendorp with photos of his girls.
Desperate dad pleads to see kids
JOHN Westendorp would not know his two daughters if he walked past them in the street. It has been 10 years since the Geelong man last saw his girls - Stephanie, 18, and Annette, 20.
$1.6m bill for cheating parents
Second wives worse off
He is just one of many divorced parents spoken to by the Herald Sun during an INSIGHT investigation into child custody and access.
INSIGHT yesterday revealed desperate divorced dads are secretly paying cash to buy time with their children.
In June 1993, Mr Westendorp's ex-wife took the girls overseas and they never came back.
"It has made me very angry," he said.
"The thing I loved most was stolen from my life."
Mr Westendorp had access orders to see his girls each Sunday.
But he stopped paying child support when he realised they were not coming back.
"No one could tell me where they were or what they were doing," he said.
"Child Support (Agency) told me to pay the money and if she (his ex-wife) decided to claim, they'd pass the money on. It sounded a bit steep."
Mr Westendorp's child support debt of $72,000 is more than the average Victorian's annual wage.
A CSA spokeswoman said the agency could not comment on individual cases, but a parent's lack of consent to a child being taken overseas did not affect their obligation to pay.
After years of searching, Mr Westendorp hopes to visit his daughters in the Netherlands before the eldest turns 21 next year.
But the tow-truck driver fears an airport arrest.
Under departure prohibition orders, the CSA has powers to detain debtors at airports and stop them flying out.
"I want to see my girls," he said. "It took seven years for someone to tell me about the Hague Convention (a treaty designed to return stolen children home).
"I saw four solicitors and no one ever mentioned it.
"Now my girls are adults. I want to see them, so something has to be done."
JOHN Westendorp would not know his two daughters if he walked past them in the street. It has been 10 years since the Geelong man last saw his girls - Stephanie, 18, and Annette, 20.
$1.6m bill for cheating parents
Second wives worse off
He is just one of many divorced parents spoken to by the Herald Sun during an INSIGHT investigation into child custody and access.
INSIGHT yesterday revealed desperate divorced dads are secretly paying cash to buy time with their children.
In June 1993, Mr Westendorp's ex-wife took the girls overseas and they never came back.
"It has made me very angry," he said.
"The thing I loved most was stolen from my life."
Mr Westendorp had access orders to see his girls each Sunday.
But he stopped paying child support when he realised they were not coming back.
"No one could tell me where they were or what they were doing," he said.
"Child Support (Agency) told me to pay the money and if she (his ex-wife) decided to claim, they'd pass the money on. It sounded a bit steep."
Mr Westendorp's child support debt of $72,000 is more than the average Victorian's annual wage.
A CSA spokeswoman said the agency could not comment on individual cases, but a parent's lack of consent to a child being taken overseas did not affect their obligation to pay.
After years of searching, Mr Westendorp hopes to visit his daughters in the Netherlands before the eldest turns 21 next year.
But the tow-truck driver fears an airport arrest.
Under departure prohibition orders, the CSA has powers to detain debtors at airports and stop them flying out.
"I want to see my girls," he said. "It took seven years for someone to tell me about the Hague Convention (a treaty designed to return stolen children home).
"I saw four solicitors and no one ever mentioned it.
"Now my girls are adults. I want to see them, so something has to be done."
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