Jensby - Kidnapping my daughter

Kidnapping My Daughter

RachelJensby

Copyright 2013 by RachelJensby

Smashwords Edition

ISBN - 78131109 - -

Photographic Copyright

Coverphoto 1993 Rachel Jensby

Back matter photo 1994 RachelJensby

Neither image may be used, copied,or reproduced without prior written permission of theowner.

Disclaimer

The following work is basedentirely on true events. I have recounted the conversations andevents described, based on my memories of them. The onlyintentional fabrications within this work are limited to the namesand physical descriptions of people, as well as dates and somelocations, which have been changed in order to protect the privacyof the individuals who were actually involved.

Other Titles by RachelJensby

Bringing Cheyenne Home

For Cheyenne

Because life really is wonderful whileyou re in the world .

Introduction

I kidnapped my owndaughter.

Who did I kidnap her from? Manypeople, I suppose.

I kidnapped her from the man whowas hurting her. I kidnapped her from a legal system unwilling toextend their power to save her, including a so-called agency ofchild protection which, despite being admittedly aware of herabuse, demanded the extent of that abuse be exponentially worsebefore taking action. And I kidnapped her from a family courtsystem that dismissively and knowingly decided to place her backinto the hands of her perpetrator.

I never thought of it as akidnapping, so much as a parental act to stop horrible things fromhappening to my child. I kidnapped her for the same reason anyother parent would snatch their child out of the path of anoncoming car, or reach out to grab hold of them if they werefalling down the stairs. Though the threat facing one child maydiffer greatly from the threat facing another, the instinctivemechanism to save them from trauma is the same. I could have nosooner handed my toddler back to the man responsible for her sexualabuse as I could have stood on a beach while she drowned withoutjumping in to save her.

Rescue isrescue.

In my search to find other storiesof parental abduction, it has become evident to me over the yearsthat parents who kidnap are often demonized by the media.Consequently, I feel it appropriate here to state that I make noapologies for running with my daughter.

Before elaborating on thatassertion though, I want to make any reader of our story aware thatI absolutely, unequivocally believe there are times when a parentruns away with a child for reasons having nothing to do withkeeping them safe.

My heart grieves for thosechildren, and for any left-behind parent who was, in fact, a safeindividual for their child to be with. I can only imagine thesuffering and anguish of decent, safe parents who have had theirchildren stolen from them solely out of spite or selfishness. Ihave no doubt it is a devastating and profoundly painfulcircumstance to find oneself in, and I wish very much it wassomething no safe parent, or their children, ever had toendure.

Ido not, as a parent who was faced with circumstances where runningbecame my only option to achieve protection for my daughter, nowhold the irrational belief that every parent whotries to keep a child from their other parent must automatically beassumed to have valid reasons for doing so. Iknow with far more certainty than I wish Idid that people are sometimes cruel and wicked, solely for thesake of being cruel and wicked. I also know, firsthand, that someparents are powerfully capable of denying the rights and well-beingof their children in order to serve their own desires andagendas.

Ipray, literally, for every child on therun. I pray that the ones who would be safer and healthier withtheir left-behind parent make it back home soon, and I pray thatthe ones who need to stay hidden because it s the only waythey can be free from physical or sexual abuse remainundetected.

From the bottom of my heart, Ipray for them all.

There are those who will proclaim vehemently that what Idid was a crime. If that is true, then it would also need to besaid that the judge who knowingly ordered my tiny daughter backinto the unsupervised hands of her abuser committed a crime himselfin doing so. After all, by his act, he knowingly attempted to aidin the sexual abuse of a twenty-month-old child. When he is willingto acknowledge that his action was a crime, then and only then will I be willing to acknowledge that mine was,too.

Ibroke a law, that s true. Violating acourt order is, technically, an act of law-breaking. I believethere are sometimes legitimate differences between breaking a lawand committing a crime. Call it semantics if you want to, but mypoint is a valid one.

When an individual walks through a gate into a privatebackyard without permission, he or she istrespassing technically breaking a law. But what if that individualwent through the gate to save someone drowning in a pool in thatbackyard? Would their actions constitute criminalbehavior?

The reality is that sometimes,good people find themselves in terrible situations which requirethem to break the law in order to do the right thing.

Myonly alternative to running was to, three times per week, knowinglygive a toddler to a pedophile who had already abused her. No matterhow one stretches it, that would have beenthe real crime.

If we now, in the twenty-firstcentury, in the United States of America, live in a society wherethe sexual abuse of children is openly protected by law and blessedby judges, then we have far bigger problems than those created byone custodial mother who violated a court order in order to keepher child safe.

Therepresentatives of our judicial system would do well to rememberthat there are higher laws than those of man, and that someday,they will face their own Judge. My experiences have left me withthe distinct impression that many of those in positions of extremeauthority have become so intoxicated by their own sense of powerover others that they have forgotten that or perhaps never caredto consider it in the first place.

Yes, I kidnapped my daughter. And no, I m notsorry for doing it.

DoI wish the agencies and individuals in positions of authority andwith the power to have helped her from the beginning would havemade the slightest attempt to prevent further abuse so we would nothave had to run? Of course I do. I wish it desperately at times, infact. It would have been so easy for them to do. But theydidn t.

So, I ran.

While keeping my daughter safe required unusual strategies,I don t identify with the label of Protective Parent.I intend no disrespect to those who classify themselves as such,and I understand the unifying purpose behind the label. I alsorecognize that there are many courageous mothers outthere a number of whom that have had their children taken awayafter trying to protect them working hard to raiseawareness under the banner of Protective Parents. I admire themvery much.

Idon t accept the label for myself because Idon t believe we should have to have a labelin order to be deemed worthy enough by society to be allowed to protect our children from harm. Idon t see a distinction between parenting and protectingwhen it comes to my role as a mother, I perceive them to gohand-in-hand. I m not a protective parent I m simply a parent. I m notextraordinary, and I don t feel like a hero.I mjust a mom a mom who was unfortunate enough to come up against thedeplorable machine that is court-licensed abuse.

When I see the term ProtectiveParent I feel a powerful defiance in my heart telling me Ishouldn t be required to adopt a label just to bebelieved, or taken seriously. None of us should. We should have theright to protect our children from sexual predation and incest,label or no label.

I support Protective Parents, butI am unwilling to let society think that I believe I have to bedesignated as one in order to deserve the right to fulfill my roleas a mother.