Peter Thomas Senese: Our Family's Hero Saves The Day

Our Family Hero: Peter Thomas Senese

This little article is about best-selling thriller writer Peter Thomas Senese, and how Mr. Senese and his I CARE Foundation saved the day when my family needed a hero most.

I have decided to write about Mr. Senese in light of the story I shared about how Saudi Arabian women, like most women living in the Middle East, still have limited opportunity and rights in their home countries. This cruel reality caused me to focus on the rights of children who are the product of multi-cultural marriages gone bad, and just how close-of-a-call my family was to having two of our family's young female children (my nieces) become after-thoughts in a Saudi world where women are treated like slaves (not to mention my nephew's possible fate living in an extreme culture, and raised by a fundamentalist turned radical).

You see, two of my nieces were almost exiled into a life of spiritual imprisonment, while my nephew was about to become educated about radical behavior.

How?

International Child Abduction Is A Global Problem

Because their father (my sister's former husband [such a wonderful man]), a Saudi by birth and citizenship, and pig by nature, attempted to criminally take the kids from Toronto back to Saudi Arabia without my sister's knowledge or permission (my sister lives north or the border). Once there, as it was eventually discovered, he intended to marry a Saudi woman, remove my sister's rights to her children, and disappear without any of us seeing the three children ever again (two girls and one boy).

Should he have succeeded in removing the children, a goal he was very close to achieving, neither my sister or the rest of our family would have ever seen the children again. 

How would this have been possible?

Easy: women in Saudi Arabia have no rights. Canadian women (like American women) trying to find their children kidnapped to Saudi Arabia have even less.

Mr. Senese and the I CARE Foundation saved the day!

Thank God there are good men like Peter Thomas Senese out there willing and able to make a difference in the lives of children intended to be stolen. 

Without Mr. Senese and the I CARE Foundation, the children would have been taken and never seen again.

But that didn't happen. 

A line was drawn in the sand. 

You Shall Not Pass!

And as silly as it may sound to you (it is not to me),  when I think of that line in the sand that Peter Thomas Senese drew, thoughts of Gandalf the Grey from The Lord of the Rings comes to mind as the wizard stands on the bridge battling the Balrog, the demon from hell, screaming the words, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" 

These words echo over and over in my mind.

Inevitably, Gandalf did not let Balrog pass.  Instead, the demon fell into the molten fires.  However, as those of you who know the Rings story are aware of, Balrog took Gandalf the Grey with him into those fires.

Later in the 'Return of the King', Gandalf appears, but he is no longer Galdalf the Grey. Instead, he is the powerful Gandalf the White.

Yes . . . from these molten fires may come a force of such goodness.

Goodness Will Conquer Evil

Goodness will conquer evil.

Similarly, perhaps Peter Thomas Senese was required to descend into his own fires of child abduction in order to become the tireless Warrior for Goodness and for children that he has become.

In my and my family's eyes, Mr. Senese is our Galdalf the White (though the kids think of him more like their adoped uncle 'Peter Pan').  He is our hero.

How did this all come about?

Well, several months have passed since my sister read an interesting story published in a Canadian parenting blog about best-selling author Peter Thomas Senese and the growth of international parental child abduction. Apparantly, Mr. Senese found himself several years ago in the position my sister was invitably heading toward: being a left behind parent searching for her parentally kidnapped children.

The I CARE Foundation

Since the time of his own child's abduction, Mr. Senese has gone on to create the not-for-profit I CARE Foundation, which assists other parents like my sister who are potential targets of child abduction.  Mr. Senese's global impact has become far-reaching, as too is the foundation he started.

For many, this growing issue of international child stealing causes great trauma and severe problems for at least one of the parents and always the children in light of the growing rage known as 'international parental child abduction'.

Never heard of the term?

Me neither until my sister living in Toronto called and advised that her three children were the target of abduction by the children's father.

How does this occur?

Well, it is actually pretty straight forward.  It happens when one parent takes the child or children out of the country without consent of the other parent or directive of a court order. 

You may think it is easy to go to that country and bring them back home. But you are wrong.  The challenges are severe and the likelyhood that you will success are small.

A Society of Oppression

Now imagine being my sister trying to bring back her three children taken to Saudi Arabia. The fact was that if she entered into that country, because she was still married to the pig, he could, under Saudi law, prohibit her from leaving. She would have become a prisoner, even though she is a Canadian citizen!

Think about that ladies: my sister would have not been permited departure from Saudi Arabia if her pig husband had not given his permission to allow her to leave because she was married to him, and is considered a 'possession'.

Fortunately, and before it was too late, my sister read the article about Peter Thomas Senese and his activism trying to spread the word about Warning Signs of this type of child abduction. 

I'll never forget how she called me one Saturday morning after reading the article about Mr. Senee and abduction. She was hysterical. 

According to my sister, the pig had met many of the warning signs. 

He clearly was getting ready to steal the children.

She asked me what she should do.  My answer?  Try to contact Peter Thomas Senese.

And that is exactly what she did: she immediatly wrote to him and shared the details of what was occurring via an email address located on his contact page of his official website.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but within two hours Peter Thomas Senese called my sister directly.  According to my sister, he was a pillar of calm strength and tremendous resources.

Mr. Senese suggested my sister take immediate precautionary steps to protect the welfare of the children.  Additionally, though it was a Saturday, he made arrangements for my sister to met with one of the I CARE Foundation's attorneys in Toronto the next day.  Yes, on Sunday!

And on top of it, not only did the meeting go off as planned, but the attorney provided her services pro bono at the direction of the I CARE Foundation.  According to my sister, Mr. Senese layed out the legal arguments under Canadia law for my sister. The attorney followed Mr. Senese's suggestions.

What occurred next?

On Tuesday afternoon, and after my sister and her I CARE attorney in Toronto assembled the necessary court paperwork and evidence, they appeared in court. There, the judge temporarily terminated the pig's rights to the children and ordered for him to supervised visitation. 

The pig was not pleased that his plot to steal the kids was stopped. But as it would soon be learned, he really didn't care about the children.  Instead, he cared only about hurting my sister.

Thank you and God Bless you Peter Thomas Senese!

How do I know this?

Three weeks after the initial court hearing that took place that Tuesday, the pig left for Saudi Arabia. 

It appears he will not return to Canada, as he recently married  again (even though my sister's divorce proceedings are still under way in Canada).

In the process of all of this, Peter Thomas Senese guided our family through the legal process, provided the necessary investigators and lawyers needed to protect our family's children, provided key witness testimony before the courts via the I CARE Foundation, and just made everyone feel it was all going to be alright. Which it was.   Along the way, he never asked for any compensation other than a few slices of pizza and a rootbeer pop.

By act, Peter Thomas Senese is our family's hero. And tomorrow, as one of my nieces turns 6, I want to share this message with you Mr. Senese:  You are our family's Galdalf The White, our Peter Pan, our dear friend Peter Thomas Senese.  


One final note, a hero is someone who acts to help others selflessly. It is clear Peter Thomas Senese is a hero to many.

And we are so appreciative of you!

To learn more about the I CARE Foundation, visit I CARE's official website. To learn more about Peter Thomas Senese, please visit the best-selling author's website. To read his latest novel about child abduction, please visit the official website of Chasing The Cyclone, where you will learn a great deal about international parental child abduction.