In this #SurvivorSeries episode, we speak with Anita Gera, a protective mother from Great Britain. In 2014, Anita went to British government to seek protection against her abusive and controlling ex-husband, an American pilot who was based in Arizona. Over the next year, through her ex-husband’s misuse of the Hague Convention, Anita’s case brought her back to Arizona and resulted in a divorce and custody decision that would dramatically change the course of Anita and her children’s lives. She has not been able to see her children, now eleven and thirteen years old, since August 2015. Anita doesn’t know when she will be able to see her children again as she has neither the means nor resources to enforce her parenting time with her children and fears that doing so would put them at greater risk of harm by their father. Anita is here with us today to talk about her experience as a survivor of domestic violence and coercive control, share #abusertactics and #upstandertips for how we can better support families in situations like hers.
You can learn more about Anita’s story by exploring the below links:
- How CAN they say I abducted my own daughter? Heartbreak of British mothers forced to send their children abroad… to foreign fathers exploiting international child abduction laws in custody battles
- BBC World interview, October 12, 2017
- The link to the non-profit Anita co-founded–Global Action on Relocation and Return with Kids (Global Arrk)
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