MaryLynn Schiavi

Correspondent

Editor's note: This story was originally published on August 25, 2014.

With a new school year just around the corner, Long Valley resident Paul Eksteen would like to be attending his 9-year-old son's football games or greeting him when he gets off the bus in the afternoon.

Instead, Eksteen, who lives in the Long Valley section of Washington Township, can only look forward to a continuing battle to bring his son, Keanu Eksteen, an American and U.S. citizen, back to the U.S. so he can resume his education at the Cuchinella School in Washington Township and start playing sports again.

Keanu was taken to Paraguay by his mother, Rosita Berdichevsky, a citizen of that country, on Nov. 2, against the wishes of his father and in defiance of a civil court order issued on Oct. 31 by Superior Court Judge Maryann L. Nergaard in Morristown.

The custody battle between the two has many complicating factors, including a domestic violence complaint against the 51-year-old Berdichevsky filed over an incident involving Eksteen, her ex-husband, at his home in 2013.

Morris County has been the scene of several high-profile international child custody disputes, including one involving a Mendham Township man whose wife spirited their children to Uzbekistan and another involving a Nigerian man who hid his two daughters in that African republic nation while his wife, a Dover resident, obtained court orders for return of the girls.

Before Berdichevsky left the country, the judge issued a court order that stated the mother was ordered to appear on Nov. 13 to explain why her ex-husband should not be given full custody of their son. The judge also barred her from taking Keanu out of the country.

The order stated, "Defendant is ordered to surrender passport of the parties' child Keanu Eksteen (born Jan. 23, 2005) to her attorney, John Brady, Esq. at 689 Washington St., third floor, Hackettstown, NJ, no later than 9 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2013."

In addition, the order stated, "Defendant is restrained from removing Keanu Eksteen from the United States until further order of the court."

Eksteen delivered the order to the Hackettstown office of Berdichevsky's lawyer, John Brady, who said he relayed the information to Berdichevsky on Nov. 1 and scheduled a meeting with her for the following week. Brady said he advised her that she was not to leave the country under any circumstances and that a warrant would be issued for her arrest if she traveled outside the state and did not appear for her court hearing which was scheduled for the following week.

Berdichevsky did not make the meeting that had been scheduled with Brady.

In addition, because she missed a court appearance in connection with the domestic violence charges, a warrant for Berdichevsky's arrest was issued by Washington Township police.

Berdichevsky, a citizen of Paraguay who had been living in Long Valley on a visa for the last three years, said in a telephone interview from Paraguay that she will not return with the threat of arrest hanging over her head.

Eksteen was born in South Africa and became a U.S. citizen earlier this year. He and Berdichevsky were married in Paraguay in 2002 and moved to the United States, where their son was born. In 2008, the couple divorced in Paraguay. At that time, no formal custody arrangements were assigned, according to Eksteen.

Eksteen said the boy remained with his mother, who lived in Paraguay and Florida and denied Eksteen access to his son at various times before she returned to New Jersey to live in Long Valley, where she remained for the last three years, according to Eksteen.

He said his ex-wife's visa was close to expiring and he had a feeling that she would try to return to Paraguay with their son. He filed a motion in Morris County Family Court to prevent her from doing so.

Hoping to watch his son play football on Nov. 2, Eksteen said he had a sinking feeling when his son did not show up for a football game.

"I had a feeling that something was very wrong, even the night before when I spoke with my son over the phone. He said he had hurt his leg and might not be playing football the next day — but his voice didn't sound right," Eksteen said.

After returning to his home to look for his son, Eksteen contacted the Washington Township Police Department and reported that his son had been kidnapped. The local police then contacted the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.

According to a Washington Township police report dated Nov. 3, Sgt. Brian Szymanski contacted Brady's law firm and was advised that the firm had been in contact with Berdichevsky on Nov. 1 but she refused to surrender her son's passport.

Szymanski also stated in the report that Cpl. David Marut went to Berdichevsky's residence at 35 Squire Hill Road in Long Valley and determined that the contents of the apartment had been packed up and she was not there, according to the report.

Szymanski said he was advised by an assistant prosecutor to report the child as a missing person.

He said an all-points bulletin was issued for Berdichevsky. In addition, the Port Authority Police Department was contacted and given details about the case and possible destinations.

Szymanski said in the report that he received a return phone call from Port Authority police indicating Berdichevsky and her son had boarded TAM AIR Flight number 8083, to Brazil, which was scheduled to arrive in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 7:20 p.m. ET on Nov. 2.

Eksteen said he has done everything he has been asked to do, including retaining an attorney and supplying the U.S. State Department with all the information it has requested.

"All I want is to hold my son again. He is my life," Eksteen said.

Eksteen said he has been able to talk to Keanu via videoconference on his phone, but is worried that his son is not getting adequate care and is living in a dangerous environment.

His ex-wife said the boy eats well and is attending a private school. A relative of Berdichevsky is paying the tuition, Eksteen said.

In early November, the State Department advised Eksteen that he could apply to seek a remedy under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which he did.

The U.S. and Paraguay in 2008 entered into a partnership under the treaty, which provides an avenue of recourse when a child has been wrongfully taken to Paraguay.

A foreign court reviewing a Hague application is likely to look at the custodial rights as they existed at the time of removal, a State Department official told Eksteen.

Eksteen said that during the three years before Berdichevsky's departure, his son spent half his time with his mother and half of the time with him. Berdichevsky said she worked as a housekeeper and cook and Eksteen owns Long Valley Auto Works, a repair shop.

"His mother put him on the bus in the morning," said Eksteen. "Every day after school, we spent time together. During football season (I was) at his games. He also spent every weekend with me."

In an email dated Aug. 11, Elizabeth Finan, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Consular Affairs Press Office said the bureau doesn't discuss the specifics of individual cases with members of the media but it is aware of the case and providing all possible assistance.

In general, Finan said that international parental child abduction is a crime under the laws of the United States and many foreign countries. In some cases, an abducting parent may be charged with a federal crime under the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, she said.

In an email to Eksteen, Michael A. Goldschmidt, country officer for the Office of Children's Issues for the State Department, said that Keanu's case file is at the office of the judge presiding over the matter and awaiting his judgment on what should happen next.

Parsippany-based family law expert Bari Weinberger, who is not connected to the Eksteen case but has experience in international child custody disputes, said Paraguay could honor a New Jersey court order requiring the boy to be returned to the United States but it also could determine that the boy is now domiciled in that country and would have jurisdiction over the matter.

"If Paraguay is honorable to the Hague pact, the reality is they need to give full faith and credit to (the New Jersey) court order and surrender that child," Weinberger said.

In the Morris County case involving the Mendham Township man whose wife took their children to Uzbekistan, a judge ruled repeatedly that New Jersey had jurisdiction and ordered the wife to return the children. But the court orders were ignored until the ex-couple made private arrangements for the children to visit with their father in America.

In the Nigerian case, the husband, Longy Anyanwu, ignored a judicial order to produce his daughters and was kept in the Morris County Jail for nearly five years on a contempt of court charge.

A judge ultimately appointed a special master of Nigerian ethnicity, who promptly traveled overseas and found one daughter living with her uncle in Lagos. The second daughter had died of an intestinal disorder in the country. The Morris County judge had a teleconference with the daughter who said she wished to remain in Nigeria with her father's relatives.

Eksteen said during the last 10 months, his case has been passed along and his frustration is mounting.

"I would do anything for my son," Eksteen he said. "I just miss him so much. I look at all of his toys and they just sit there idle. I wish I could make breakfast for him and spend time with him. This is just killing me."