Maggie, I’d recommend that you or other friends shop around for a jurisdiction within reasonable traveling distance that has both a strong CPS program willing to go the extra mile and a judge(s) that will back them up. Be prepared to move them into a place within that jurisdiction and get emergency/temporary custody placed in her alone – with sworn statements from her (and what the five-year-old can say about “Daddy being mean” that will corroborate it) justifying why. Ensure the judge includes in the decree the children are not to leave the U.S. without her consent and get that in the hands of CPIAP ASAP.
The danger of one parent taking a child out of the country contrary to the wishes of the other is a real one. This site may of be helpful to you.
You had a French teacher named Mme. X? :: jealous :: Mine was only named Miss Philip. (Very good teacher though…)
Remember, in French it would be “Madame Eeks,” which somehow doesn’t sound quite so alluring.
Once she leaves with the kids, he has to take her to court to get visitation and she doesn’t have to let him see the kids until ordered to by a judge. This doesn’t really look good to a judge as many mothers do that out of revenge and it’s quite common for women to claim abuse for the same reason, so it would look better if she left and filed first instead of having to explain why she kept the kids from him later.
You can’t shop for jurisdictions. Wherever the kids lived for the past six months has jurisdiction of the first custody decision. If they spend 5 months in one place, then 5 in another, etc, the last place they spent 6 months has jurisdiction.
If necessary, have a child psychologist or guardian ad litum get involved but don’t drag the kid into saying things against dad.
She needs to register the kids with the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program (CPIAP) as soon as possible.