Icelandic woman forced to give up children to USA

borghildur kids

An Icelandic woman received a court order to return to the United States with her two children before the next coming Sunday. Borghildur Gudmundsdottir had the two children with an American soldier who wants to have custody over the children in the United States. Gudmundsdottir told Morgunbladid she wonders if it is considered alright to throw Icelanders out from their own country “like throwing out old rags”. She continued, asking who has the right to kick two children out of a country and strip all security and safety from their mother. Her children are aged 10 and five and are said to be doing well in school and life in Iceland.

Borghildur said in the interview that she has no money for a trial in the United States, or even for a ticket and visa for travel to the country. Her green card has expired in the United States. Gudmundsdottir appealed the decision to have the verdict overturned in Iceland, but it was denied. She continued the case all the way up to the Supreme Court of Iceland, which also upheld the ruling.  She has searched for lawyers to assist her with the case, but has not been successful in finding any who are willing. A Facebook group started recently trying to provide the distressed mother with financial support in her struggle to keep her children, according to another Icelandic news source, Frettabladid.

The Morgunbladid newspaper claims that she has not received a clear answer yet on what will happen to her if she travels to the United States on this custody case. She says however that she knows if she does not show up that Interpol, in collaboration with the United States’ FBI, would most likely extradite her from Iceland.

The children have not seen their father for one-and-a-half years. “My younger son does not even remember his father,” Gudmundsdottir says. She is in a new relationship living together with her new spouse in Iceland. She continues, “Both of my sons call him [the new spouse] father. They will lose their father, their mother, their school, their neighborhood, their home, and their friends. I have to hand over my children to a man who does not even know their bedtime or whether they have allergic reactions.”

The law states that if after 12 months no child custody claim is made, nothing can be done. The American father has filed a suit after 13 months. Gudmundsdottir claims that the case has been a huge mess for the Icelandic courts and it was highly unpredictable it would end up like this. She also claims that the man suffered unusually high tempers after taking part in the War in Iraq, which the children are rather afraid of.

Although in Icelandic, it is possible to see the outcome of the court case in the Icelandic Supreme Court here on their website.

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