They Are My Children, Too: Summary and book reviews of They Are My Children, Too by Catherine Meyer, plus links to an excerpt from They Are My Children, Too and a biography of Catherine Meyer.
They Are My Children, Too A Mother's Struggle for Her Sons
by Catherine Meyer
Hardcover: Apr 1999,
288 pages.
They Are My Children, Too is Catherine Laylle Meyer's powerful account of a mother's ultimate nightmare: suddenly, without warning, to lose her children--and to find that neither the police, nor governments, nor the courts, can help her get them back. It is also a vivid and frightening illustration of how similar violations of parental and children's rights can occur anywhere, anytime, even in the supposedly enlightened nations of the western world.
Despite the decisions of two courts, Meyer has encountered enormous obstacles to even seeing her sons, who her ex-husband abducted in 1994. And every year, tens of thousands more children in the United States and around the world are abducted by their non-custodial parent. The chances of recovering them are slim. This devastating story of the suffering and determination of one woman fighting for her children reveals an all-too-common tragedy of international scope--and lodges a plea for urgent action on behalf of children's rights.
A Note From The Author
When I took my two little boys to the airport in the summer of 1994, little did I know what a tragic turn our lives would take. Little did I know that from that day on my children and I would never be free to talk, to cuddle, to laugh and to love. After all, I was not sending my sons far, to some unknown and dangerous land, but to Germany, to see their father on summer holiday. But my boys never returned. In an instant, their whole world and mine would be shattered and I, their mother, would be unable to protect them.
In four years, I have been allowed to see Alexander and Constantin for only a few hours. In four years, I have never been allowed to be alone with them. On top of that, in the few minutes that I have managed to be with them, I had to witness the anger and resentment of two children systematically indoctrinated to believe that I have abandoned them.
How can anyone who has not lived through this barbaric experience imagine what it is like? How can anyone imagine the torment, the pain, the despair, the sleepless nights worrying and agonizing, not knowing what is happening to your children? How can I rest in peace when my children may be calling for me in their dreams, feeling frightened and abandoned--and I, their mother, am powerless to comfort them?
So that my sons will know the truth, I have written this book. It is our story: an account of the gross miscarriage of justice that has befallen us. When they grow up and are free again, Alexander and Constantin will be able to read these words and realize that I never abandoned them. They will understand that I have always loved them, but that we were caught in a legal system incapable of delivering justice.
In the meantime, other people who will read this book will realize that child abduction is much more common than supposed. Unless urgent action is taken, more lives will be destroyed and more innocent children will see their world fall apart.
Publishers Weekly
Although the trauma Meyer has suffered as a parent is indisputably intense, her defensive descriptions of the early marital disagreements she had with Volkmann are unnecessary and do little to illuminate her tragic situation. In the end, though, the author makes a strong case for enforcement of the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, which prohibits kidnapping across frontiers.
Kirkus Reviews
Two young boys abducted by their father, their mother unable to visit or telephone, the courts delaying custody or visitation decisions as years pass-it's a horror story.
Kirkus Reviews
Two young boys abducted by their father, their mother unable to visit or telephone, the courts delaying custody or visitation decisions as years pass-it's a horror story.
Betty Mahmoody, author of Not Without My Daughter
Catherine Meyer's battle is of critical importance not only to her and her children, but to all of us. So long as parents' rights to equal treatment, and children's rights to lives of serenity and freedom, are not recognized and enforced, no mother or father can rest easy.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Janis Jones They are My Children Too My heart just went out to Catherine. It was a well written book. I can't believe the heartlessness of what happened to her. Children need their mothers. I have two boys myself and I could never give up on them either. Some people do not understand... Read More
Rated of 5
by Maria Longano
I don't know what to say I am so dumbfounded by what I have just read. I too got a hold of this book through passing books around from friends and I can't believe it IS a true story. I felt like I was reading a fiction novel. I feel so naive and... Read More
Rated of 5
by claudine Ward
It is above any imagination that something like that happen in Europe !
Rated of 5
by Shawn
I am 47, American, and the mother of three. I found this book in a used bookstore, and assumed it to be a fairly outdated one, with a story that would be touching, and hopefully resolved. I found instead, that it is a fairly recent story, and is... Read More
Rated of 5
by Anonymous
dear catherine,very emotional book!really does highlight the complete frustraion of a mothers battle with authorities not in touch with reallity.will send my daughter in usa a copy to let her know she is not the only one in this battle.3 years... Read More
Rated of 5
by Mon
Dear Catherine, I Have just finished reading your book! I have a copy titled TWO CHILDREN BEHIND A WALL Published 1997 Whilst reading your book i shead a tear or two, i really feel for you and i hope that one day your boys will come back,... Read More
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Publishers Weekly
Betty Mahmoody, author of Not Without My Daughter
of 5
by Janis Jones
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