Kelly Rutherford petitions Obama to help with her custody case

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Kelly Rutherford is taking her complicated custody battle straight to the man in charge. The actress, who has been fighting to have 8-year-old son Hermes and 5-year-old daughter Helena returned to the United States from living in Monaco with their father, has created a White House petition to try and help her case.

"This is a political problem for President Obama and a constitutional problem for the courts," an attorney for the former Gossip Girl star told People. "The president recently issued an executive order declaring that children born in this country to illegal immigrant parents must be allowed to remain in this country. Mr. Obama specifically talked about the importance of mothers and children being allowed to stay together in America. How could Kelly and her children not be entitled to at least the same legal protections?"

The 46-year-old actress technically shares joint custody with ex-husband Daniel Giersch, but the kids been living with the German businessman since 2012. At that time a California judge ruled that Rutherford would have to fly back and forth to see them because Giersch's work visa was revoked in the United States -- and if you're one to listen to gossip it is said it was Kelly's own lawyer that played a hand in having his permission to travel taken away in a move to take the kids away from him that backfired. He has since failed to reapply for a visa.

"The petition exposes an important and very embarrassing situation for Mr. Obama," Kelly Rutherfor's lawyer went on to say, "because if Kelly's children are not rescued from involuntary expatriation to France, it would mean the President believes non-citizens are entitled to greater rights than citizens in this country.

"The federal court in New York that is currently reviewing this case has acknowledged this is an unprecedented situation, which means a ruling against Kelly's children would put countless defenseless American children at risk for being shipped like luggage to live in a foreign country where they have no citizenship, and no rights as Americans."

A look at what the petition itself says:

At ages 2 and 5, Kelly Rutherford’s children were forced by a California judge to live in France with their German father, (nobody is French) after he claimed his U.S. visa was revoked, and he could not enter the U.S. The children’s appointed counsel said they should remain in the U.S., but the judge sent the children to France, solely because the father claimed he could not return to the U.S., even though NO evidence has been produced from any American official stating that the father was EVER denied entry into the U.S., and the father refused to request a visa. Instead, he filed court papers in Monaco, causing the children to be declared “habitual residents” subject solely to Monaco law. The father also recently filed papers seeking to strip Kelly of all parental rights.

As of this morning there's still along way to go to get signatures supporting the mom of two:

The whole thing is tremendously complicated. On one level my heart goes out to Kelly, because I simply can't imagine what it would be like to have a judge rule your children are to live on the other side of the world, but on the other I'm frustrated. Does it seem to anyone else like neither of these grownups is behaving reasonably?

I don't exactly what to believe is the truth between the official statements and the rumors, but it seems to me they've both been bent on isolating one another from the kids rather than recognizing Hermes and Helena ought to be able to see both of their parents.

Why or why not?

Will you sign the petition to support Kelly Rutherford's custody case?

Photos: PR Photos