Rescue Riley, Ezra and Vincent

IN A NUTSHELL:
In the spring of 2017, my 3 children Riley, Ezra, and Vincent and I moved to Costa Rica to get away from family members that seriously disagreed with my lifestyle and were helping my abusive ex-huband contact and find me.  

WHILE WE WERE LIVING IN COSTA RICA 3 YEARS AGO, ON DECEMBER 23RD, 2017  I WAS ARRESTED FOR "CHILD ABANDONMENT" BASED ON REPORTS OF MEDICAL NEGLECT AND MALNOURISHMENT. 

I knew I had struggled to provide for my kids financially and provide stable housing but I also knew I never malnourished them or neglected their medical needs so this broke my heart for the children to be away from mommy at such a young age. I thought for sure they would think I didn't want them. 

For several reasons I was unable to see them for nearly 3 years with no contact! I know part of this was my misunderstanding of the law and not having very good legal advise but to the children it must be horrible to never get to see or hear from your mother. It broke my heart thinking they were going to believe I didn't want them and clearly that was never the case.

The children are now living with my mother and they are doing much better than with my other family members and they are enrolled in an great school in USA. I now get to see them often and we are reconnecting after so long. These first moments with them after so long a part I think I will remember forever.

We still need continued support as we fly between USA and Costa Rica to see them, making it very hard to work or live inexpensive and at the same time we have to pay $500 a month in child support until they come home. Thank you all for your continued support. I feel strongly that things are only going to get better from here! Im so happy to know my kids are well and safe. This was always the hardest part for me as a mother: not knowing if they were okay without me. 


3 years later now together with other families and passionate hard working individuals, we are on working on our mission to empower children to be free people and we have opened a Free Learning Center for local and expat children, called Casa Satya Center.

Checkout our center website HERE. 

We are also creating a conscious plant-based eco-village, sustainable food forest farms, eco property development, and support system for single mothers and relocating families.

Randy (my swiss permaculture genius) and I got married and had our beautiful baby Nikita! She is now 16 months old. 


Nikita is so happy, social, demanding, energetic and healthy! 

She has prepared environments appropriate for her age and is already learning in our school on her level, so much support, a great doctor, and lots of friends.

She even does yoga! I love her chubby legs. (background is some wood drying for the new house we built)


BEFORE THE KIDS MOVED TO THE USA

A slideshow of travels with my beautiful family on a mission to find the perfect property to live our dream.
I love those smiles! 


This was a photo taken at the natural skin healing center in the jungle near Cartago, Costa Rica in June 2017. These guys were strong, were rarely ill and healed any illness with record time. 



Video we made from Costa Rica for their father for Father's Day 2017.



Riley is passionate about helping the world eat natural foods!



One of her favorite things to do is to make videos to show the world how easy it is to eat raw and healthy! 



December 22nd, 2017 the last day I spent with my children before police took them for Riley's birthday.

On December 23rd, 2017 the day after Riley's 7th birthday, the Costa Rican police broke into the room I was staying at my friend's house with guns pulled and arrested me illegally without a warrant for "child abandonment" they put handcuffs on me immediately without a warrant, refusing me to care for my children who were prepared with sterilized bentonite clay all over our bodies before bath time. Its fun for them and really good for the skin. So when they barge into my room and we are covered in clay, they immediately believe the story that David told them that he previously had won custody in USA (in medical report) because I kept them constantly dirty and malnourished. 

They took me at gunpoint in my bathroom dress and no shoes to the hospital with the kids who I made them allow me to dress. At the hospital they made some report about David having custody in USA, did not treat the children but finally allowed me to wash of the clay off my kids (which had been on several hours too long) at the hospital, and then they arrested me.

Because I was going to jail, they placed the children with their grandfather, the one who accused me, while they could investigate the accusations. My dad even told them (documented in the report) that I he had custody of them in the USA and that I took them from him first. This was complete deception.

For Christmas in Costa Rica, the whole government shuts down for two weeks so things were moving even slower than normal. 

We still don't understand and even the USA judge didn't know how but they were able to get children to the USA but they did. 

My dad pressed criminal charges against me in Costa Rica so I was not allowed to leave the country. It took me 4 months to prove my innocence before I was allowed to travel to the USA.

Once I arrived to the USA (where I had full custody of my children), I was given the run around and no one said they could help me. I talked to the FBI, Sheriffs, CPS, dozens of organizations that all referred me to others for help and sent me in loops. 

I was advised to file a Hague Petition for International Child Abduction and I did this in the Federal Court of Tacoma, however after a 5 day trial I lost the case because I could not prove that Costa Rica was our habitual residence (although it was). I lost on a technicality but the judge was clearly bothered that most of the evidence my family had against me was only Facebook posts and conversations were I mentioned briefly out of context about conventional parenting, medicine, and education system.

This judge was so sympathetic that he ordered that the children be brought to the court so I could see them. This hour was the only hour I have been able to see them this entire year. During this visit, they told me they missed me and wanted to come home with me. It was heartbreaking to tell them no. Even more heartbreaking was to see that my baby was so angry and upset inside, he was still nursing when he was taken from me. 

At the visit, Vincent really warmed up to me and we played an laughed together. At the end, he moved all the chairs in the room around me and said that he was going to protect me from the "bad guys". He was sweating his little head off moving all the chairs to protect me. Ezra was the most connected to be, and he wanted everyone to know that I was his mother, he even told my sister "hey hey this is my mom" clearly proving that he didn't even know that she new me. 

This was a photo from the only hour we have spent together this year after 6 months no contact. 



Riley Rose make a video that day to remind me she will see me soon. The normal sparkle in her eyes is missing! 


The trauma suffered by children who are abandoned by their mother is severe, they need to at least know me and allow me to talk to them. The older children may know that I have not chosen to abandon them but they suffer the trauma all the same. They went from sleeping in the same bed with me all their lives to never seeing me or talking to me EVER overnight!!


HOW TO HELP?

1. Please donate at least $7 and get a free copy of my ebook, RAW SNACKS FOR KIDS (+ adults).

I will send you a free copy of my RawSnacks for kids recipe ebook as a thank you for your donation.

2. I will represent myself in court but if you are an attorney or know one willing to offer consulting on this case or you have information that could help me please reach out to me at [email redacted]. 

3. Please share this on your social media and reach out to groups or online influencers that you know that could help. If you want to join my rescue team please email me at [email redacted]. 

Choose Love,
Zoey

This is my book you will receive for donating. It includes all the yummy snack recipes from my Oregon raw snack company. NOTE: The book does not imply or advise only eating raw food or only raw snacks, it is simply a healthy alternative to junky snack foods.