Bring Leon Home
Donation protected
Many of our Facebook friends know about Melody and this incredibile story that led her to America to live with the father she just learned of after being lied to all her life. For those who do not know, please continue to read...
Our journey began in 2014 , my boyfriend, Chris, was contacted by a young girl messaging him over Facebook from an orphanage in Germany. Her name was Melody, and said she believed Chris was her father.
She explained her mother was a woman from a single night encounter many years ago, and that her mother had grown into an alcoholic and a drug addict and lost costody of all her children. She also went on to explain that her mother never told him about her because she found it easier to just blame her on a man to which she already had a son and because she had rekindled her relationship with him shortly after learning she was pregnant with Melody.
That leads us to how Melody ended up in Germany. The man that was listed on Melody's birth certificate was from Germany. When Melody's mother was apparently in a rehab facility, Melody, at the age of two, was taken to Germany by the man who she thought to be her father. After a short while, this man proved to be abusive. Melody began to grow and as her features developed it was obvious she did not look like either him or her mother. He had figured out he wasnt her father. She was bounced from one family member to another. All treating her like a problem and never as family. Melody was verbally and physically abused and terrorized by the only family she knew. She always being told she wasnt family, but that she was a friend of the family. Eventually, she was left in an orphanage at age eleve. Then subsequently bounced from orphanage to oprphanage. Once again, she was mistreated and left unloved. Each new place she was left at, she would get beaten up and robbed by the older kids. Once she was even transported to a new orpahanage on Christmas night.
Fast forward a few years. Melody found her first love and two years later gives birth to her son, Leon. Social Services in Germany the Jugendamt, took her son. The Jugendamt claimed she knew nothing about caring for a baby and told her everything she did was wrong. They called her a bad mother and told her she had nothing to offer him because she was poor and had no family. This is coming from the same people who put a sixteen year old girl in a taxi, alone, to go to the hospital to give birth. Melody was young, but she loved her son and provided for him with what she had. She put her son before herself and did everything on her own with no help. Finally someone to love who would love her back unconditionaly. The reasons the Jugendamt gave for taking her son were ridiculous. They have a history of tearing good families apart just because they can. They like to target young mothers who have little or no support system. This was the case for Melody, until now...
After a couple of years in the orphanages, Melody found her mother on Facebook, the man she called father never allowed the children to speak with their mother so they had not ever comunicated until then.
Several months later her mother comes clean that this man was not her father. Her father is an American man and that she could only remeber the first name Chris. For a couple of years Melody looked for Chrises hoping to find one with simular features that could possibly be that man who would love her the way a father should and that she so badly craved but to no avail. She could not find her father. Then one day out of no where a message came from her mother. It read "I found your father, I'm sending you a picture from his facebook." Melody recalled the feeling as "better than falling in love" as she gazed upon her father's face for the first time. She knew instantly this was her father, she saw her features all over his face and she stared into her own eyes. Yes this was certainly her father at last.
Chris recalls feeling it was certain as well when he gazed into his own eyes.
After Melody began opening up and talking with Chris (which took considerable time because of her trust issues), they did manage to get the DNA testing done to prove he is her father. After almost a year of planning and preparation, which included moving to a bigger house, Melody is here in the US with her father. Remarkably they had built quite a strong bond through their corresponding online and Chris was able to convince her to stay and let us help with her fight for her son. We fell in love with her and we wanted to look after her and help heal her damaged soul. She has definately become a Daddy's girl but I have become Mom to her and she is my daughter.
Now some of you might be wondering why she came without her son and it is very simple to explain. German Social Services claim that Melody has no support system or way to care for her child. In Germany, that would be true. She was homeless after their social services kicked her out of their system when she came of age. But here, she has more family than she can comprehend and many people who would do everything they can for her. However, the one thing we need and can't just get is an attorney. International law is complicated and expensive. We have to fight for Melody's rights to keep her son so that the German social services cannot steal Leon from her the way Melody was stolen from her real father.
Chris met his daughter for the first time on September 25, 2015 when she was 19 years old. They have flown to Germany together to attend court proceedings. Chris was able to meet her son but was not allowed to tell him he is his Grandfather, he gets up extra early with her to speak with the lawyer we were using and finally some steps forward. After battling for two years in two seperate courts in Germany we have receieved a message from the courts that if Melody can prove her bond with her son they would be willing to return him to her custody. We have been writing the U.S. Gonvernment and national news agencies and no one would repond to our letters or phone calls. But finally the U.S. State department is getting involved but they say they dont know what they may be able to do for us but they are looking into it. They did say we will need to find a real good lawyer. That is why we are now reaching out.
We still have time because they have not adopted Leon out yet, but the caregiver who has him now wants to adopt him and without legal help, she may lose him in their system. This is why we need your help.
We have to hire an attorney to help get Leon's American documentation and to get him back to America where he belongs. By birth, Leon is an American citizen because his mother was born in Texas. Melody lived here in America for more than two years before being taken to Germany and is an Americon citizen. For the first time in her life, she has a REAL family but it is not complete without her son...
Melody is back in Germany doing what she can to reclaim her child . We have done all we can financing this battle for a loved one. Our savings is gone, our credit cards are maxed out, we both have decent jobs but the lawyer and other costs of fighting clear across the world has drained us. Chris donates plasma and is doing side jobs, as well, just to try to help support Melody in Germany while she tries to get her feet planted. We are trying to get her a small apartment because she went back, she left with the understanding that friends were going to give her a place to stay. However, they take advantage of her situation and threaten to throw her out if she doesnt buy cigarettes for them or give them money for other ridiculous items. They are spending when her money which is limited and dedicated to helping with food and other such necessities. We need help funding a new lawyer and quite possibly finaly bringing our family home. We would like to apologize for even asking for your money but this is very expensive. Chris and I both work but we have normal bills and other children to provide for. When finished this could cost upwards of $100,000. We cannot afford this but do not feel that Melody or Leon should suffer due to circumstances outside of their control. Melody should not have to keep paying for the mistakes and short commings of others. She has suffered enough. Please help us bring her peace and her son home.
We are well aware of how complicted and crazy this sounds but sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. We want to reunite the ENTIRE family. Please help us bring Leon to his mother. I have included a video made by Melody's father that shows the bond between her and Leon and several videos showing what the Jugendamt does to people just to earn money in trafficing their children. Please help us. Her biggest fear is that her son will live the same life she did.
UPDATE! We have been to court now twice and the Jugendamt has yet to make a ruling on Leon. They have even tried to bring Leon (now only four years old) into court to ask him what he wants. This backfired on them and they did not get what they wanted. So now we sit and wait for the next excuse or obstacle they try to put in our way. Please continue to share and help us raise money for this battle. We are no where near finished with this and we need all the support we can get!
Our journey began in 2014 , my boyfriend, Chris, was contacted by a young girl messaging him over Facebook from an orphanage in Germany. Her name was Melody, and said she believed Chris was her father.
She explained her mother was a woman from a single night encounter many years ago, and that her mother had grown into an alcoholic and a drug addict and lost costody of all her children. She also went on to explain that her mother never told him about her because she found it easier to just blame her on a man to which she already had a son and because she had rekindled her relationship with him shortly after learning she was pregnant with Melody. That leads us to how Melody ended up in Germany. The man that was listed on Melody's birth certificate was from Germany. When Melody's mother was apparently in a rehab facility, Melody, at the age of two, was taken to Germany by the man who she thought to be her father. After a short while, this man proved to be abusive. Melody began to grow and as her features developed it was obvious she did not look like either him or her mother. He had figured out he wasnt her father. She was bounced from one family member to another. All treating her like a problem and never as family. Melody was verbally and physically abused and terrorized by the only family she knew. She always being told she wasnt family, but that she was a friend of the family. Eventually, she was left in an orphanage at age eleve. Then subsequently bounced from orphanage to oprphanage. Once again, she was mistreated and left unloved. Each new place she was left at, she would get beaten up and robbed by the older kids. Once she was even transported to a new orpahanage on Christmas night.
Fast forward a few years. Melody found her first love and two years later gives birth to her son, Leon. Social Services in Germany the Jugendamt, took her son. The Jugendamt claimed she knew nothing about caring for a baby and told her everything she did was wrong. They called her a bad mother and told her she had nothing to offer him because she was poor and had no family. This is coming from the same people who put a sixteen year old girl in a taxi, alone, to go to the hospital to give birth. Melody was young, but she loved her son and provided for him with what she had. She put her son before herself and did everything on her own with no help. Finally someone to love who would love her back unconditionaly. The reasons the Jugendamt gave for taking her son were ridiculous. They have a history of tearing good families apart just because they can. They like to target young mothers who have little or no support system. This was the case for Melody, until now...
After a couple of years in the orphanages, Melody found her mother on Facebook, the man she called father never allowed the children to speak with their mother so they had not ever comunicated until then.
Several months later her mother comes clean that this man was not her father. Her father is an American man and that she could only remeber the first name Chris. For a couple of years Melody looked for Chrises hoping to find one with simular features that could possibly be that man who would love her the way a father should and that she so badly craved but to no avail. She could not find her father. Then one day out of no where a message came from her mother. It read "I found your father, I'm sending you a picture from his facebook." Melody recalled the feeling as "better than falling in love" as she gazed upon her father's face for the first time. She knew instantly this was her father, she saw her features all over his face and she stared into her own eyes. Yes this was certainly her father at last.
Chris recalls feeling it was certain as well when he gazed into his own eyes.
After Melody began opening up and talking with Chris (which took considerable time because of her trust issues), they did manage to get the DNA testing done to prove he is her father. After almost a year of planning and preparation, which included moving to a bigger house, Melody is here in the US with her father. Remarkably they had built quite a strong bond through their corresponding online and Chris was able to convince her to stay and let us help with her fight for her son. We fell in love with her and we wanted to look after her and help heal her damaged soul. She has definately become a Daddy's girl but I have become Mom to her and she is my daughter.
Now some of you might be wondering why she came without her son and it is very simple to explain. German Social Services claim that Melody has no support system or way to care for her child. In Germany, that would be true. She was homeless after their social services kicked her out of their system when she came of age. But here, she has more family than she can comprehend and many people who would do everything they can for her. However, the one thing we need and can't just get is an attorney. International law is complicated and expensive. We have to fight for Melody's rights to keep her son so that the German social services cannot steal Leon from her the way Melody was stolen from her real father.
Chris met his daughter for the first time on September 25, 2015 when she was 19 years old. They have flown to Germany together to attend court proceedings. Chris was able to meet her son but was not allowed to tell him he is his Grandfather, he gets up extra early with her to speak with the lawyer we were using and finally some steps forward. After battling for two years in two seperate courts in Germany we have receieved a message from the courts that if Melody can prove her bond with her son they would be willing to return him to her custody. We have been writing the U.S. Gonvernment and national news agencies and no one would repond to our letters or phone calls. But finally the U.S. State department is getting involved but they say they dont know what they may be able to do for us but they are looking into it. They did say we will need to find a real good lawyer. That is why we are now reaching out.
We still have time because they have not adopted Leon out yet, but the caregiver who has him now wants to adopt him and without legal help, she may lose him in their system. This is why we need your help.
We have to hire an attorney to help get Leon's American documentation and to get him back to America where he belongs. By birth, Leon is an American citizen because his mother was born in Texas. Melody lived here in America for more than two years before being taken to Germany and is an Americon citizen. For the first time in her life, she has a REAL family but it is not complete without her son...
Melody is back in Germany doing what she can to reclaim her child . We have done all we can financing this battle for a loved one. Our savings is gone, our credit cards are maxed out, we both have decent jobs but the lawyer and other costs of fighting clear across the world has drained us. Chris donates plasma and is doing side jobs, as well, just to try to help support Melody in Germany while she tries to get her feet planted. We are trying to get her a small apartment because she went back, she left with the understanding that friends were going to give her a place to stay. However, they take advantage of her situation and threaten to throw her out if she doesnt buy cigarettes for them or give them money for other ridiculous items. They are spending when her money which is limited and dedicated to helping with food and other such necessities. We need help funding a new lawyer and quite possibly finaly bringing our family home. We would like to apologize for even asking for your money but this is very expensive. Chris and I both work but we have normal bills and other children to provide for. When finished this could cost upwards of $100,000. We cannot afford this but do not feel that Melody or Leon should suffer due to circumstances outside of their control. Melody should not have to keep paying for the mistakes and short commings of others. She has suffered enough. Please help us bring her peace and her son home.
We are well aware of how complicted and crazy this sounds but sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. We want to reunite the ENTIRE family. Please help us bring Leon to his mother. I have included a video made by Melody's father that shows the bond between her and Leon and several videos showing what the Jugendamt does to people just to earn money in trafficing their children. Please help us. Her biggest fear is that her son will live the same life she did.
UPDATE! We have been to court now twice and the Jugendamt has yet to make a ruling on Leon. They have even tried to bring Leon (now only four years old) into court to ask him what he wants. This backfired on them and they did not get what they wanted. So now we sit and wait for the next excuse or obstacle they try to put in our way. Please continue to share and help us raise money for this battle. We are no where near finished with this and we need all the support we can get!
Organizer
Brandi Nemo Moore
Organizer
Granger, IN
