Police reunite mother with daughter briefly

Child and Women Protection Department assists mother embroiled in custody case

Amother who hadn’t seen her daughter in four years was briefly reunited with her child under supervision following compassionate assistance by Dubai Police, officials confirmed yesterday.

The European woman recently returned after a fouryear absence from the UAE and had not seen her daughter since the child was seven months old.

Since her return, the woman won a case seeking fulltime custody of her child, the daughter removed from her divorced husband’s care and a Dh100,000 alimony payment from the man.

However, the Arab man appealed and the case is still being heard by the Appeal Court in Dubai.

Fatima Al Kindi, head of the Social Support Section at the Child and Women Protection Department of Dubai Police, said police are working to settle the problem and find a fair and long-term solution for the two parties.

“Even if the mother had made a mistake, we should help her. She left her daughter and went to her country claiming that she wanted to renew her passport and that she would come back soon. But she returned only after four years. The child was raised in her grandmother’s house as the woman didn’t answer the calls and messages from the husband,” Al Kindi said.

The man was summoned to Dubai Police to solve the problem and to hand over the child to her mother after she won the custody case.

“He said that she had cut ties with him for years and then she came back on a visit visa and filed a custody case. He refused to hand over the child and appealed the court’s verdict. The case is still ongoing in the Appeal Court,” Al Kindi added.

The man ultimately agreed to let the woman see her daughter but refused to return the girl permanently until a final decision is rendered by the court, said police.

Al Kindi said children always end up as the victims of such legal squabbles between parents and urged people to choose their partners carefully. “Couples should be equal in education, traditions and minds; otherwise, the marriage will be shattered ... Divorce always causes instability in children as they are being raised in unstable families.”

Al Kindi said children always end up as the victims of legal squabbles between parents. People must choose partners carefully.