A Chicago mother was given the custody of her six-year-old son after one and a half years. The child was living with his father in Ireland.
U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle Sr.'s decision came nearly a year and a half after Mary Redmond had to give her son, Jack, to his father to live with him in Ireland. The father had won custody through Irish courts.
"I cannot wait to get him back in my arms again," Redmond told the Chicago Tribune.
She said that the officials said that any court judgment would be "immediately enforceable" and that they would speed up a U.S. passport for Jack.
However, Derek Redmond, Jack's father, wants his son to be with him. Irish courts ruled that Jack should stay there and share time between both parents. The Tribune reported that Redmond has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court where he is trying to get the Irish ruling recognized as official.
Derek and Mary met in Ireland and had baby Jack in 2006 in the United States before marriage. The couple lived in Ireland but separated some time later. Seven months later Mary brought her son back to the US. But Derek fought for custody the next five years and won several judgments in Ireland. In July 2012, Mary was forced to send Jack to Ireland to his father.
This summer, the US Court of Appeals ruled in Mary's favour. It said that Mary had "the exclusive right to decide where he would live."
Mary said she spoke to her son Wednesday but did not say anything to him about the judgment as it might confuse him. "I wanted to say something, but he's only 6," she told the Tribune. "A few days feels like an eternity to him."
