Father says ex-wife has blocked contact with son for nine years

Arūnas has been unable to communicate with his son for nine years despite a court-ordered contact schedule, LRT.lt reports. He says his former wife has repeatedly prevented meetings and has not complied with the court’s decision.

“I feel despair. Years are passing, and I cannot help my son or hug him,” Arūnas told LRT.lt.

After their son was born, Arūnas and his family lived abroad for some time. He says his former wife later moved to Lithuania with the boy without his knowledge or consent.

“I do not even know why we divorced. One day I came home and there was nothing left. Everything was gone,” the boy’s father said.

According to Arūnas, his former wife began creating obstacles to contact with their son. The couple legally divorced two years later, and a court established a schedule for communication between the father and child.

Arūnas says the boy’s mother nevertheless found reasons not to let the child go with him, saying that the boy did not want to go, was ill or was afraid. At the time, Arūnas was still living abroad and regularly travelled to Lithuania to spend at least every other weekend with his son.

“Only on rare occasions was I allowed to see my son briefly. I never had a holiday with him, although that was provided for in the contact schedule,” he said, adding that he travelled to Lithuania more than 150 times and spent thousands of euros on tickets.

On one occasion, Arūnas was due to take his son on holiday for a week. Although the mother tried to prevent this, saying the boy was ill, a doctor allowed the child to travel with his father. When the week ended, the mother arrived to collect the boy and called the police.

Arūnas said the officers examined the court decision and the conditions in which the sleeping child was staying. They concluded that the boy was safe and supervised and told his mother they had no grounds to take him from his father.

However, Arūnas says his former wife has not allowed him to see his son at all for the past nine years, continuing to disregard the court decision and the established contact schedule. He said she received an administrative penalty for using her parental authority against the child’s interests and failing to ensure meaningful communication between the son and his father.

Arūnas said his former wife argued that contact would be easier if he lived in Lithuania. He returned to the country five years ago, but says the boy’s mother still does not comply with the court-ordered schedule.

The father says his son’s emotional state has changed over the years. He told LRT.lt that the child, who had previously communicated with him willingly, later became angry and struggled to control his emotions after years of disrupted contact, which Arūnas attributes to a loyalty conflict and the influence of his mother and grandmother.

Child rights protection specialists say children are often drawn into conflicts between their parents, who can lose sight of the child’s interests. Both parents have the right and duty to communicate with their child, while contact is also the child’s right.

Specialists also say a child cannot be forcibly separated from a parent. They stress the importance of parents accepting the help offered to them. The child’s personal details have not been disclosed to protect his privacy.