Mother pleas for return of toddler

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August 30, 2012

Mother pleas for return of toddler

By MJ Brickey Staff Writer The McAlester News-Capital Thu Aug 30, 2012, 09:24 PM CDT

McALESTER — Glenda Broadway said her 2-year-old daughter went to the park with an individual on May 14.

She said when he didn’t return with the child when he said he would, she went to the park and neither he or the child were there.

Since then, Glenda Broadway said she has been trying to get the child back.

When asked if the man she said took her child to the park is the child’s father, Broadway said paternity had not yet been established.

She said someone in the man’s family called telling her he had taken the child to Iowa.

According to Pittsburg County court documents, a petition was filed to “establish paternity, custody, visitation and other child-related matters.”

Broadway said not only had paternity not been established, but no visitation and no custody agreements have been set in place on behalf of her child.

Broadway said she has gone to the police and child welfare, and has spoken with local attorneys and, she said, all have told her there is nothing that could be done.

She said, on Tuesday, a policeman finally agreed to do a report because she presented the police officer with a pick up order for the child from the state of Iowa.

Broadway said she had gone through legal aid and obtained a lawyer from Iowa.

She said she faxed proof of custody and all legal documents pertaining to her child and she said the state of Iowa issued the pick up order.

According to the Iowa District Court for Polk County document, the pick up order was filed Aug. 23.

The court document reads in part, “It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed any Iowa law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the child is located shall use reasonable means and force to recover custody of the child listed below and deliver the child to Glenda Broadway and/or her attorneys with Iowa Legal Aid.”

When District 18 Assistant District Attorney Wes Cherry was asked what information he had provided to Broadway, he said he explained to her he cannot give legal advice and told her to seek private counsel.

He said he told her he cannot prosecute without a police report or police investigation.

“All the DA’s office can do is prosecute,” Cherry said. “And, we can only do that after police have investigated and filed the report with us.”

Broadway said she has presented this document to Pittsburg County courts and they have yet to file a pick up order to bring the child back to Oklahoma.

“I’m begging someone to bring my daughter to me,” Broadway said. “I have been doing this for three months.”

“Put yourself in my shoes,” Broadway said, and she asked what would anyone else do if in her position.

Broadway said she will be putting out flyers to raise awareness of her daughter’s disappearance and hopefully find people with more detailed information about the whereabouts of her child.

For more on this story, see the print or electronic editions of the McAlester News-Capital. Click here for print edition home delivery or click here to see the Smart Edition for your computer, tablet, e-reader or smartphone.

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