Supreme Court rules for father in final decision in international custody case

The Finnish Supreme Court has ruled that Jacob and Alexander Rogers, the focus of a high-profile international custody dispute between their American father John Rogers and their Finnish mother Outi Koski, should be returned to the custody of their father.
      According to the court, circumstances have not changed since August 2004 when the court last heard the case. In a ruling handed down on September 3rd, the father was given custody of the boys under the terms of the Hague Convention on child protection. However, before the ruling could be implemented, the two were taken by their mother to a rural hideaway where they were later apprehended by police.
      The mother later argued that the circumstances had changed, and that the issue should be reconsidered. Jacob and Alexander also said that they wanted to stay with their mother in Finland.
      The Supreme Court found that the children had lived in exceptional circumstances for a long time, which had influenced their views on being returned to their father.
      In its ruling, the court emphasises that the decision should be implemented without delay.
     
The ruling brings to an end a process which began in the summer of 2003 when Outi Koski, who had taken the boys to Finland for a summer holiday, decided not to bring them back to the United States, even though John Rogers had been given custody of the two by a US court.
      At one point John Rogers came to Finland and tried to take his sons back to the United States himself. The three got as far as Paris, where they were stopped by local officials. A French court later sent Jacob and Alexander back to Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish-American child custody case to go back to Supreme Court (9.12.2004)
  Supreme Court freezes Appeals Court ruling over custody dispute UPDATED 21.00 (26.11.2004)
  Custody dispute brothers ordered to remain with mother (26.11.2004)
  Boys at centre of custody dispute tell court they want to live in Finland (16.11.2004)
  Court of Appeals suspends return of boys in international custody dispute (29.10.2004)
  Boys at centre of custody dispute apprehended at remote farm (21.10.2004)
  Mother files criminal complaint in Finnish-American child custody case (22.10.2004)
  Boys at centre of custody dispute apprehended at remote farm (21.10.2004)
  New development in custody case of Espoo brothers (17.9.2004)
  Supreme Court final ruling: Custody dispute brothers to be returned to their father in U.S. (3.9.2004)