What do you think of the Holly Ann Collins Case?
a) I do not support Holly Ann Collins because I believe she is an alleged Parental Kidnapper and should be deported by the Netherlands government immediately and should be turned over to the FBI and /or the Hennepin County Minnesota District Attorney to stand trial in the United States for parental kidnapping.
b) I do not support Holly Ann Collins because I believe she kidnapped her children out of anger or revenge and not to protect her children. I believe she did not have a reasonable belief her children would be harmed and she had many other legal alternatives before going underground with her children.
c) I do not support Holly Ann Collins because I believe she parentally kidnapped her children and that the emotional harm inflicted on them is a very cruel form of child abuse.
d) I support Holly Ann Collins because I have personal knowledge that Holly Collins is domestic violence victim and should be believed because she is a woman and a mother and all women and mothers would never lie to protect their children.
e) I support Holly Ann Collins because I think the U.S. Family law courts should go back to maternal custody because all women are more qualified than all men to raise their children. Furthermore if a divorce occurs, it's probably the father's fault and he should be punished. I believe as part of his lifelong punishment that he be entitled to weekend visitation only but more importantly that end result would be a larger amount of child support or cash for me.
f) I support Holly Ann Collins because I am a domestic violence survivor and if it happened to me, I know it happened to her.
g) I support Holy Ann Collins because I am a supporter of the "protective parent" cause. The publicity from Holly's case will hopefully encourage other mothers to go into hiding and that will help me professionally since I specialize in "protective parent" or underground cases.
h) I support Holly Ann Collins because I am one of Holly's family members or relatives and I believe any publicity in her case will possibly lead to a book and movie deal for Holly. Holly lives in poverty right and the book and movie deal is her only chance to improve her life.
i) I am undecided on this case.
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6 comments:
First to the Editor: I am including a separate (long) post following this one, which you may determine is too long or unnecessary at this point.
My answer is a, b & c for reasons I have posted before. As I've said, as a life-long advocate for battered women, the most damaging situations are when women falsely claim abuse. In my experience this is not just being vindictive (though that also happens very rarely!) but because there are serious mental health issues involved. The most reputable support groups do try to investigate the cases they represent, but as we all know, funding isn’t available to provide our services let alone perform an in-depth background investigation.
Tragically, this is just such an example but, fortunately, there is such an extensive amount of information available, perhaps we can offer this Mom the help she desperately needs. As far as the children go, our society has not yet addressed the emotional damage they have incurred. FYI: the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) does have some information.
For those who have not kept up with this case, I’m including some of my previous comments so each of us can have more information. Please note, the blogosphere is NOT the place to try and then pass final judgment.
Hopefully the current discussion taking place on several blogs will represent both points of view regarding Holly Ann Collins. Each time additional details come out, it weeds out little by little what are opinions and what are facts. As the saying goes “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts”. It’s quite clear in all the blogs what the difference is.
New Information:
Holly has an x-ray of Zachary's skull which she claims was cracked from the abuse of her ex-husband. She has published this on YouTube. This same x-ray was used in a lawsuit Holly filed against a city in Mass. when Zachary fell and hit his head while playing.
To the Editor: To clarify your question;
Husband/Father number 1 - 2 children now ages 26 and 22.
Husband/Father number 2 - 1 child, now age 13.
Husband/Father number 3 - 7 children (2 adopted). She has 4 biological children with this man and claims to have adopted 3 more. According to other sources Holly Ann never married the father of these children. There has been no mention at all if he is joining them in the US. If not, is he just giving his 7 children up and what kind of father does that? Will she now marry him to bring him to the US with her? Who is this father and why has he not come to her defense? Does the Netherlands allow an unwed, non-citizen (the father also isn’t a citizen) with no income and who has FBI warrants for her arrest adopt 3 children?
From the July 11th post:
To Hesperis: You stated, “Holly Collins used all her legal alternatives and was left with three children coming home bruised by her husband.”
Holly had 2 children with her ex-husband, not 3. This 3rd child wasn’t involved in the domestic abuse, at all, so he couldn’t have come home with bruises. Perhaps you can provide the details regarding this child, as there is no mention of him in any of the sources on the net. Not from Holly Ann, not from her daughter Jennifer and certainly not from any of those who claim to know Holly Ann and the facts “very well”.
To HPburns76:
Although you are using an alias here, if you “saw the bruises” and “heard them waking from nightmares” in addition to “Holly Ann’s face bloodied and bruised”, I would assume you would be listed as a witness on any police reports of the abuse as well as testimony in the custody case. You appear to be an eye witness and as such I would also assume you will be testifying on Holly Ann’s behalf in her upcoming trial. Perhaps you could provide your name as it is and will be a matter of public record.
Regarding the relatives, Holly Ann was and is very close to both her father and her brother Michael, there are some records he recently came to the Netherlands. Your claims regarding her ex-husband being a violent abuser as well as a pedophile (Holly Ann also claims he sexually assaulted the children) go against the unanimous opinion of experts in this field, and these people will continue to be abusive, always. Her ex-husband remarried before Holly left and has, by every account, a stable, happy family life. Now, Jennifer recently claimed in her Blog that Mark’s wife also abused them, yet this was never presented in the custody case. Again, there would be police reports of the abuse that was supposedly well documented as surely Holly or yourself would have immediately filed complaints.
It’s hard to imagine that her ex-husband doesn’t want his children to return “for fear of all that would be exposed” when, as stated above, it’s a travesty of justice because the court knew of all this abuse and as such it’s already been exposed. Perhaps a more logical reason for any reluctance is that Jennifer repeatedly claims her despise for him. If he did not abuse these children, and they continue to believe he did, one can imagine how painful a reunion would be.
To molly.shamrock: I have asked the people who claim to know the “evidence” if in fact they have examined all the public records pertaining to not just this case but the totality of Holly Ann’s legal history.
Now, here’s my opinion. Domestic violence is the worst form of child abuse and I’m proud to be part of the community that works tirelessly to those responsible to justice. Unfortunately, and tragically, false claims of abuse are a fact and the most damaging reality to our cause. Regardless how rare, when it does occur all of our credibility is weakened, making the authentic cases much, much harder to prove. I as well as every other woman must look at all the facts surrounding our cases because ultimately this is protecting our children.
Hi Tasha,
Thanks for your insightful comments about his case.
The more facts that are brought forward in this case, the more it sounds almost exactly like most of the other underground cases.
For example, underground mom April Curtis (her parents are James and Mary Curtis of the Curtis compound in Dexter, Oregon, long-time supporters of the underground) had three different children from three different men. This sounds very similar to Holly Ann Collins. April actually divorced father number 1 while underground and married father number 2.
Most underground moms always have the "secret documents" or the "evidence that proves their case" but in almost every case I've seen, these mom completely ignore any evidence that would question their belief as well as their legal alternatives.
Finally, it's nice to see a spirited debate in the "blogosphere" about this case. I have to disagree but the "blogosphere" is the place to try and pass judgment on Holly Ann Collins. When Holly parentally kidnapped her children in 1994, she tried and passed judgment on her former spouse. In my opinion, that's the great thing about the blogosphere. If Holly Ann Collins wants to clear her name, then she should "mom up" and surrender to U.S. law enforcement to face prosecution rather than cowardly hiding in the Netherlands. She could say for the benefit of all of her children that "I'm sorry I made a mistake" and beg forgiveness of the court. She should get all of her children into therapy and ensure that ALL of her children have a relationship with both parents. Sadly, I must admit that I doubt Holly will ever do that and that in my opinion the profile of a parental kidnapper.
The Editor
-- snip --
Please note, the blogosphere is NOT the place to try and then pass final judgment.
i) I am undecided on this case.
But I'm glad you're providing a forum for people to talk about it!
Best,
Toby
Hi Toby,
I understand if you are undecided in the case. There are complex issues involved in following these cases, it often confuses juries. You also have causes involved such as parental kidnapping, domestic violence, family violence, child abuse, maternal custody and joint custody. What I've found in these cases is that it always come back to the following issues:
1. Did the kidnapping parent have a "reasonable belief" that they were protecting their child(ren) when they boarded the plane for the other country?
2. Did the parent exhaust there legal remedies before they boarded the plane for the other country?
3. Is the evidence regarding the alleged domestic violence from a qualified law enforcement or medial professional? Is their conflicting evidence?
4. What were the children told when they were in hiding regarding their other parent? Were they told the other parent was dead, someone else etc.? Were the children's names changed?
It usually ends up to be a he said she said case, but usually with more qualified witnesses in support of the left-behind parent. In that case, I would concur that the parent did not exhaust their legal remedies and the true motive would be "anger and revenge" which is usually the situation in parental kidnapping cases.
Thanks for commenting on the board. I've seen your website and comments about the case. It's nice to see this information being discussed. Prior to that, you see an article in a Minnesota newspaper about the searching father, a few pictures of the missing kids and that's it. In my opinion, that's a parent's worst nightmare -- "not knowing where their children are.".
The Editor
The Children of the Underground Watch
"Holly Collins, it's time to Mom Up"
I think that Holly Ann Collins did the right thing. Her daughter Jennifer Collins stated on Dutch TV (VARA) interview in the Dutch language (not Engish) that she was afraid of her father, and is thank full that she got asylum in the Netherlands.
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