After winning three trials between November 2021 and January 2023, I thought justice had finally prevailed. I believed my children would return home. The law stood on my side. However, state actors must enforce the law for justice to actually prevail. Ms. Anderson (my daughters’ mother) lied to the girls’ school and withheld them on the day I was supposed to pick them up. Hudson, WI law enforcement refused to assist, despite Wisconsin statute citing interference with custody as a felony.
I had no alternative but to file a motion requesting custody and asking the Court to hold Ms. Anderson in contempt. Facing the prospect of a fourth trial and more time without seeing my daughters, I started a hunger strike. I protested daily inside the Hennepin County Government Center asking for help. Everyday at lunch, city officials, judges, and law clerks would make their way past my protest. It was a desperate plea for justice for my daughters. Nine days later, Referee Hutchison decided to allow me time with my children, so I ended my hunger strike.
I have prayed for the protection of my girls every single day since they were prevented from returning home on November 12, 2021. The Lord calls His people to fast often. He provides numerous reasons. In Isaiah 58, He explains one of them: “Here is the way I want you to fast: Set free those who are held by chains without any reason. Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain.”
While my fast has ended, my fight to set free those crushed by this evil has just started.
