An American mother and her children are being held hostage in Germany after seeking safety from her husband, who stole the children’s passports, stopping them from returning home. Now the family is fighting to come back to the U.S.
Velesha Burke and her two children are currently seeking help getting out of Germany and back to the U.S. to restart life safely.
On the page for her GoFundMe fundraiser, Burke shares more details about her story in an attempt to call attention to the situation and get help. Burke wrote that “after leaving our home to seek asylum and safety, I could not fly back to the USA (where I am a citizen) because my husband stole the children’s passports months prior, and has since refused to return them.”
Burke goes on to explain that after contacting the German police to let them know that she and her children fled domestic abuse and were consequently in a safe place, she “also reached out to the United States Consulate in Germany for assistance, in an attempt to obtain emergency passports for the children.” To her disappointment, this didn’t help her along with securing the passports for her children.
In addition to this, Burke also discovered that a travel ban had been placed on her and her children, an additional hurdle to conquer.
Further complicating the situation, Burke was summoned by her husband’s lawyers to a court custody hearing and the German judge ruled in her husband’s favor. This decision was made despite Burke being the primary caregiver of the two children.
On the GoFundMe page, Burke is currently calling for support for help with legal fees, travel costs, and the everyday needs of raising a family while being held hostage in Germany. The money will also be used as “start-over” money once the family is able to safely return to the United States.
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