Family reunion a holiday miracle after year-long, international custody battle
Jeff Van SantQ13 Fox News reporter
SEATTLE—This Christmas Eve miracle was nearly a year in the making.
Erzsi Dornay fought what seemed to be an impossible battle with her ex-husband. He took their son Yussuf (he goes by Joe) to Morocco and refused to let the boy come home. Finally, after a fierce, global legal battle, she has been reunited with her child.The family waited with anticipation at Seattle Tacoma International Airport.
“It’s almost like dream,” Peter Dornay, Joe’s maternal grandfather said before he arrived. “I can’t believe it’s real.”
Joe’s mother had been living in Morocco working with authorities to get her son back. So it wasn’t just a reunion for him.
“We see it as a miracle,” Margaret Dornay, Joe’s maternal grandmother said. “A Christmas miracle. It would have been a very, very sad Christmas.”
From the airport, the family headed to Mercer Island for a reunion and a much deserved Christmas party.
“I just told myself I wasn’t going to come home without him,” Erzsi said. “Thank god it was part of the plan to come back here and raise my son here.”
She never thought she would get the chance. But Saturday, Joe got the chance to open Christmas gifts at home in the Pacific Northwest.
“For now I’m just going to stay close to Joe and make sure he is happy and healthy,” his mother said.
