Once there she decided to remain and has refused to return the children to their home in Atlanta, GA Christopher Camacho married Ana Lucrecia Ramirez Camacho on October 11th, 2000. They had two children together, Isabella Nicole Camacho, born May 16th, 2001 and Elena Nicole Camacho, born on January 20, 2006. Everyone who knew the family knew Christopher as a loving father and devoted husband. On June 4, 2011 Christopher Camacho dropped Lucrecia and the children off at the Atlanta- Hartsfield Airport for a planned three week vacation to her parents home in Heredia, Costa Rica. It was a trip the girls had taken before during summer vacations from school. Little did Christopher know that he would not see his children for almost a year. Once in Costa Rica, Lucrecia decided she would not be returning home to the United States with the children. Despite continued efforts by Christopher over the course of the next 6 months to salvage the marriage, all offers of counseling, reconciliation and compromise were refused by Lucrecia. She stated multiple times that she no longer wanted to be married, demanded that he sign over custody of the children to her and suggested that if he did, he would be allowed to visit the children. In November of 2011, Christopher filed an International Child Abduction Complaint under the Hague Treaty and also filed for divorce in Cobb County, GA. Both children are U.S. citizens, having been born and raised in Cobb County GA and only ever having lived at their home in Austell, GA. In April of 2012 Christopher traveled to Costa Rica to plead his case before the Costa Rican family courts. While in Costa Rica he was able to see his children for the first time in almost a year. Despite the fact that there had never been any incidence of abuse, neglect or misconduct, visitation was limited to 1 hour a day, from Monday to Thursday, at a government facility, supervised by a child psychologist. On Friday April 27th, Christopher headed to the family courts in San Jose, Costa Rica for the Hague Child Abduction Complaint hearing. Instead of proceeding with the hearing, the courts mediated a joint custody arrangement between both parents which would have seen the children returned home to Atlanta with both parents sharing custody and the children being allowed to travel to see family in Costa Rica during summer vacations. The judge, alerted to the unfair 1 hour visitations that had occurred during the week prior to the hearing, ordered that the children be turned over to Christopher for the day, as there was no reason that he should have not been allowed to spend time with his children. That Friday ended on a high note, with Christopher getting to spend quality time with his children and a hope that the following Monday would see the mediated agreement legally finalized. The following Monday, Lucrecia and her lawyers reneged on the mediated agreement and decided instead to proceed with the Hague Abduction hearing. Over the course of 3 weeks the hearing was conducted via phone and satellite feed and concluded in May, 2012. Christopher is still awaiting a decision from the courts. In the meantime, his children remain in Costa Rica and he is allowed sporadic contact with them, at best. Parental child abduction is a tragedy that has long-term consequences for both the child and the left-behind parent. When a child is abducted across international borders, the difficulties are compounded for everyone involved. For left-behind parents, the trauma begins when they realize the other parent has left and taken the children, or when they allow the children to travel abroad with the other parent, only to find that they do not return. Left-behind parents encounter substantial psychological, emotional, and financial problems. Between 2008 and 2010, more than 4,700 American children were abducted outside the U.S. by a parent or legal guardian. This problem is more common than most people realize. Please help us continue fighting to bring the Camacho children home.
