Kidnapped Daughters Returned Through the William Booth Legal Aid Clinic's Efforts
“My husband told me, ‘You’re not getting the kids back. You’ll never see them again.’ My whole body shut down. Every worry a mother could have went through my bones.”
It was January 2020, and Malaysia Black was trying to get her daughters back. Her husband had kidnapped them, and eventually she found out that he had brought them to Florida. She wanted a divorce because her husband was abusive, but the kidnapping was a terrifying, bewildering predicament. She felt completely lost.
“He used to extort me for money,” Malaysia says. “He could charge me crazy amounts of money just to talk to them on the phone. During the one time he let me visit them, he physically assaulted me, and the state would not let me press charges.”
Malaysia began reaching out to different legal assistance centers and lawyers for help, but the few calls back she did receive were not encouraging. Struggling to navigate the legal system, she repeatedly received pushback from the courts. In the midst of her desperate efforts, she was also fighting lupus and cancer, and suffered through days where she simply could not get out of bed. She lost a dangerous amount of weight, and doctors told her that the hair on her head would never grow back after the cancer treatment.
“I prayed every day, but I was stressed out and struggling to keep a positive outlook on life. Time was passing by – birthdays, holidays. I was getting so frustrated, and everything I did felt futile. I was broken down and powerless. I felt like I was failing as a mother,” says Malaysia.
After continuing to search for resources, Malaysia found free help from the William Booth Legal Aid Clinic in June 2021. Her daughters had been gone for a year and a half, and she could hardly muster the hope to think that things could change.
“But then, Amy from the clinic called me back. I was ecstatic! She talked me through everything, and together we prepared what we needed for the divorce and for my daughters back. I had no idea how to do these things, but Amy did. It was a miracle when we started to get results.”
What wasn’t happening for over a year started to move in the weeks and months that followed. Once the correct paperwork was filed in Michigan and sent to Florida, sheriffs from the state were sent out for Malaysia’s daughters. Her husband fled to Kentucky with the girls, and the police followed. On December 29, 2021, Malaysia got her daughters back.
“God put Amy and the William Booth Legal Aid Clinic in my life. When I was going through the most trying time I've ever had, He helped me!”
Now, as a proud mom and business owner, Malaysia is looking forward to the future. She is free from an abusive marriage, and she is not looking back.
“I want to say THANK YOU with my whole heart to The Salvation Army! I didn’t give up, and I got my miracle through you!”
Malaysia with her daughters, Nadia (7) and Michaela (5).
Want to support the work of the William Booth Legal Aid Clinic? Join our Walk for Justice on May 14!