Connection: A Mother’S Hope

A proposal to improve the way Germany handles international custody disputes is “great news,” according to the attorney of a Kettle Falls woman whose ex-husband allegedly kidnapped two of their children and took them to Germany.

“I hope we can jump into the fracas and become one of the cases that Germany is struggling to resolve,” said attorney Priscilla Vaagen, who represents Kettle Falls resident Dana Hopkins.

Vaagen thinks the agreement reached by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Clinton last week may help Hopkins in American, if not German, courts.

She said the prospect of better German cooperation will put additional pressure on Hopkins’ ex-husband, Cole Cummings, to return the two sons he took to Germany a little more than two years ago.

Cummings was extradited to the United States to face federal charges of international parental kidnapping, but the boys - Ryan, 9, and Kyle, 7 - remain in Germany with Cummings’ new wife. Although a federal judge ruled Cummings may be released on bail pending trial, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine locked him up for contempt of court.

Bastine’s court has jurisdiction - in the United States, at least - in the custody dispute. The judge ordered Cummings to remain in jail until he obeys an order to return his sons to Spokane.

“Keeping him in jail longer might actually do some good if Germany is going to do something,” Vaagen said.

Hopkins said she would consider granting Cummings primary custody of their two oldest sons if he would move back to the Inland Northwest so she and their youngest son, 5-year-old Kevin, could be part of the older boys’ lives. But Cummings and his new wife, a German citizen, so far have refused.

“We could work things out if he would come back here,” Hopkins said.

Cummings’ attorney, Maryann Moreno, was unavailable for comment.