aeronmelon
Search this community for #BringSoraHome to see all related posts.
Please read and sign our petition:
https://www.change.org/BringSoraHome
Very little has changed since my last post. I have gotten more information surrounding my situation and am continuing to search for legal representation in Ireland and Japan. I have not gotten any information about Sora since I lost sight of him on 19 June. I have sent multiple emails to his mother, and had the city she lives in do a wellness check, but I have not gotten any kind of response from any of this.
In spite of the situation, there is still hope. My research on actual Irish law makes the ruling look very sketchy. Unfortunately the most likely way this will be resolved is if our situation gets enough public attention (please sign the petition and get your friends and family to sign it).
Please donate to my PayPal so I can afford to continue to self-represent until I find an actual solicitor, and then pay said solicitor. As well as pay for an attorney in Japan so I can have people check on my son and try to establish a line of communication between me and him. If he's going through half of what I'm going through, he wants to know where I am.
Also, if you can provide any assistance in Ireland or Japan, or can put me in touch with someone who can provide assistance of any kind I would greatly appreciate it and try to compensate whomever can help me. Legal and financial assistance in Ireland, and legal, financial, and translation/interpretation assistance in Japan.
Thank you all for any help you can provide. I am still very depressed and distraught, but there are people who are helping me to get through this and it is slowly, slowly, becoming easier to deal with. That is largely the reason why I have not said anything in so long, sometimes doing one thing takes all of my energy and I am too anxious or frustrated to do anything else until the next day. I refuse to give up, but I also feel like I'm climbing a sheer cliff now. Your messages of kindness and support mean a great deal to me.
Direct PayPal link:
https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon
GoGetFunding link (for sharing outside of Lemmy):
https://www.gogetfunding.com/BringSoraHome/
My Mastodon account:
https://mastodon.social/@aeronmelon
My Bluesky acoremoved:
https://bsky.app/profile/daddymelon.bsky.social
#BringSoraHome
Search this community for #BringSoraHome to see all related posts.
Please read and sign our petition: https://www.change.org/BringSoraHome
And please share it with everyone online and IRL. There's also a QR code for the petition if you prefer:
I am contacting rights groups in Ireland and Japan but am currently waiting for people to get back to me. I am also paying for legal services in Japan to locate and confirm Sora is doing well.
So far, I have been able to pay for everything with what I have, but I will need a lot of help very soon to hire the people necessary. I will make another post here when I have a clearer idea of how much I need. And I will continue to use what's left of the previous donations, and whatever get each week for food from the Irish government (I have plenty of food and very little appetite right now), to take care of smaller things. I have applied for work in Ireland, but am still waiting to receive approval. I am checking that request every single day.
The GoGetFunding page has been restored, with a more up to date account of everything that has happened. You can read it there, or below:
Message from GoGetFunding
Back in October 2025, me and my then three-year-old son Sora left Japan after enduring years of abusive and violent behavior from his mother and her parents. Every attempt to work things out or find some reasonable compromise out failed or led to further abuse and danger. Me and my son were forced to live apart from her for over a year. She constantly threatened me with prison, deportation, and lawsuits, she refused to take financial responsibility for a child she was claiming ownership of as if he was a piece of property she was entitled to. Ultimately, she disappeared and refused requests to even visit him. I was not being allowed to work because I was a full-time parent, and the work I could find as a teacher wasn't enough to live on. I was not given any support by the Japanese government, and the money and supplies I had stored up was quickly disappearing. So, after almost 13 years, I made the extremely difficult decision to leave the home I had made in Japan so that I could properly take care of my son.
Once the absent mother was told that we came to Ireland to seek asylum to get the medical and financial assistance we both needed, as well as protection from the domestic violence we had suffered through (which the Japanese police refused to do anything about), she filed kidnapping charges using the Hague Convention and demanded that my son, whom I was the only active parent to for over two years, be deported back to Japan.
Despite demonstrating to the Irish Courts that she was abusive, threatening, manipulative, irresponsible in her role as a mother, voluntarily absent, as well as exhibiting mental instability (including mentioning suicide), despite showing that Sora is exhibiting physical manifestations of his trauma and having evidence that his trauma is linked to contact with his mother, the Courts decided to side with her and ruled that Sora must be returned to her "care" and appealing that decision left me without legal representation which made it impossible to do anything meaningful to change their mind. I had to stand there and watch Sora be shuffled off of the court grounds as he looked back to me wondering why this was happening. That was two weeks ago.
Throughout this whole ordeal, I have been repeatedly told that the judges had no choice but to follow the Hague Convention. The problem with that excuse is that the Hague Convention did not apply to our situation. Not only was the mother voluntarily failing to exercise her custody rights by disappearing multiple times, but our situation qualifies for multiple exceptions of the mandate for the child in question to be deported. Including the fact that Sora now verbally refers to Ireland as "home,"
The real problem is clear; The Irish Courts, specifically certain Judges, still hold to the outdated and dangerous beliefs that a woman is entitled to their child no matter what. Even after being abusive and negligent towards them. And that a man cannot possibly be the victim of domestic violence, or raise a child on his own. Present-day Ireland knows better than that. Present-day Ireland is very progressive and accepting, and champions equality and the welfare and safety of children. But there are still people in positions of power that push against this progress and growth and those people have deliberately and needlessly placed my son, an abuse survivor, in the same abusive environment that I spent years getting us out of.
And Sora cannot possibly be the only one. This hypocrisy is a danger to many other child abuse survivors who are brought to Ireland and, like us, are told that they will be protected and that they're safe. We were accepted into this country on the grounds that we were escaping abuse and were promised protection by the Irish government. "You're safe now." But when the time came, that protection simply was not there. This miscarriage of justice has to be corrected for Sora's sake and for the sake of everyone else who's found themselves at the mercy of an unfeeling Judge who simply wants to quickly brush the case under the rug and look good in front of the EU.
This campaign is primarily for Sora, but will hopefully effect changes that positively impact many other children. We are currently collecting donations to hire legal representation here in Ireland to formally challenge the courts' decision against protecting and abused child and demanding that judges acknowledge the Irish & international laws that provide those protections for children in all cases going forward, including cases involving a misuse of the Hague Convention. As well as a reversal of the verdict against us. And to hire legal representation in Japan to locate Sora to confirm that he is safe and in good health, and argue the same facts in Japanese court to claim sole custody and secure his safe return to his home in Ireland.
Please help us as this battle drags on. I refuse to give up on Sora, but I need your help to keep going. Every little bit will help. If you have any questions about this or can help us out in any other way, please reach out to me here or through the links below. Thank you very much.
Please share this link with people outside of Lemmy: https://www.gogetfunding.com/BringSoraHome/
Remember, GoGetFunding takes a cut of all donations. So if you want all of the money you send to reach me, donate directly through PayPal as a friend.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon
Thank you all very much! If you have any questions, just ask. If you can help out in other ways, please contact me here or on the social media platforms.
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@aeronmelon
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/daddymelon.bsky.social
#BringSoraHome
Search this community for #BringSoraHome to see all related posts.
I have started a petition on change.org regarding the systemic bias that led to losing our court case against his abusive mother. In addition to the financial help we need to enlist professionals to help recover Sora from an unfamiliar and oppressive environment, please take the time to sign the petition and share it with as many people as you can.
https://www.change.org/bringsorahome
I am continuing to piece things together and write out everything that has transpired, but I have been left in a depressive state and I am constantly fatigued so I can only get so much done each day. Some of you have been directly supportive to me and I really, really appreciate you all for it.
If you have Mastodon or Bluesky, you can also follow me there and get the most recent updates about what it happening there. If you use other social media, please share this post and the petition with others. A new public crowdfunding link is being created.
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@aeronmelon
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/daddymelon.bsky.social
Q: What happened to the money that was donated already?
A: The extension on the appeals hearing was refused, so I was not allowed to bring the private solicitor onboard. So I used some of the money to represent myself until the day that Sora was taken. Since then, I have been using that money to prepare to legally challenge the court's decision here in Ireland and find legal representation in Japan to represent myself there and make contact with child services to ensure Sora stays safe through all of this. There is still money left, but it will soon run out. So please continue to donate if you can.
Thank you for all you help, please continue to help us whenever and wherever you can.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon
I owe everyone who helped us an update.
On 19 June, under penalty of imprisonment, I was forced to watch my son, Sora, disappear with the woman who had been abusive and neglectful towards him for years. All thanks to the Irish Courts.
Now that I've had time to think and grieve, I'm determined to get him back at all costs. Which means this isn't over, which means I still need your help.
My mission is to:
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Invalidate the court's decision that my coming to Ireland with Sora after his mother abandoned us in Japan counted as kidnapping. A lot of evidence was purposefully overlooked for the sake of the
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Sue for custody in Japanese courts, citing the same abuse and instability and irresponsibility that effectively made me Sora's only functional parent.
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#BringSoraHome to Ireland, a place he was already vocally identifying as home. Because he felt happy here, because he was with me.
Maybe this just looks like one failure leading to another from everyone else's perspective, but the only way I can look myself in the mirror is to fight to protect and reunite with Sora until I finally succeed... or I'm dead.
Please help in whatever way you can. In addition to money to get legal assistance and representation in two different courts in two different countries, if you have any legal expertise in either country or knowledge of Japanese or know someone who does (or know a good therapist) please get in touch with me here or my main account.
A more detailed post is being written.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon
Update to the original post.
This fundraiser is now on GoGetFunding: https://gogetfunding.com/legal-funds-to-prevent-an-abused-child-from-being-deported/
The amount donated directly will be added to that page's total. Unfortunately for us, we've gotten very little since the initial push. If you are skeptical about sending money directly to someone's PayPal, or you want to share it with someone who doesn't want to/know how to do that, please use the link above.
The solicitor should have started last week, where one of the court deadlines passed. I had to write a very detailed explanation of the scope of my appeal and submit it to the Courts. Even thoughI was assured that I could write it in natural language, I don't know how well it will be received and I had to speed proofread it to get it filed on time.
The next deadline requires submitting documents in legalese, so I don't think I could do that properly even if I wanted to. I hope help comes in time for us. Thank you to everyone who has already supported us (some of you more than once) and thank you to everyone who will support us on the future.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon (Preferred - faster, no withdrawal fees)
GoGetFunding link: https://gogetfunding.com/legal-funds-to-prevent-an-abused-child-from-being-deported/ (10% fee on all donations, goes through PayPal anyway, but better for sharing outside of Lemmy)
Update to the original post.
Making progress...
Thank you to those of you who have donated so far, it means the world to us that other people care. Anyone who is on the fence about helping or wants to understand something better before donating, please do not hesitate to contact me here or on my main account.
I am exploring additional fundraiser options, but so far talking to you people has been the only progress we have made. Thank you so very, very much. Still holding out hope.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon (Preferred - faster, no withdrawal fees)
GoGetFunding link: https://gogetfunding.com/legal-funds-to-prevent-an-abused-child-from-being-deported/ (10% fee on all donations, goes through PayPal anyway, but better for sharing outside of Lemmy)
❤️
Well, the Legal Aid Board is how things got to the point where I'm having to represent myself in leu of a solicitor to appeal the High Court's decision to simply shuffle my son back to Japan without me in the wake of evidence of his mother's ongoing abusive and manipulative behavior, abandonment, financial irresponsibility, and mental instability. They did such a piss poor job of representing our case so I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
Ironically, and unfortunately, the Children's Rights Alliance might be the only organization in Ireland I have yet to contact regarding this issue. You name them, I've already spoken to them. So many groups that I was told would be able to help me with this cannot actually help with this for one reason or another. Otherwise, they tell me largely what I already know or just offer verbal support. I have gotten letters of reference from multiple groups, including Ireland's child protection agency TUSLA, vouching for me and confirming that my son is safe, happy, and healthy in my care during the time we've been living here and that the claims made through official channels against me (namely those made by my wife) are unsubstantiated. Hopefully those can make a difference in our case going forward.
I appreciate your help, but I am not exaggerating when I say I've tried everything. They either cannot help or I've already gotten all the help I can get from them. Though I will give the Children’s Rights Alliance a try tomorrow.
Update to the original post.
I spent all week trying and failing to get a (any) crowdfunding site setup and they either won't accept my credentials or don't allow fundraising for this reason.
(If anyone knows how to reach GoFundMe by phone, please let me know. I don't know why they say they support Ireland if they won't accept an Irish photo ID as proof of identity.)
I cannot move forward with a solicitor unless I finish raising at least €10,000. And it will be difficult for any solicitor to take my case unless I can raise it before the end of this week. Until then, I have to continue to represent myself to the courts and file documentation on my own.
I realize this is a lot of money, but we really are out of options and out of time. If you can contribute, even just a small amount, please help us. We greatly appreciate it.
Direct PayPal link: https://www.paypal.me/TheGreenMelon (Preferred - faster, no withdrawal fees)
GoGetFunding link: https://gogetfunding.com/legal-funds-to-prevent-an-abused-child-from-being-deported/ (10% fee on all donations, goes through PayPal anyway, but better for sharing outside of Lemmy)
See here for context: https://lemmy.world/comment/24964627
These separate communities already existed. These are more than what is being replaced, but since I made them I expanded the scope to include all decades that I am interested in. It’s not about traffic, it’s about letting people subscribe to their preference.