After three long months of actively searing for our son and grandson, it seemed that we had exhausted every avenue open to us, without success. We were starting to believe we might never see Ashton again. And then we met Ed Wunsch. We were given information about Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team from another organization we had contacted. We can honestly say that after meeting Ed, we were not only hopeful that we would see Ashton again, we were certain. The initial conversation with Ed was very encouraging since until then we had only minimal success speaking to law enforcement agencies.

Ed was immediately on the case and offered several important suggestions in our first conversation. He quickly responded by traveling to our town to meet with us and to learn the dynamics of the case. Ed accomplished more in just a few days then had been done in the previous three months. We have no doubt that had we met Ed earlier, Ashton would have been brought home sooner

It was quite a relief to have the Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team in charge of finding Ashton. They provided critical advice in all aspects of what can be best described as a living nightmare. We can’t possibly find the words that express our deep gratitude.

We would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who is the victim of a parental abduction to contact Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team immediately.

-  Ashton's Family
   

"April 25, 2005

I can not thank you enough for your help and support during such an emotional and unreal time of my life. I highly recommend your professionalism and understanding of the situation, the calmness you brought to such a un-calming event. If there is ANYTHING I can do in the future to help you or anyone else who finds themselves is such a horrible experience of trying to find their children please let me know, I am more than willing to offer the help and support as I received. Thanks Again, your help and support will always be remembered! Keep up the GREAT WORK!"
   
                                                                               - Kim N.

I just wanted to write a brief description of what happened to me and my son. How helpful your organization was to us, and how grateful I am to you.

On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, I was searching the web in hopes of finding help in bringing my son home. He had been taken by his father in mid-October.

I previously tried calling all sorts of agencies here in my home town of San Antonio, including the police station. When I called the Police and explained my situation the dispatcher sarcastically asked how can someone just take your kid. She made me feel like it was my fault. She made me feel it was my fault. After she told me all the things I should have done prior to the “visitation violation”, as she called it, she gave me the Salvation Army’s number.

The Salvation Army told me that they only helped where there was a death in the family and there were no funds {to help me}. {They} did not have any referral numbers for me.

So when I went on the web I didn’t even know what to look under. I did a Google search and keyed in “parental abduction help” and I found Ed. It was like God heard my. The first hit was a site that said “WE DO BRING THEM HOME”. Then I saw that they were located in the same city where my son was. I noticed that the site had just been created the day before {I found it}. This could only be that my prayers were being answered.

{I called Mr. Wunsch and} and when I heard {him} answer, my first thought was to hang up. I was scared and doubtful. I . . . told him my situation and he took some information and said he’d call me back. {He} told me to call my local police station and make sure that my son was entered into the NCIC system. I thought he would never call back {but I } did what he asked.

Not even an hour later Ed called me back and started taking {more} information. He was fast . . . on starting his own research. {The next day, November 11, he called back and told me that} he was already working on plans and air arrangements. I had a big problem {because} I only had half of my son’s airfare. Around 3:00 PM that day, he told me that he had come up with the funds and that I was going, too! At this point I knew that God did hear me, because I was so scared of how {my son} would react when a group of strangers approached him and took him, then having to fly home {alone} would be just overwhelming. He had been through so much and I was scared for him. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Adriana flew to Minnesota and was present when her son was retrieved and mother and son were happily reunited!)

Well, I have much to that Ed and all his anonymous helpers {for}. There are no words to express how thankful I am. I will add Ed to my prayer list so he can be just as successful with all his cases. I will also pray that he will get all the funding possible so he never has to turn anyone away. Because I received so many “sorry, there is nothing we can do” responses from my local agencies, it was very frustrating. I just don’t want anybody to feel as hopeless as I did. I also want to thank you Ed, because you never made me feel dumb or at fault. Your main concern was bringing {my son} home.

THANK YOU because you did BRING HIM HOME!"

                                                                  - Adriana Valdez

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March, 2005

"I am writing this letter to let everyone know how Ed Wunsch and The Parental Abduction Recovery Team found my 2 year old son and had him safely returned to me.

A few weeks ago, I was granted Sole Physical and Joint Legal custody of my son. His mother, who had recently gotten off of supervised visitations, had him over the weekend for a routinely scheduled visit. My son was supposed to be returned to me Sunday February 20, 2005 at 5pm. Two hours after she was supposed to show, I became worried and made numerous attempts to contact her without success. I then called the police. The police did not seem concerned at all and replied that perhaps she was late. The police told me to call them back in a day or so because there was nothing that they could do besides knock on her door at home, which I had already done.

On Tuesday February 22, 2005 I personally went to the police station to file a report because I had been unable to locate my son or his mother. When I went to the police station I was extremely worried and concerned for my son's safety and well being. I felt he was in serious danger because his mother's mental health had been compromised in the past. The police sergeant told me that the extent of their involvement would be to place my son's name in a database and that if she did not voluntarily return him or they did not stumble upon her there was nothing they were going to do. I was told that no one from the Minneapolis police department would be actively looking for my son.

Her family claimed to have not heard from her. She was not answering her phone or responding to knocks at her door. She made no attempt to contact me.

I tried very very hard to not drift off into despair and prayed constantly. Fortunately, a co-worker gave me the contact information for Ed Wunsch and The Parental Abduction Recovery Team. On Friday February 25, 2005 at approximately 2 pm I called Ed. He asked me some questions and offered some suggestions and promised to call me back. I decided to follow Ed's suggestions because I had visited The Parental Abduction Recovery Team web site and saw that they were about results i.e. finding the kids. The police were not actively helping me and clearly did not take my son's well being seriously. So, I was willing to do whatever Ed suggested.

The day after talking to Ed for the first time, I gave him information that I had on the case. Soon after giving Ed the information, he called me back and told me he had traced my son’s mom to a location in Bloomington. MN. He suggested that we meet the next morning which we did.

With Ed leading the way we went to the Bloomington Police Department and Ed spoke with an officer and got them to go to the address that he had traced. We followed the police to the address, parked and waited while the police entered the address Ed gave them. Twenty minutes later the officer came out holding my son in his arms.

Having your child missing is a parent's worst nightmare. Not knowing where your child is, if they are hurting or even if they are alive is something no parent should have to experience. I truly believe that if Ed and The Parental Abduction Recovery Team had not done such a magnificent job of finding my son I still today would not know where he was. I am extremely grateful to Ed and his colleagues for saving my son. The fact that my son and I were reunited within 48 hours of making my first phone call to him is truly amazing.

Thank God for The Parental Abduction Recovery Team."

   -  De'Lore E.   

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