Custody Battle in China Ended with Son Back to U.S.

[CND, 10/23/02] Camille Colvin, 35, returned to New York City from China with 
her 5-year-old son on Saturday after a tense custody battle with the boy's 
father and her ex-husband GUO Rui, the Associated Press reports.

Colvin obtained the rights for custody of the son Griffin GUO after Camille 
Colvin and GUO Rui got divorced, Guo has the rights for visitation. He took the 
boy away from NYC to Canada and immediately flew back to China during a 
visitation in New York in July. Colvin spent some time looking locally for the 
father and the son, eventually she went to Guo's hometown Zhengzhou, Henan 
province in China to have found the boy.

Guo said the custody of the son, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen, should be decided 
by Chinese law. He thinks his visitation rights under their California divorce 
agreement has been violated and he had no other means of seeing the boy. With 
officials in U.S. embassy stepped in, the battle for the custody almost became a 
diplomatic incident.

Upon Camille Colvin and her brother Cal Elliott's arrival in Zhengzhou city on 
October 8, police placed them and Guo in a hotel suite and asked them to 
negotiate an agreement among themselves. Chinese police also told them that the 
authority would grant custody to whichever spouse had physical possession of the 
boy, therefore Elliott kept constant watch over Griffin while Colvin negotiated.

A deal was finally made on ninth day of Colvin's arrival, Colvin and Elliott 
said they agreed to Guo's demand for money but wouldn't say how much they paid. 
Guo has said the money was a form of trust fund for Griffin and denied the 
payment was related to the boy's release. Reports in China said Colvin and 
Elliott paid Guo US$60,000 for the release of the boy, agreed to request U.S. 
court to drop the kidnap charge against Guo and promised Guo visitation rights 
in the future.

"It's been a long ordeal and we're really glad it's come to an end," Colvin said 
at Kennedy International Airport. "Griffin's doing well, he's a little 
intimidated right now, but he's going to be himself in no time. He's an adorable 
child with a lot of energy," Elliott said.

Colvin's case drew the attention of high-ranking Chinese and American officials 
as Chinese President JIANG Zemin prepared for a visit to the United States this 
week.