Former Fine Gael MEP, Ms Mary Banotti's organisation for children abducted by their parents, is to pay for Ms Serena Benwell to travel to Ireland to fight a custody battle for her nine-year-old son.
Ms Benwell has accepted the offer from the Irish Centre for Parentally Abducted Children to pay her flights from Chicago to Dublin to attend the family law hearing, Ms Banotti said.
Dylan Benwell was abducted two weeks ago by his grandparents, Mr Timothy and Ms Ethel Blake, and taken to their home in Cobh, Co Cork. Under the terms of the Hague Convention, the Blakes have no natural right to their grandson.
Ms Banotti said she contacted Ms Benwell last week and offered advice and financial help. It was common in abduction cases that the organisation would facilitate parents to travel to court hearings, she said.
Ms Benwell has five other children who live with herself and her husband, Mr John Benwell, Dylan's adoptive father. Dylan's father died two weeks after he was born. The Blakes are understood to have raised Dylan until he was aged 4½.
