Holly Collins Returns to the United States after 17 Years in Exile!

A Final Shoot - A Remarkable Ending

"Last night - taking a break from the nearly non-stop editing - Garland Waller supervised the final shoot for No Way Out But One. And she had the chance to share a truly remarkable moment with Holly Collins, the subject of her film.

Just over 17 years after Holly Collins grabbed her children and fled the country to save them from a life of abuse - Holly came home to America.

Holly and her four young Dutch children arrived at Boston Logan Airport just before sunset. Her older children - the ones she saved from a life of abuse - will join her shortly. They will settle in a small little house that is all their own and write new chapters in what has already been an inspiring story.

The film will have its premier at the 16th annual International Conference on Violence Abuse and Trauma in San Diego on September 11th. To all those whose generosity, support, and kindness have helped make this film possible - you are our heroes. And we just can't thank you enough."

~Barry Nolan

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts

How did an American Battered Woman Holly Collins Receive Asylum in the Netherlands?

How did an American citizen receive Asylum in the Netherlands?

So many people have recently asked us how were we granted asylum in the Netherlands.

To explain this we need to understand the basic Dutch premise that “Child abuse is every form of violent interaction of a physical, psychological or sexual nature either directly or indirectly forced upon a minor aged child by the parent(s) or any person with whom the minor child has a dependent relationship with or is not freely impendent from which serious damage is or could be inflicted to the minor child in the form of physical or psychological injury.”

There is a further assumption that “Pertaining to domestic violence, child abuse is including the witnessing of domestic violence.” There was supporting evidence of physical injuries to my mother’s nose and my fathers sworn testimony that he injured (perhaps even broke) her nose on several different occasions. The family court evaluator in the United States testified that in her professional opinion she believed that these injuries were the result of domestic violence. The American judge in our case found that my father committed domestic violence. Our father even testified that he dislocated our mothers shoulder in front of us children, therefore meeting the requirements of the Dutch definition of child abuse.

In addition The Hague Convention clearly states that the “Court's may refuse to return a child to a Petitioning parent and that child's home country under the Hague Convention if it finds that ‘there is a grave risk that if returned child would be expose to physical and psychological harm or otherwise placed in to an intolerable situation.” The Dutch Ministries thoroughly investigated our case for 3 years. My brother and I made it clear that we were very afraid of our father because “he hit, punched, strangled and threatened to kill us and our mother.” My brother remembered my father slamming him into a wall and then having to go to the hospital and the doctors telling our mother that his skull was broken. Because of our American nationality even the Dutch National Health Inspector general reviewed all the evidence as well. It was also remarkable that the Dutch Ministries believed that we would be in physical and psychological danger if we were returned to our father’s care.

As far as certain skeptics who have claimed that my brother and I may have been brain washed by our mother, it is remarkable that for over 18 months my father had sole custody of me and my brother. We had severely restricted contact with our mother that was limited to a few hours court supervised visitation per week. If there was any brainwashing or alienation it was done solely at the hands of our abusive father and yet we still ran away from him.

I am 25 years old now and my brother is 27. We have been living on our own since we were each 18 years old. We are capable of articulating how we remember our childhood and we should be believed at our own word!

~Jennifer Collins