O.C. judge sides with Italian mom in custody dispute that has transfixed a nation

Claudia Ciampa’s custody dispute with an ex-boyfriend who spirited their child from Italy to the United States without her permission has attracted widespread sympathy in Italy. In a ruling issued Tuesday, Carter wrote that “the emotional toll of his concealment is evident from Mother’s desperate text messages.” For months, the Italian press chronicled her anguished efforts to find her son. The case hinged on determining the child’s “habitual residence.” Ciampa said her whole life is in Italy, and she never intended to move to the U.S., while Nichols contended that the trip back to Italy after the child’s birth was intended only as a “temporary sojourn.” Nichols alleged that Ciampa attempted to kill herself and their son in May 2024 by leaving the gas on in her apartment, a claim Ciampa describes as “ridiculous.” California He was both fire captain and prolific arsonist. This Court will not serve as a refuge for such actions.” One of the Italian reporters following the case, Marika Dell’Acqua of “Storie Italiane,” said that while the parental abduction of children is not rare in Italy, it is usually the mothers who take them from the fathers.