Tsimhoni kids once held in detention center remain at camp; parents meet in court

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The Tsimhoni children.


The story made headlines all over the world - three kids locked up for refusing a court ordered lunch with their father. 

The Tsimhoni children were moved to a summer camp 10 days ago. Now we're learning more about how those children are coping.

The mother's attorney gave an update Monday on how the children, who are still at camp, were doing. 

"We don't think they're doing as well as they would be if they were at home," said Andrew Abood, the mother's attorney. "And that's where we want them to be."

Oakland County family court Judge Lisa Gorcyca held the children in contempt after refusing her orders to "build a healthy relationship" with their father. She sent them to a detention center Children's Village for refusing to spend time with their father, Omer Tsimhoni. 

After intense pressure, she changed her mind and released the kids ages 14, 10 and 9 to a summer camp. Both parents were allowed to visit separately last week. 

FOX 2 is told that Omer who has been living in Israel, moved back. Court records show that he has since filed for sole custody of the children. 

According to the motion, Omer has tried to have a relationship with the kids but claims since the divorce, the mother, Maya Tsimhoni, has ignored court orders or refused to cooperate or facilitate any relationship between the father and children.

Omer and his attorney chose to leave the courthouse without addressing the allegations.

"There will be no evidence that these kids are in any way bad children," Abood said. "They're great kids, good grades, socially they have great friends. They love each other, they love their mother. What we need to do is deal with the relationship with their father. We want them to have a very positive relationship with their father."

Maya has been accused of parental alienation. But it’s the children who continue to claim they don’t want to spend time with their father. 

During the controversial June 24th hearing, the oldest child claimed he didn’t want to spend time with his father because he saw him hit his mother.

And hospital records show another child claimed he was assaulted by the father during a visitation back in March. Reports show the child suffered contusions to his shoulder forearm and chest - it was characterized as a non-accidental traumatic injury to the child.

Police were called, but no criminal charges were issued and the case was dropped.

Hope and Elizabeth Loudon drove all the way from Nevada because they claim eight years ago the same thing happened to them. They didn’t want a relationship with their father they claimed abused them.

"We were also incarcerated for refusing to see our father eight years ago," said Hope Loudon. "And now as 22 year olds we're still not apologizing for that. We would love to go to the ends of the earth to defend and give voice to Tsimhoni children."

John Langlois from Moms and Dads of Michigan, a child advocacy non-profit, has also been watching this case very closely. He says the abuse in this case comes down to parental alienation and the court should have taken drastic actions to remove the kids long ago.

"Children should be removed from abusive parent whenever there's child abuse," he said. "There's going to have to be therapy to get this father back in children's lives."

Both parents and their attorneys are expected back in court for a custody hearing Wednesday. That is when Gorcyca will decide whether she will consider giving the father sole custody of the children - something the mother plans to fight.