MOM MAKES PLEA ON TV TO GET SON BACK FROM U.S.

Calgarian hopes it will help her in 2-year fight to regain custody of boy

CALGARY (CP) -A Calgary mother hopes increasing public awareness
about her two-year fight to regain custody of her son from a series
of Oregon foster homes will put pressure on a U.S. judge to finally
let him come home.

Lisa Kirkman went on CNN on Friday to explain that she hasn't been
able to regain custody of her 12-year-old son, Noah, since he was
stopped in a small Oregon town in the summer of 2008 for riding his
bike without a helmet. He was apprehended because he was staying with
his stepfather, whom the state did not consider his legal guardian.

She has also been speaking regularly with MPs from different parties
who agree it's time for U.S. authorities to return Noah to Canada.

"This is a sovereignty issue. This is the U.S. taking one of our
citizens, a child, and saying, 'we're not sure Canada can handle
their own social services'," she told The Canadian Press in an
interview from her Calgary home.

Kirkman said Oregon authorities became concerned when they discovered
Noah had social services files in Canada, including in British
Columbia. She said the files were open to enable the boy, who has
special needs, which include a severe form of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, to access special mental health programs.

In the ensuing months, she has battled to convince U.S. authorities
that she's able to parent her son, who she said was a happy,
intelligent boy who had good grades in school before he was apprehended.

The most recent ruling by Lane County Circuit Judge Kip Leonard said
he wouldn't consider sending Noah home until the school year ends.
That wait is excruciating to Kirkman, who wasn't even allowed to call
her son on his birthday. But it offers a bit of hope to her lawyers.

"He said in court that he was not going to consider Noah's return
until the school year is concluded and at least that indicates he's
thinking about Noah's return," said Tony Merchant, her lawyer in Regina.

Kirkman said she thinks the judge might be hung up on her personal beliefs.

She has edited marijuana-related magazines and calls herself an
anti-prohibition activist. She also has a criminal record for growing
medicinal marijuana for her husband; she was sentenced to 10 hours of
community service.