JUDGE ORDERS BOY, 12, BACK TO CANADA

Noah Kirkman, Who Has Been In State Custody Since 2008, Will Go To
Live With His Maternal Grandparents

Making it clear he had grave concerns that it might not be in the
child's best interest, Lane County Juvenile Court Judge Kip Leonard
nonetheless ordered that a 12-year-old Canadian boy who has been in a
Springfield foster home since last fall be returned to Canada to
live with his maternal grandparents.

"I am confident in my legal decision that Noah return to Canada,"
said Leonard, announcing his decision after Friday's hearing in the
international child custody dispute. "I am not as confident in my
social decision."

Noah Kirkman has been under the custody of the Oregon Department of
Human Services since 2008.

Leonard said Noah's mother, Lisa Kirkman, a Calgary, Alberta, medical
marijuana advocate, "abandoned" him in Oakridge in the summer of 2008
when she left him with his stepfather, John Kirkman, who has health
issues and also uses medical marijuana.

"I didn't ask him where he wants to be, but he told me where he wants
to be," Leonard said, referring to the half-hour meeting he had with
the boy before the hearing. "Noah is very happy where he is," Leonard
said. "It's not a criticism of his grandparents. He has had success
he has never had before. But he continues to be a young man with some
very special needs."

After Oakridge police kept spotting an unsupervised Noah, then 10,
doing such things as riding his bicycle on Highway 58 without a
helmet and playing in an industrial park, they called the Springfield
office of the DHS toward the end of the summer of 2008.

Case workers took custody after discovering Noah had a lengthy case
file in Canada, a history of living in foster homes there, and that
Lisa Kirkman had been convicted for growing marijuana in British
Columbia, where she ran a medical marijuana dispensary, in 2003.
Noah was first taken to the SCAR/Jasper Mountain SAFE Center for
abused and emotionally disturbed children before being placed in
foster care.

Lisa Kirkman, 34, and her parents, Michael, 58, and Phyllis Heltay,
60, have been pleading for Noah's return to Canada for almost two
years. Kirkman went public with her cause earlier this year, starting
a Facebook page -- "Return Noah Kirkman to Canada NOW! -- that now
has more than 4,000 "fans," and contacting Oregon politicians, the
governor's office and local media. She sent The Register-Guard DHS
case files last winter.

On May 9, Mother's Day, she held a rally on the steps of Calgary's
federal government building with other protesters, who carried signs
asking Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Obama to
help facilitate Noah's return.

According to court records, Oregon officials earlier this year told
Kirkman she had to comply with several conditions before they would
return her son. Those included receiving therapy for borderline
personality disorder, undergoing parent training, establishing a
safe home in Canada for her son and living a drug-free life.
Kirkman's interest in pot stems from her husband's battle with
myalgic encephalomyelitis, a neurological disease, she has said.

Kirkman said last winter that she was living in Montreal in the
spring of 2008 with Noah and her daughter, Mia, now 7, and was
planning to move back to her hometown of Calgary because she thought
it would have better services for Noah.

The boy has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, or ADHD, a neuro -behavioral disorder, and oppositional
defiant disorder, or ODD. After visiting Oakridge with her son and
daughter, she and her daughter returned to Calgary while Noah stayed
behind.

Lisa Kirkman has only been allowed to speak to her son during weekly
supervised phone conversations since the DHS took custody of Noah.

Leonard said Friday that her leaving Noah in Oregon was not "for the
right reasons. It was an example of extremely poor judgment on the
part of Ms. Kirkman," he said.

Parents are entrusted to do everything they can for their children,
to make sure they are safe, Leonard said. "There is a bond that is
created -- a societal bond. Whether we are here or in Canada or New
Zealand, it doesn't matter. The bond has been broken several times
by (Lisa) Kirkman."

The state, however, led by assistant attorney general Kamala Shugar,
argued Friday that Noah should be returned to Calgary to live with
his grandparents.

"It was a grueling day," Michael Heltay said after Leonard's
decision. "But the results are phenomenal. We just want to get him
back home to Calgary -- bottom line."

A social worker with Calgary and Area Child and Family Services
testified by phone Friday that it will take over Noah's case from
Oregon and immediately do an assessment upon his return with the goal
of eventually returning him to his mother, who initially will only be
allowed to see her son every two weeks during supervised visits.

During testimony, Phyllis Heltay was asked by Lisa Kirkman's
court-appointed attorney, Ilisa Rooke-Ley: "You now understand you would,
in a sense, be Noah's legal guardian? And you're willing to protect
him, possibly at the cost of your relationship with your daughter?"

Heltay said yes.

Lisa Kirkman, who also participated in the hearing by phone because
she is no longer allowed to travel to the United States because of
her criminal record, was less than thrilled with the result, despite
Leonard's granting the state's wish.

"Basically, what the judge said was, ‘I don't want to send him
back but legally I have to,'aE " Lisa Kirkman said by telephone from
Calgary. "Who knows when he'll come back?"

A DHS transition team will plan for Noah to return to Canada in two
to four weeks, Phyllis Heltay said.

Marc Spence, a Eugene attorney appointed by the court to represent
Noah, argued that the boy has had the most success in his young life
since joining his foster family on 6 acres in Springfield last year.
He is a straight-A student and is on fewer medications, Spence said.

"I do think we should be paying attention to what Noah says," Spence
said in closing arguments. "He's 12 years old ... but I think he has
earned a say in what happens to him. He does not want to live in
Canada. He does not want to be with his mother."

Michael Heltay ex --pressed frustration that it took two years to get
his grandson back to Canada.

"We were told from the beginning that it would be a short-term thing
and then it just dragged on," he said.

"The same international laws that got Elian Gonzalez to Cuba and Sean
Golden back to Brazil are precisely the laws that should have gotten
Noah back to Canada," Michael Heltay said of two other well-known
international child custody disputes in recent years.