Fundraiser launched for Vancouver woman desperate to get son home from Taiwan

Editor’s note: This article contains details of alleged abuse and may be disturbing to some readers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A GoFundMe page has been set up to support a Vancouver woman who says she endured years of a physically and psychologically abusive marriage and is trying to get her son back.

Jane Tse shared her story with NEWS 1130 and CityNews Vancouver last month, saying the boy’s father took him to Taiwan to visit family just before the pandemic hit, and is now filing for divorce.

She says within a week of her son’s birth, her husband strangled her several times.

“The first time he strangled me, I remember very clearly. Basically, he left the bathroom in a mess and when I told him about it, he thought I was making things up and offending him again [and] he doesn’t like it when people ‘say things that aren’t true.’ He got very flushed and said it’s not true and then stapled me to the floor and that’s the first time he strangled me. I couldn’t breathe for 10 seconds and I thought ‘Oh my god, I am going to die,” she said.

Related article: Vancouver woman says she endured years of abuse, fears she’ll never see her son again

Tse says her husband would often take their son, Leander, to his home country of Taiwan to visit his family, and she didn’t think much of it when they went in 2020.

The chaos of the pandemic convinced Tse to allow her son to stay in Taiwan with his father, waiting for things to cool down. But months after the father and son arrived, Tse received a shocking letter.

“The first document [said] this is granting my son citizenship and then I proceed to read it and [it said] you are being sued for divorce in Taiwanese court,” she explained.

According to the online fundraiser, the money will help Tse pay for legal expenses and cover her rent as she works through her battle to get her son back.

Surrey lawyer Chris Carta, who specializes in family law, has told us a “left-behind parent,” can be in a “sticky situation,” adding it comes down to whether the country has agreed to an international treaty, which helps parents get their child back when they have been abducted by a parent from one country to another.

“A lot of countries out there are part of something called the Hague Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction. Canada is one of them. That creates a process for people to get their kids back to their habitual residences. In the case we are talking about, Taiwan unfortunately is not a signatory,” Carta said.

Without Taiwan being part of the agreement, Carta says Tse is left with very few options, other than hiring local lawyers in Taiwan and fighting for her parental rights in that country.

With files from Ashley Burr