Kososvo #12: do you have his mother's permission

Most weeks there's a permission slip request from school for one of the boys. Usually it's a fairly simple process.

I was caught off guard at Pristina airport at the passport control when the policeman asked whether I had permission from the boy's mother to travel. 

There are a number of ways that I could have handled this. But the one I chose was, maybe not the best either, a vacant stare at the policeman completely lost for words for all of those few seconds before I blurt out "I'm his father!"

He looks at me. He looks down at Caleb. 

A pause.

My mind is wrestling with whether I should say something or not. 

He looks again and waves us through .

Trafficking children is still a big problem. The family we will be staying with had one of their children "given for adoption" during the post war period.

One group I worked with said that it's the airlines and their staff that "just know" who are being taken and they are powerless to intervene.

Caleb and I walk through hand in hand to get our baggage.