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Mother Loses Hague Convention Custody Battle as Ventura Judge JoAnn Johnson Sides with Estranged Husband, Ignoring Abuse Claims
By Richard Luthmann
A California mother is fighting a court order to deport her three young children to Italy. The children, aged eight, six, and two, are U.S. citizens.
Ventura County California Superior Court Judge JoAnn Johnson
On August 26, Ventura County Superior Court Judge JoAnn Johnson gave the children of Sara Young “the boot” to “the Boot.” They have minimal ties to Italy. The judge ruled that Young’s children must be sent to Italy by September 3, following the petition filed by Young’s estranged husband, Daniel Bichanich, under the Hague Convention.
“This ruling will rob my children of any future relationship with their primary caretaker, their mother,” Young stated after the ruling. “I am shocked and outraged that a U.S. family court judge would deport three U.S. citizen children to a foreign country they have no ties to, aside from the fact that their father owns a house there.”
Sara Young’s Facebook posts show Amman, Jordan, was the family’s home before California.
The battle began when Bichanich, represented by high-profile Los Angeles attorney Peter A. Lauzon, filed a petition under the Hague Convention. Bichanich claimed the children were wrongfully removed from Italy and should be returned. He asserted that Italy was their “habitual residence.”
The mother, who represented herself, disputes the claims in this Hague Convention custody battle. She argues the family’s actual habitual residence was in Jordan until May, when she returned to California with her children after fleeing what she described as an abusive marriage.
“Our family was most recently habitually resident in Jordan from August 2022 to May 2024,” Young stated in opposition to Bichanich’s petition.
Sara Young’s Facebook posts show the children attending school in Amman, Jordan, while the parents worked as U.S. Government contractors.
She provided the court with extensive documentation, including school attendance records in Jordan as well as Jordanian residency visas for the children, to support her claim that Jordan, not Italy, was their habitual residence.
The difference between Jordan and Italy is significant since Jordan is not a signatory of the Hague Convention. Italy is a signatory.
Young’s children could not be deported to Jordan.
The Hague Convention custody battle has garnered attention, with journalists Richard Luthmann, Megan Fox, and Michael Volpe discussing it on “The Unknown Podcast.” They criticized Judge Johnson’s decision, questioning whether she was “asleep at the wheel” or if the fix was in, given the evidence presented by Young.
Young’s legal filings paint a disturbing picture of life with Bichanich. She alleges he was abusive towards her and the children, describing numerous incidents of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse that escalated in early 2024.
Daniel Bichanich
“Daniel became increasingly abusive and would often scream at me in front of the children, demanding that they take his side,” Young stated in court papers.
In addition to the abuse allegations, Young highlighted the challenges she would face with a move to Italy. Italian law requires non-citizens to have employment to register for residence, a condition she would struggle to meet due to her lack of fluency in Italian and the country’s high unemployment rate. The children do not speak Italian either, she says.
“I would be financially crippled and homeless if I were to relocate to Italy,” she stated, noting that Bichanich had restricted her access to marital assets, leaving her with no means to support herself and the children in a foreign country.
Despite these concerns, Judge Johnson sided with Bichanich and ordered the children to go with their father to Italy. In her ruling, Johnson, ignoring the evidence provided by Young, concluded Italy was the children’s habitual residence under the Hague Convention.
Young accused the father of “forum shopping,” arguing that Bichanich deliberately chose Italy as the jurisdiction for their divorce and custody battle because it would be more favorable to him. Bichanich had filed for divorce in Italy. Young claims he do so without her knowledge while the family was in Jordan.
His blindsiding move put her at a significant disadvantage in the legal proceedings.
“The children do not speak Italian or identify with Italian culture. They are American, through and through,” Young asserted. Her husband was stationed in Jordan for his work and Young, a stay at home mother, went with him with their children. Now she faces never seeing them again.
She fears moving the three children to Italy without their primary caretaker, their mother, would be traumatic, and placing them in the care of a father she describes is abusive.
Young shares concerns about misuse in Hague Convention custody battles. If Young’s claims are true, her husband, through perjury, in Ventura Country Court, weaponized the Hague Convention, originally intended to prevent international child abduction, against protective parents. By the husband substituting Italy for Jordan as the children’s habitual residence, he arranged for the removal of his children from the USA and from their mother.
Young believes the misuse of the Hague Convention has stripped her of her children, forcing them into a potentially harmful environment in Italy.
High Profile Los Angeles Family Law Attorney Peter A. Lauzon
When contacted by this outlet, Attorney Peter A. Lauzon dismissed Young’s allegations as “patently false,” urging caution in reporting on the case. He suggested journalists obtain the court order and transcripts before publishing anything.
This outlet sought follow-up:
From: Richard Luthmann
Subject: Re: Bichanich v. Young, Ventura County Superior Court
To: Peter Lauzon <plauzon@lpfamilylaw.law>
Thank you for your prompt reply. Be assured we have engaged in rigorous journalistic review of these facts. And we are concerned about the folllowing:
How do you know that the court orders are correct and based upon the truth?
How do you know that your client isn’t lying to you?
Records indicate that the family resided in Amman, Jordan, for many years as their home. Are these records false? Are international airlines, Facebook, and others conspiring to injure your client and change reality?
You client was in Jordan as an habitual resident. Your client’s sworn statements when held up against the evidence show him to be a liar and a perjurer.
Maybe you can sleep at night knowing that your client will steal children through false pretenses and outright lies, and that Judge JoAnn Johnson may be asleep at the wheel, but the evidence tells a far different tale than the one your client has spun for the Ventura County, California Superior Court.
Do you have any response?
Regards,
Richard Luthmann
Writer, Journalist, and Commentator
Attorney Lauzon did not respond as of press time.
As the September 3 deadline approaches, Young is scrambling to appeal the decision and keep her children in the U.S. She has requested the custody proceedings remain in California, not Italy, where the children have significant cultural and familial connections.
“The children are happy and thriving here in California,” Young told the court. “They have made friends, are surrounded by extended family, and are registered to start school soon. Moving them to Italy would be devastating.”
The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for international custody disputes and the interpretation of the Hague Convention. Despite overwhelming odds, the mother continues to fight for her children’s safety and well-being. She seeks a stay so she can plead with the court to reconsider its decision and allow her children to remain in the country of their citizenship.
Otherwise, her three small children will be on a plane to Italy with their father, who will undoubtedly win full custody, since the mother cannot afford to fight custody in Italy. Once he wins custody, he needs to no longer remain in Italy, but can return to Jordan or anywhere else in the world with his three kids, all the marital assets and no mother.
