Working Together to Help Keep Our Children Safe.

Testimonials

Dakota Hamilton


My name is Charles Hamilton, and I am the father of Dakota Carmen Hamilton. Dakota was born October 31, 1995. Her mother abducted her on December 8, 1996. Dakota was a victim of an international parental abduction and remained missing for over 12 years. Her mother hid in Spain for the next twelve years. Even though Spain is a signatory to the Hague Convention, officials from that country refused to return Dakota to me despite my United States custody order.


This abduction has left my daughter with many issues that she faces bravely every day. Over the years I have struggled with the loss of my daughter as well. I have worked with many wonderful people who supported me over the twelve years. Gloria Nyberg, a Child Watch international investigator was instrumental in helping me navigate the system. Eventually we found Dakota had been abducted to Spain. As I stated earlier, Spain refused to assist me and return Dakota as per the Hague Convention Treaty.


It took a while but soon it was apparent I needed to try and establish a relationship with my daughter no matter of my legal rights. I decided to put together a trip but I would require help to fund it. Child Watch stepped up and assisted in covering some of the expenses for the trip. I schedule my trip to Spain for July 12th 2010 to July 19th 2010. Child Watch was able to secure and fund my visitation lodging, and I am so very very humbly appreciative and in debt to their services. This could have never been done without this help, Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts, I speak for Dakota as well, I can never repay the kindness. Child Watch shared the ups and downs with my family through this dark dismal tragedy. Finally I was able to meet my daughter for the first time in twelve years. We were able to enjoy each others’ company so perfectly I thought you would like to see the pictures of my special time with Dakota.

Sincerely and so touched by your help forever.


Charles Hamilton and Dakota Hamilton


I may be Always reached for verification of their services and help to anyone at 210 739 5306


Thanks again, a happy father.



Marjory Chappell


It is my pleasure and honor to comment on Child Watch and the tremendous work they do and accomplish. I lived every parents nightmare when my children went missing in 1989 for almost 6 years. My ex-husband abducted them after a long bitter custody battle, which I finally won full custody. I tried desperately to find them with the help of my family and friends, but after two years of searching my hopes began to fade. The police couldn’t really help me as they didn’t have the manpower and time to invest into my case, and after all it wasn’t a stranger that took them, it was their father. If my memory serves me right, Child Watch contacted me four years into my children’s abduction with an offer I couldn’t refuse…..HELP…. and it was FREE!!!! I was elated to finally have a voice for my children and they gave me something I hadn’t had in a very long time…..HOPE.


To make a long story short, Child Watch worked effortlessly with every lead that came their way and many hours of investigating and stalking out relatives homes and possible locations where my children might have been. There were a few close calls to finding them, but through no fault of their own, different police agencies arrived too late to apprehend my ex-husband and the children. As you can imagine, those times just crushed me, but I was always reassured by Child Watch that they would not ever give up on me or the children and they would find them. Don Wood, the president of Child Watch worked with law enforcement and the D A’s office and with undaunting persistence my children were finally located living in the back-woods of the Ozark mountains in Missouri. I will never be able to express my profound thanks and gratitude to Child Watch for their dedication and time spent in helping me when no one else would. I would never have been able to pay for all the investigative work hours, travel and so much more that Child Watch put into helping me. I can honestly say that Child Watch gave me my life back when they found and returned my children to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!


Marjory Barber




Bradley Shonkwiler


My family was the first find for Child Watch in 1994. My family is forever grateful to child watch and Don Wood. While getting very little help from local authorities trying on my own from 1983 until 1994 My 2 children AJ and Mary were taken by their father never to be seen or heard from again. This was when there were No laws as we have today in fact 1 year later is just when they began to change and there was no help at all out there. We my 2 daughters Susie & Tracey and I suffered. Not 1 solid night of sleep couldn’t concentrate from fatigue. I could go on and on of the sadness and Heartbreak that had our lives these were my 2 babies and sister and brother that just 1 day disappeared. Finally 1 day Susie was watching TV and (before the show became the show it is today) Child Watch was on the Jerry Springer Show discussing finding Missing children and she called Them (Child Watch). She didn’t tell me for 3-4 months and then she finally called me and said Mom I didn’t tell you about this because I didn’t want to get your hopes up again but I think these People can really help us this time. Something just tells me they WILL FIND AJ and Mary. This went on for a long while many many phone calls correspondence and so many tears then 1 day I got the call THE CALL!!


And we were off to Las Vegas to reunite with my 2 babies that were not babies any more. It was not easy believe you me! But We got our lives back. While things are not normal they are complete. Both of these kids had never been to school ever not 1 day of school since their disappearance. Neither couldn’t read or write they were on the run so they slept all day and came out @ night my now 14 yr old daughter weighed 260 lbs and had her hair cut off like a boy. So there was lots of work to be done just to get them back to reality. A lot of work for all of us . But guess what all is well, like I said not completely normal but whole my daughter is a supervisor @ a Sheet metal factory here in Jacksonville has a great husband with 2 beautiful girls. My son owns his own Alarm company outside of Dayton Ohio and has a 13 year old son.


Don just kinda took us under his wing and helped every step of the way! I didn’t know what to do or where to start and then there was money which I didn’t have. I had been trying and talking for 10 1/2 years and no one listened so why should they now? But they did when Don got on the case! We were able to get the legalities done and on a plane back to reality in 3 days. WOW, can you believe that? 3 Days and we were going home!!!!!!!! So ALL IS WELL AND THEN SOME…Thanks to Child Watch. Thank you for Healing this family and making us whole because that’s what you did. We are Eternally grateful. Thank you. Thank you god bless you all!


Don’t worry about anything INSTEAD Pray about Everything


Ms. Arlene Stephens Proud Grandmother of Bradley Shonkwiler
Click to Connect to CATF

Tina (last name withheld for privacy)


Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 1:43 PM
 To: dwood@childwatch.org
 Subject: Tina
 Importance: High

 

Dear Don and Bridget

 

I’m not sure where to begin, so that is where I’ll begin, in the beginning.

 

I’m a recovering alcoholic and have been sober for 7 years through the fellowship of AA and the 12 steps. I have been reasonably happy and life has been good. I have a number of women that I was taking through the 12 steps and one of them asked me if I thought it would be a good idea to go to do this rapid resolution therapy thing. Well I didn’t know much about it so I looked it up on line and it looked harmless enough so I told her go for it. The next day I saw her and didn’t recognize her. The inner person, the insight and understanding she had was profound. She was relaxed, calm and happy. Which believe me this was not the same hyper uptight upset person I had been working with. So I think to myself, I have to get me some of that. I ask her if she could get me an appointment with this guy she saw and she said she had already told him about me because of all my past sexual childhood trauma from my father and other family members neighbors etc. Also being an alcoholic lead to many shameful events, some too ugly to even put in this letter.

 

Needless to say I had the opportunity to meet Don and Bridget Wood, what a wonderful couple. I had an initial session with Don and we chatted for some time. He asked me some questions about my background. He assured me he didn’t need a lot of details, just some things that may have happened to me that was causing me my sadness. So I did and he explained to me how the mind worked and the conscious and subconscious mind worked and had me hold my hand up, that we were going to clear out some of the traumas of the past. Well in my mind I’m thinking, yah right dude, you have no idea the hell I have been through, but I but then I thought of my friend and kept an open mind which I walked in with.

 

After I left I was thinking to myself…. I don’t feel a lot different and this probably isn’t going to work for me, I’m just too hard headed. There is one thing that really makes me mad and that is when I get lost. I’m not real familiar with Don’s area of town so when I get to the end of the road I didn’t know which way to go, didn’t have a clue? Suddenly I thought, I’ll just go this way if I get lost I get lost. It took me a minute to realize what had just happened. NO anger about being lost, no frustration? Wow maybe it worked. The next day I had so much energy and I felt so alive I started my crafting again and also started working out. I was on some kind of natural high. It was great and I felt like a teenager again. I felt good for a good 2 months and slowly came back down to earth but still very happy.

 

I had two more sessions with Don. In one of them I quit smoking, which I had never been able to do on my own. I also felt lighter about life in general. I could never repay the kindness and love that Don and Bridget showed me.

 

I’m thinking 8 or 9 months passed and Don and would touch base occasionally. My life was going perfect. I landed a great job with a friend at an Insurance broker’s office with a very easy going atmosphere. For some crazy reason I started to get tired and I thought to myself…… must be hormones. I’m at that age but I was on medication for that. So I went to the doctor for blood work and she said it looked fine. The tiredness turned into exhaustion. I started missing work, my AA meetings, commitments and social events because I was too sleepy and I had zero energy. Then the heavy depression sets in. You know the kind, the dark kind, the one that tells you that life just is not worth all this pain your feeling. You’re tired of feeling this horrible pain and you just want it to stop. While you’re driving your car how you think how easy it would be just to drive into a cement bridge. The list goes on and on. Let’s just say it’s a bad ugly place filled with anxiety.

 

So I started going to all the medical doctors trying to figure out what is going on with me. I switched hormones, tried countless medications and nothing was working. I told my husband I needed to be put some place so that I won’t hurt myself. Because I was there, I was ready, I had had enough. All the medical doctors told me I was in good health and that I needed to see a shrink. So of I went to the funny farm, which was not fun, it was rather sad the way our health care system takes care of the mentally ill.

 

I was in this one nut house for a few days and told my husband to get me out cause it really was not helping. So we found another place that seemed a little more conducive for me. I stayed there for two weeks and they put on new meds. Then my insurance said we are not paying anymore and I would have to go home. I was not ready, but that happens to too many people there and it was sad to witness.

 

I think I was home for about a week or so when I felt myself starting to slide back down into that dark hole I had worked so hard in treatment to overcome. When I got home I did everything they told me, I didn’t understand. Before I knew it I was right back in that dark place. Every day was a challenge to stay alive and the only reason I stayed alive was that I didn’t want to hurt my family. But the pain was getting so bad that I was starting not to care.

 

This one morning I’m sitting there and I’m thinking that if I get in the tub and turn on the shower and I cut that big artery in my thigh it won’t be messy when my husband got home. That’s when something told me, (GOD), to GET OUT go for a drive now so I jumped in the car and drove over to the office to talk to the girls. I told them I wasn’t feeling well but I didn’t tell them I wanted to kill myself. They said call Don, you always feel better after seeing him. I thought, well maybe. I stayed for a while then went home. I thought, can Don help with something this bad? Then I thought I’ll call, it’s better than being dead, who knows?

 

I called Don and my husband and I went to see him. After a couple of hours sitting with Don I left feeling better. The next morning I woke up and I didn’t want to move out of bed because I felt some joy in my heart and I was afraid if I moved it would go away. So I stayed there for a while just enjoying the joy. Well I finally got up and felt awake. I wasn’t tired, no anxiety. I felt…..happy. Wow, happy, joy, energy. I had forgotten what that felt like. I was so happy I started crying. Within a few days I was back to work.

 

I think of all the medical testing, the psychological testing which all came out fine. Nobody could help me. Nobody could tell me what was wrong. All that wasted time, money and frustration and all I had to do is get a little rapid resolution therapy. All I can say is Don and Bridget saved my life. I want to say thank you to them but it just seems too small in comparison for what they have done for me and my family. They said to thank Dr. Connelly since none of this would have been possible without his training and therapy program.

 

Tina