As Far Away as You Can Get

Rather than obey a judge's order to allow her daughter to visit her father, plastic surgeon Elizabeth Morgan sent the girl into hiding and spent more than two years in a Washington jail. Now Hilary Foretich, the seven-year-old girl at the center of one of the most bitter and highly publicized custody cases in memory, has been found in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Not seen since August 1987, Hilary was bundled off with her maternal grandparents after Morgan lost her legal battle to prevent oral surgeon Eric Foretich from having unsupervised visits with the child. Morgan, who divorced Foretich shortly before Hilary was born, accused her former spouse of sexually abusing their daughter, then two, in 1985. Although several child-abuse experts testified that Hilary had been molested, other experts disagreed. Judge Herbert Dixon ruled that Morgan had not proved her case and ordered her to jail for refusing to divulge Hilary's location. Not until last September, when George Bush signed a law limiting jail terms for civil contempt in Washington child-custody cases, was Morgan set free.

Foretich, who vehemently denied Morgan's allegations and countercharged that she was mentally ill, offered a $50,000 reward for information on Hilary's whereabouts. The child was traced to Christchurch after the BBC television show Kilroy aired a documentary about the case. Among those who watched the program was a teacher at Beechford College, a girls' prep school in Plymouth, England, who informed the show's producer, Di Burgess, that Hilary had been a student there. The school's headmistress, Pat Holdness, told the London Times that Hilary's grandparents enrolled her in 1987 under the name Ellen Morgan. According to Holdness, she was "a well-balanced child and very, very happy. The grandparents doted on her." After a year in Britain, her grandparents moved her to Christchurch.

On Feb. 16 Foretich's British attorneys obtained a court order instructing Burgess to reveal what she knew about Hilary's whereabouts. The battle then moved to the New Zealand family court when lawyers filed suit for Foretich, who wants to regain custody of his daughter. A judge has appointed a lawyer for Hilary and ordered that the child be examined by an expert in child sexual abuse. The judge also ordered Foretich, who is believed to be headed for New Zealand, to stay away from his daughter and her grandparents. They have been granted interim custody and ordered not to leave the jurisdiction.

Morgan, now married to federal appeals court Judge Paul Michel, is preparing for another test of wills with Judge Dixon. She is determined to go to New Zealand, where the courts might permit her accusations against Foretich to be aired in open court. But she cannot leave the U.S. unless Dixon gives his permission. It may be Foretich, not Morgan, who gets to see Hilary first.