“I’m desperate and need your help and the support of the entire government to be able to hold my little Ethan in my arms again.”
With these words, Claudia Ciampa, a mother from Piano di Sorrento in Campania, begins her heartfelt letter to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Claudia has been unable to find peace after her ex-partner, Eric, a California English teacher, took their seven-month-old son and allegedly fled to the United States. Claudia was still breastfeeding Ethan at the time, and now she hopes that the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs can intervene and work with U.S. authorities to bring her child back to Italy.
In her letter, she emphasizes the complexity of the situation: “This is a dramatic situation, not easily resolved,” she writes, “and it requires intervention at international diplomatic levels.” Ethan, born on February 13 in Cincinnati, Ohio, but living in Italy, holds dual Italian-American citizenship.
Eric now maintains only brief contact with Claudia through daily video calls, revealing nothing about his location. A complaint for international child abduction was filed against him on the day of the disappearance, but by then, it was already too late.
The incident does not appear to have been a spontaneous act but rather a carefully planned one. Claudia had been vacationing in Puglia with her three children from a previous marriage, while Ethan was supposed to spend some time with his father, as agreed. However, what was meant to be a simple outing turned into a nightmare when they did not return.
The couple had reunited in 2022 after years of separation, but tensions resurfaced soon after Ethan’s birth, leading to another breakup.
