Missing 11-Year-Old
By: Allison Morrison
Updated: April 8, 2009
Lubbock Police need your help to find an 11-year-old boy, who's been missing for more than two weeks.
Police tell us the boy is at the center of a custody battle.
They say they typically don't interfere with child custody cases, but this case is unique, because the father of the missing boy has obtained a temporary court order for immediate custody of the child and for him to be returned to his father.
11-year-old Joshua Avara is with his mother and his maternal grandparents, but police tell us they aren't sure exactly where they are.
The boy's father lives in Midland and has joint custody of his son, but did not give his ex-wife permission to take Joshua.
Police say Joshua's father has questioned his ex-wife parental capabilities, which may have prompted her to take the boy.
Because of those issues the boy's father has raised, a temporary court order has been issued for him to have immediate custody of Joshua and for the yong boy to be returned to his father.
The latest information on Joshua's location- he and his mother were near the Corpus Christi area.
"Right now this is a missing involuntary child. There's no indication that the child is being hurt, but again, we're here to check on the welfare of the child and to return the child to the parent who has custody of the child," Sgt. Scott Farmer with LPD says.
