"The missing boy has been found": Baby Vinh reunited with grandmother
<p>Missing baby Hoang Vinh Le has been reunited with his grandmother after a gruelling 16 months of being hidden from authorities. </p>
<p>"The missing boy has been found," grandmother Kim Huong Tran said as she showed off Vinh to <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/missing-aussie-baby-hoang-vinh-le-reunited-with-grandmother-after-being-found/56590f5a-cdfb-4634-a715-49e11d70167a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Current Affair</a> cameras.</p>
<p>"Finally I got him back."</p>
<p>Vinh was being kept away from his grandmother as a bitter custody dispute played out for more than a year. </p>
<p>However, Kim said her sleepless nights and tears were worth the moment her and Vinh reunited. </p>
<p>At only two-years-old, Vinh's first few years have been complicated by the behaviour of his parents. </p>
<p>Kim helped raise Vinh herself when the couple split shortly after he was born in June 2020.</p>
<p>When his parents later decided to reconcile, they wanted to leave Vinh in Kim's care, until they changed their mind about their son when he was nine-months-old. </p>
<p>The couple got a court order for Vinh to live with his father Thanh, but due to his history of violence, Kim didn't want to hand baby Vinh over. </p>
<p>Not taking no for an answer, Thanh snatched baby Vinh from a doctor's waiting room in April 2021. </p>
<p>"I've got the order from the federal court saying that the child's to live with me until 18, or else I wouldn't be snatching the kid off," Thanh told police at the time.</p>
<p>A judge then ordered the parents to give Vinh back, but they refused.</p>
<p>The last time Vinh was seen alive was in May 2021, in photos Thanh posted on Facebook.</p>
<p>Thanh's Facebook post said: "Just informing everyone that myself and my partner and our son Hoang Vinh Le is safe and all living happy together there for (sic) we are not missing. So I don't know why we are listed as missing people LOL."</p>
<p>After not hearing any updated on Vinh for several months, on September 25th Kim was notified by police they had found her grandson. </p>
<p>Vinh had been abandoned at a childcare centre in Campsie, in Sydney's south-west.</p>
<p>NSW Police Detective Inspector Timothy Liddiard led the investigation to find Vinh for a year and a half.</p>
<p>"Oh look, it's an extremely unique case. Certainly it's not one I've been involved in previously, of this complexity," Liddiard said.</p>
<p>After a paternity test confirmed Vinh's identity and an emergency court sitting granted Kim custody, she was finally allowed to bring him home.</p>
<p>Kim said she was still in shock and added the only reason Vinh was found was because whoever was looking after him had given him up.</p>
<p>"So good to have him back finally, thank you everyone," Kim said.</p>
<p><em>Image credits: A Current Affair</em></p>
