A pair of former Seattle residents are getting worldwide support on social media after they say their child was kidnapped in Kenya.
Two years ago, Matt and Daisy Mazzoncini became legal guardians of a Kenyan boy named Kiano.
Kiano had a tough start in life. He was abandoned after birth with a twin brother who didn’t survive. Daisy was visiting friends in Kenya when she found him in a hospital; six-months-old weighing only nine pounds. She fell in love with Kiano and started caring for him and paying for his health care.
Eventually, Daisy and Matt uprooted their lives in Seattle and became his legal guardians in Kenya. There is a moratorium on foreign adoptions in Kenya, so the couple focused on building a life with him overseas.
For two years they lived as a family but Kiano still had some health problems and needed medication to manage seizures and other symptoms.
“Kiano has epilepsy and he had been in ICU. Back at the end of 2018, we had sought out a specialist in the U.S. who wrote a letter asking to travel for specialized treatment for Kiano,” Matt explained.
The Mazzoncinis asked the court to allow them to take Kiano to the U.S. so he could get specialized care but the Child Welfare Society of Kenya tried to get involved in their case. On April 5, the couple believes that agency was behind a raid at their home where Kiano was taken from his bed.
The family tried to protect Kiano but there were more than a dozen people in the home who formed a human wall to take him away. Matt and Daisy have had no contact with their son and don’t know if he is getting the medication he needs.
The couple filed emergency documents in the Kenyan court system and asked for help from the U.S. embassy.
Loved ones in Seattle jumped into action.
Jason Koenig is an award-winning music video producer who took the couple's story to Instagram.
Koenig has known Matt for more than a decade and turned to high-profile friends to help share the story on social media.
“I don’t know what we can do here but the more people who know this story, the more people who pray for a sick kid that doesn’t have epilepsy medicine, it’s got to do something," said Koenig.
The video has been seen over a million times with shares from artists like Ed Sheeran, Macklemore and the band Why Don't We.
“He's one of the best people I know; she's one of the best moms I know; this isn't right,” Koenig explained.
Kenyan native Simon Okelo says there is a big push in Kenya to weed out government corruption and he believes pushing government leaders to get answers could help.
“The more voices that are heard, that this is not ok, the more people are going to respond and when I say people, I mean the Kenyan government," Okelo said.
The couple has a strong support system that includes Matt’s family in the Seattle area. They keep a Facebook page updated every day.
Zack Mazzoncini says it’s impacted everyone in their family.
“Kiano being taken is just like any of the 16 nieces and nephews being taken, we're not going to stop until we bring Kiano home,” he said. “We love him, that's what you do when you love somebody."
The couple was hoping to get answers at a court hearing a few weeks ago but the judge did not show up in court and the hearing was postponed until later this week.
KING 5 reached out to the Child Welfare Society of Kenya to try and get answers but did not get a response by Sunday evening.