Let's take a look at the facts.
A father gives custody of his daughter to his wife. The wife and daughter move to a different country. The mother becomes unable to raise her daughter and has her daughter put in a foster home. The child is placed with foster parents. After all this has happened the father decides he wants his daughter back. Now the courts have to decide where the child should live. This should have been determined by both the mother and father when the mother decided she was unable to raise her daughter.
Perhaps I'm missing something in the article, but it looks to me as though
a) the mother was in no shape to make that kind of decision when the children went into foster care - they went into foster care because she was suicidal
b) there isn't any indication in the article that I can find, that said the father was available, in the US, when the children went into foster care, and
c) both birth parents want the child with her father.
I may be misreading your tone but I don't think this situation is as spur-of-the-moment as your comments make it sound.
Postscript (edit): I am not arguing a side on this question; I think there isn't nearly enough information in this article to justify doing so.
